RULESCHANGE.ORG | Time out for corporations, citizens and democracy

Month: July 2015

  • WHO changes the rules? All of us

    Ruleschange-flyerThis is where the Rules Change Project comes in.  It began in 2013, in Amherst, Mass., when a small group gathered to consider how to respond to the challenge of fixing the game in an increasingly unequal and undemocratic nation. They adopted a vision statement. The Rules Change Project spotlights, amplifies and broadens support for economic and corporate rules change efforts.  It is an informal, non-partisan collaboration – of individuals and independent groups – fostering a national conversation to help America to follow its democratic ideals.  It illuminates how average Americans are finding answers to the tough questions, in hopes of stimulating even more Americans to follow.

    If you talk to the people in Washington, D.C., who are in a position to make or change policy, they’ll tell you don’t look to them for initiative.  They’ll say create public pressure on an issue and make that pressure visible.

    Rules are changed by individuals who come together and refuse to accept the norm.  Rules are changed through grassroots movements that grow from the ground level upwards, gaining power and influence as more and more people feel compelled to pursue change.  This has been seen from the very inception of America, from the colonies that united in Revolution, to the Civil Right’s movement, to women’s suffrage, to the environmental movement.

    The rules Change Project seeks to make change in cities, town states and regions more visible to Washington.   One way to do that is to find examples of people and institutions sticking their necks out, above the crowd, to create change in the way we regulate, manage, or do business with corporations.  So we’re looking for giraffes.  Have you seen any?

    In that effort, we collaborate with and link to the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author, journalist and documentarian Hedrick Smith, and his Reclaim The American Dream initiative.

  • HOW do we change the rules? Spotlighting “giraffes” at work

    giraffeWe need to take time to examine how the rules of capitalism and free markets — formal and informal – have evolved over the last 40 years.  One approach is not to end or replace the game, but to reset the rules to make them fairer to all stakeholders – employees, customers, citizens, communities, the Earth – and stockholders.

    Effective change is needed in (1) government policies,  (2) the way corporations govern themselves, and (3)  in our communities and relationships.  The Rules Change Project recognizes mainstream ideas for changes in the way large, public corporations are regulated, managed and compete in at least six key categories: influence, measurement, ownership, accountability, governance, and sustainability.

    We spotlight efforts to teach corporations and managers — by example, by regulation or by consumer power — to serve society and the planet rather than focusing solely on short-term profits to shareholders.  We look for examples of greater tax and wage fairness as well as equity in how the regulations are applied.  We believe that natural resources should be valued because they belong to all of us, shareholders and stakeholders alike.  We advocate access to information that empowers all citizens and exposes activity, behavior and incentives that are not only illegal but ethically wrong.   We are watching for electoral reforms that restore faith in our democratic process.

    In order to achieve these goals, the “rules change giraffes” we’re looking for will exhibit behavior framed by one or more of these issues:

    • Lessening the power of money
    • Holding businesses responsible
    • Getting people involved
    • Leveling the playing field
    • Securing a sustainable world

    Intentionally or otherwise, some actions of the people who run and invest in global corporations tend to divide and marginalizing those who challenge those actions.  The Rules Change vision identifies and promotes our common ground.  It seeks to expand the pool or resources and tools that support collaboration and citizen impact.

  • WHY change the rules? To seek solutions

    Why Change the Rules?

     

    http://edit.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/Paywatch-2014

    Many researchers find that Americans feel the way corporation’s operate is failing us.  Everyone has heard — and many believe — the refrain that America is unequal. We have heard the familiar slogan, “We are the 99%.”  The reality of income inequality in America is staggering.  CEOs earn 331 times as much as the average worker and 774 times as much as those earning minimum wage.[1]  In a 2007 report distributed to across the US, on average people imagined that the average CEO made $500,000, when in reality the number was $14 million.

    This is occurring, in large part, because of the shifting corporate mindset.  Large companies used to focus on stakeholders, taking into account the interest of the employees, shareholders, community, the environment and even the country.  The companies had an eye towards sustainability and long-term profits.  This has shifted to the ubiquitous notion of shareholder value maximization, where solely short-term profits for shareholders matter.  Wealth for the few propagates even more extreme wealth for the even fewer.

    As a result, the middle class is being squeezed, as quality jobs disappear only to be replaced by contingent and retail jobs that simply do not provide enough for the employee.

    America is not working for all of us.  The Rules Change Project aims to spotlight efforts to increase oversight of large public corporations and financial institutions, and watchdog big-money domination of Washington politics.  It serves as an open forum and coalition for those who agree that the rules need to be changed. Our goal is to foster solutions, not point fingers.

    [1] Dill, Kathryn. “Report: CEOs Earn 331 Times As Much As Average Workers, 774 Times As Much As Minimum Wage Earners.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 07 July 2015.

  • Leo Hindrey — a one time cable and telecom mogul goes to work on the minimum-wage challenge

    Leo Hindery Jr.
    Leo Hindery Jr.

    Leo Hindery is a one-time cable and media mogul and a private-equity fund manager who heads the Smart Globalization Initiative of the New America Foundation.  He writes magazine columns. And, as part of a group called “Smart Capitalists”, he’s also on a tear about the minimum wage.  In 2014, he joined a group of other executives in a visit to Capitol Hill to lobby for an increase in the U.S. federal minimum wage. And in the process, he lobbed pot shots (VIDEO)  at the CEOs of MacDonald’s and Walmart for not giving their workers a raise. “It’ such an ethical issue and it is the right place to start to address the imbalance.”

    MacDonald’s and Walmart have both moved in the right direction since then. But Hindery says the problem is much deeper than just two companies, starting with the way the government measures and reports unemployment. “We have more income inequality in the United States that we’ve had since 1928,” he says.

    While the sheer amount of jobs in the US are growing, by 280,000 in May 2015, the unemployment rate is actually increasing and middle-class workers are finding it harder to make ends meet and earn a living wage. Fundamentally, this is catalyzed by the disappearance of quality manufacturing, blue-collar jobs that have allowed for widespread employment and prosperity. Now, the epicenter of middle-class employment is shifting to corporations, such as WalMart, that value cost cutting and shareholder value above all.

    In mid-2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an unemployment rate of 5.5%, up from 5.4% in 2014.

    But those figures fail to address the full scope of the problem of “real employment,” says Hindery, managing partner of InterMedia Partners, a New York-based media industry private equity fund. This is because the number only includes those who have actively searched for work in the past month. There are many who are seeking jobs and have searched for one in the past year but have been too discouraged or somehow hindered from looking during the past month. Hindery estimates there are about 1.9 million “marginally attached workers” as he calls them. Hindery includes part-time-of-necessity workers in his definition of real unemployment, workers who want a full time job but are stuck with fewer working hours than they need. He estimates that there 6.7 million part-time-necessity workers.   Thus he says the real unemployment rate remains steadily at 10.8% from last year to May of this year.

    In large part, this problem occurs because big corporations, such as Walmart, believe that hiring many part time workers and releasing their schedules at the last minute will be the most efficient way to align supply of labor with demand. The more last-minute the schedule, the more accurate the forecast of how many workers are needed, and the less commitment. However, the cost of understaffing can often be higher than overstaffing. Furthermore, the problem of forecasting demand could be largely avoided if there was more investment in employees, such as training employees across many tasks in the company. In this way the task, not the required employee, is what varies depending on demand.

    This approach is in contrast to the “good-jobs strategy” advocated by MIT Sloan School Prof. Zeynep Ton.

    RELATED RESOURCES:

    VIDEO: Hindery, in 2007, talking about then-presidential candidate John Edwards’ economic proposals