When Steven Burd, CEO of the supermarket chain Safeway, cut wages and benefits, starting a five-month strike by 59,000 unionized workers, he was confident he would win. But where traditional labor action failed, a novel approach was more successful. With the aid of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, a $300 billion pension fund, workers led a shareholder revolt that unseated three of Burd’s boardroom allies.
In The Rise of the Working-Class Shareholder: Labor's Last Best Weapon, David Webber uses cases such as Safeway’s to shine a light on labor’s most potent remaining weapon: its multitrillion-dollar pension funds. Outmaneuvered at the bargaining table and under constant assault in Washington, state houses, and the courts, worker organizations are beginning to exercise muscle through markets. Shareholder activism has been used to divest from anti-labor companies, gun makers, and tobacco; diversify corporate boards; support Occupy Wall Street; force global warming onto the corporate agenda; create jobs; and challenge outlandish CEO pay. Webber argues that workers have found in labor’s capital a potent strategy against their exploiters. He explains the tactic’s surmountable difficulties even as he cautions that corporate interests are already working to deny labor’s access to this powerful and underused tool.

The Rise of the Working-Class Shareholder is a rare good-news story for American workers, an opportunity hiding in plain sight. Combining legal rigor with inspiring narratives of labor victory, Webber shows how workers can wield their own capital to reclaim their strength.

当连锁超市Safeway的CEO史蒂文•伯德（Steven Burd）削减工资和福利，开始了5.9万名加入工会的工人为期5个月的罢工时，他相信自己会赢。但在传统劳工行动失败的地方，一种新的方法更为成功。在加州公共雇员退休系统（一个3000亿美元的养老基金）的帮助下，工人们领导了一场股东起义，推翻了伯德的三个董事会盟友。
在《工人阶级股东的崛起：工党最后最好的武器》一书中，大卫·韦伯（David Webber）用Safeway等案例照亮了工党剩下的最有力的武器：其数万亿美元的养老基金。在谈判桌上，在华盛顿、州议会和法院的不断攻击下，工人组织开始在市场上锻炼肌肉。股东激进主义被用来从反劳工公司、枪支制造商和烟草公司撤资；使公司董事会多样化；支持占领华尔街；将全球变暖问题纳入公司议程；创造就业机会；挑战古怪的CEO薪酬。韦伯认为，工人们在工党的资本中发现了一种对付剥削者的有效策略。他解释了这一策略可以克服的困难，尽管他警告说，企业利益集团已经在努力阻止劳工使用这一强大且未充分利用的工具。
工人阶级股东的崛起对美国工人来说是一个难得的好消息，一个藏在眼前的机会。结合严格的法律和鼓舞人心的劳动胜利的叙述，韦伯展示了工人如何运用自己的资本，以收回他们的力量。