On Purpose - Labor

Today is Labor Day, a day intended to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers.

The CLR Ethic is intended to balance the complexities and risks of modern business with our commitment to innovating for an ever-evolving society. Present CLR management fully intends for the corporation to outlast any individual shareholder, customer, employee, manager, or director. Maintaining this enterprise requires consistent, measurable performance, IE profit. The company intends to provide consistent opportunity for customers, employees, and their communities by creating economic and technological value. CLR applyies the same rigorous approach we have to our fiduciary duty, to the health and safety of our employees and their support systems.

At the founding of the nation, the first American corporations were cities, towns, and utilities that provided public goods and services for American citizens. At the same time, these corporations participated in exclusionary business activities that benefited a select portion of economic participants. In subsequent years,  new corporations created unresolvable negative externalities in the pursuit of profit. Until the enactment of OSHA, the limited protections of Walsh–Healey were the only federal safeguards workers could expect. At CLR, we intend to resolve the tension between profit and purpose by pursuing the highest standards of engineering and innovation, encoded in our business DNA through the CLR Ethic.

In our opinion, world class ethical managers (and the ones we plan to hire) don't experience a meaningful difference realizing the outcomes of the following statements:

The purpose of a corporation is to conduct a lawful, ethical, profitable and sustainable business in order to ensure its success and grow its value over the long term. This requires consideration of all the stakeholders that are critical to its success (shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and communities), as determined by the corporation and its board of directors using their business judgment and with regular engagement with shareholders, who are essential partners in supporting the corporation’s pursuit of its purpose. Fulfilling this purpose in such manner is fully consistent with the fiduciary duties of the board of directors and the stewardship obligations of shareholders. - Martin Lipton

“...there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.” - Milton Friedman

 

Image Citation: Adele Gutman Nathan Theatrical Collection. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. 

Image: Weirton Steel Factory 1943 Labor Day Celebration- Current

Historical Note: Weirton Steel became the largest Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) steel plant in the world when employees purchased stocks in the 1980s.

Present Note: Form Factory 1, of Form Energy, currently operates on the site of the steel mill. The legacy of commitment to humanity continues.