"Every Worker a Capitalist"

On red and blue cardboard placards in Manhattan's Hotel Roosevelt last week were signs announcing: "Profit sharing makes every worker a capitalist." The two-year-old Council of Profit Sharing Industries was holding its annual meeting, and it had plenty of figures to back up its slogan. Starting with 16 companies, the council has grown rapidly; it now represents 155 companies with gross sales of $3.5 billion a year. Last year the 240,000 employees in the companies received about $40 million in profits, or an addition of 5% to 117% to their regular wages.

One reason for the growth of such plans, the council reported, is that profit sharing brings 1) better labor relations, 2) better productivity from workers, 3) higher profits. Some of the council members told how.

"Some Bad Times." Until ten years ago, said Clarence Wimpfheimer, president of Stonington, Connecticut's American Velvet Co., there were frequent labor disputes and "I had some bad times with the boys." After a 16-month strike, Wimpfheimer adopted a profit-sharing plan for his 350 employees, all members of the C.I.O. Textile Workers Union. The company, which has had no work stoppage since then, last year paid $180,000 into profit-shares and pension funds, equal to 22% of each man's wages.

Another whose profit-sharing plan increased workers' efficiency was Jewel Tea Co. Started 25 years ago by Jewel's Board Chairman John M. Hancock, onetime adviser to Elder Statesman Bernard Baruch, the Jewel plan provides for joint pension contributions plus profit-shares from management amounting to 15% of net earnings after dividends. To some employees it has paid off an average return of 55% on their original contributions.

Some Not Convinced. The most generous profit-sharing plan of all is at Ohio's Lincoln Electric Co., which last year paid out sums amounting to 117% of employees' salaries; its 1,200 workers got an average of $7,212 apiece, including wages.

Even so, many a corporation is still not convinced. Some have tried profit sharing and dropped it because there was no appreciable improvement in worker morale or efficiency. Many unionists also oppose such plans, fearing that they will lead to the speedup. To that the council replies: not so. Profit sharing simply eliminates waste and carelessness. Said Clarence Wimpfheimer: "It is not a method of chiseling wages down. You establish a decent basic wage, and you put the profit sharing on top of that."

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