Martin Kettle’s piece (If Sports Direct can change why not all our workplaces?, 9 September) was compelling. But a word of caution is in order if we are not to fall into a longstanding historical trap. What Kettle says in particular about BMW and the Mini plant in Cowley is absolutely true. Over the years I have taken students of business to the plant, where they have had a chance to talk to “seasoned” managers who are able to compare and contrast their years of experience under BMC/Rover management and their experience with BMW. They would never return to the old days for all the reasons he states.
But like very many large and less large German businesses BMW has an independent supervisory board whose task in law it is to supervise the activities of the board of management of the enterprise. In Anglo-American jurisdictions there is no such distinction. Boards are single unitary boards dominated in power terms by executive directors with a sprinkling of so-called independent directors who are for the most part ineffective in holding executive directors to account. Hence the long-standing problems at Sports Direct and many other companies.
We should therefore take with a pinch of salt Sports Direct’s generous offer to appoint an employee director to the board. This will change little in the culture of the company. To see lasting improvement we have to embrace fully the constitutional design common in Germany and other European jurisdictions. A sticking plaster won’t work. These matters and an agenda for reform are set out clearly in my book The Looming Corporate Calamity.
Richard Tudway
Burgess Hill, West Sussex
• It is timely that corporate governance has shot up the political agenda. It is to be hoped that Theresa May’s threat to place workers on boards will open a long-awaited discussion on industrial democracy. Way back in the postwar period the British Control Commission in Germany fostered the idea of a tripartite board structure for industry, with a third of which being drawn from the workforce. This enlightened view did much to assist the reconstruction of Germany’s industry and establish a healthy basis on which it has thrived.
In the 21st century it is not good enough for Mike Ashley to say he will put a staff representative on the board of Sports Direct. This should not be the prerogative of the board of a public company; it should be a right that employees can elect their own representative/s.Certainly if this constituted a third of the membership of the board, much of the reported corporate abuse would be challenged.
John Lloyd
Honorary president, South Shropshire Green party
• Neoliberalism can only be blamed on 1960s radicalism if you blame it for its own defeat (Did we baby boomers bring about a revolution in the 1960s or just usher in neoliberalism, theguardian.com, 8 September). International studies show that the narcissistic “me” individualism is a product of the increased inequality ushered in by Reagan and Thatcher.
The strengthening of the labour movement and the fear of communism led to a continuous decline in income inequality from the 1930s to the 1970s. But there was a failure during the 1960s to make structural changes which could have prevented the re-emergence of those inequalities and the reversal of progress since 1980.
The political pendulum swung to the right until the financial crash in 2007, when it ground to a halt and began to swing back. Though periods of high inequality are also periods of political conflict, opportunities for progressive change may re-emerge. This time let’s remember that economic democracy – employees on boards, employee-owned and cooperative companies – is the best way to embed greater equality in society. With evidence of economic and social benefits, this is surely the next step in human emancipation.
Richard Wilkinson
Emeritus professor of social epidemiology
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• The final letter above was amended on 12 September 2016. An earlier version referred to “greater inequality” where “greater equality” was meant.
