Kalistan

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MotorVrassa splits from MoCo
Aims to provide Worker Owned Model of a Car Plant
Addisjah, Duchy of Vrassa
November 1, 5657


MV, a new Worker Owned Company given the Green Light to Incorporate in Addisjah

The Kalistani Car Market just got a new player as a split-off corporation has been incorporated in Addisjah, Vrassa. A group of prominent institutional investors who controlled a significant portion of MoCo stock have signed an agreement to take over the lagging Addisjah Factory with the aim of not only reducing the plant's liability on the Parent company, but also to try a new experiment in worker ownership. Following application for spilt and filing articles of incorporation, the new company, as a subsidiary of MoCo, was formed and a new transitional board of Directors was elected.

"What we have in mind is that we take the shares of this company and make them part of the workers' pay and compensation package," said new CEO Danielle Richards, speaking for the new company that is known as Motor Vrassa, or MV. "The overarching vision is to give workers themselves a real stake in the health of the company through stock buyout first, and then through profit sharing. We also aim to provide more choice of EVs in the Kalistani Market, and fully fund research and development. MoCo is such a huge company that messing with something here, triggers changes there, and it sort of makes their design decisions pretty conservative. They usually only change something if they can offset the change in another department, or if the change will save them enough money to cover the cost of making the changes, so as a result, MoCos of 5657 look, drive and act very similar to MoCos of 5557. We can do better, and if we have the workers, the people who actually make those cars, making decisions like this, there might be a real explosion in meeting demand in the country."

The plan for MV is to take over the Addisjah MoCo Plant, which has been running at a loss for years and depressing the Parent Company's profitability. It will begin with the initial group of investors, among which are counted Gina Franks, who currently owns the largest individual bloc of MoCo stock among the defectors, as well as House Ananto, who has expressed support through their agent, for a worker owned corporation, issuing stock equal to the book value of the Addisjah Plant and fixed capital, to MoCo. This will essentially change the status of MoCo from Owner of the Addisjah firm to Lease Holder. Over the next ten years, the Motor Vrassa Directors will buy that stock off. During this period, Motor Vrassa will remain a subsidiary of MoCo, and will make regular stock dividend payments to MoCo based on the share of the company still owned by MoCo.

At the same time, the new Owners will issue stock to existing workers at the Addisjah Plant that will allow them to outvote one, but not both of the other two blocs, either MoCo OR the dissenting investors. This will create a tripartite ownership of the company. Each quarter, as dividend are paid out, previously bought back MoCo stock will go to workers in lieu of cash dividends, so as the Owner Bloc is able to buy stock back from MoCo, they transfer it directly to the workers. Eventually the workers will form a majority of the ownership, with the Investor Bloc keeping their own shares.

All workers in MV will be unionized and will become part of the Bargaining unit, with a work Contract that prohibits "at will" labor, enforces progressive discipline, the grievance procedure, and hiring and firing policies. Workers will be in charge of all decisions to hire and fire in the first contract, with an appeal to the Board presented, if a worker thinks he or she has been terminated unjustly. They will also be in charge of setting wages in the different parts of the company. All wages will be public, so workers can't be used against one another.

"It is important that we establish these principles from the outset," said Richards. "They will form the basis of what our current workers expect, and what new workers will learn as they are hired into the operations." Richards says this sort of cooperative management policy, when looked at in full will be very attractive to autoworkers. "Eventually, it is possible that this company will be completely owned by the workers: All stock divestment among the Investors must be offered to the workers first according to the plan. And when the workers are in charge of this company, they will set their own wages, their own hours, their own holidays, their own production schedule, and manage their own contract. This is the idea: Workers know if they have some incentive to work hard and produce a good product, not only will consumers want it, but they will pay for it. And the better the workers do, the wealthier they will become. Its certainly something worth attempting."

MV will continue to make cars for the electrical Vehicle market in both Kalistan and abroad. "Our infrastructure has been set up for EV usage for a century now," said Richards. "I don't think you could get a tank of petroleum in this nation outside of a place like Sulari, or perhaps Port Swedes, which still sees a lot of foreign driving tourists. But gasoline is very expensive these days in Kalistan, and so it would be an expensive proposition for MV to return to the gas engine or even diesel engine markets." MV however will produce vehicles for export, at least at the beginning. "Electrical, still. There are not enough EVs in the world to completely obliviate the need for gasoline, but we certainly do not want to do anything to perpetuate the use of fossil fuels."

At the time of printing, Workers have voted to accept the contract along these terms, and the last MoCo models are rolling off the line in Addisjah before the full transition to new branding in January of 5658.

@TheRepublic