Sunday, March 05, 2006

Costco

Go read this piece in today's Milwaukee JournalSentinel. Note the negative assessment by some of the Wall Streeters in regards to the employee wage system. This reminds me of a conversation I had with Fred Schnook. He interviewed the head of Harley-Davidson about how Harley kept a stable work force. The boss said that it wasn't a problem at Harley, since Harley paid it's engineers $120,00 a year. Fred claims it was an epiphany for him. & that is the truth - if you want a stable, productive work force, PAY THEM. & I might add, provide benefits that actually mean something. That's the problem with the biggest city in my neck of the woods - Ashland, WI. The city fathers & I mean fathers, just don't want to pay their workers, so people leave. Then everyone moans about how the city is going down the tubes. Even the largest industrial company, who generally pays a bit more than the average, can't hold a candle to the wages workers could earn in a city as close as Green Bay, or hell, even Duluth. But it's all about shareholder value with these morons, or a private "hunting preserve", or owning a whole town, or something else that has nothing to do with the workers.

"Costco's high-wage policy has won praise in many quarters and, because the company is publicly traded, criticism from some investment professionals. They contend Costco isn't giving stockholders their due. One analyst said two years ago that it was better to be a Costco employee than a shareholder."

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