Broadening The Arena for Participation & Control

Abstract

[Excerpt] Andy Banks and Jack Metzgar have made a critically important contribution to untangling the concepts of participation and cooperation, in making the case for labor to be aggressive in areas historically reserved for management and to do so in a way that builds the organizing model of unionism. The concepts of "participation and cooperation" have been brought to the bargaining table in a way similar to ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans). Rather than recoil and withdraw from the discussion, the authors provide us with an approach that can effectively counter frequently narrow and self-serving management objectives with a program that furthers labor's interests.