"Most Americans today take it for granted that the workplace is unbearably stressful, fearful, and organized to transfer much of the wealth up to a tiny, privileged class of executives and shareholders at the expense of the many. But it wasn't always that way. Long before Neutron Jack, General Electric's stated relationship to their employees was deliberately paternalistic, respectful, secure, and symbiotic. In 1962, right around the time that young Jack Welch joined GE, Earl S. Willis, the manager of employee benefits at General Electric, wrote, "Maximizing employment security is a prime company goal." Later, he wrote, "The employee who can plan his economic future with reasonable certainty is an employer's most productive asset. Contrast this to Jack Welch, who bragged after one hundred twenty-eight thousand firings, one hundred twenty-eight thousand potentially ruined families, that "only the buildings remained standing." Oh, and his billion dollars in savings, his $15 million annual pension, and his company 737."
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Sources
Mark Ames, Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005), p. 110
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Welch
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Jack Welch
John Francis Welch Jr. (November 19, 1935 – March 1, 2020) was an American businessman who served as Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. During his tenure, GE increased its market capitalization by over $400 billion. Welch also oversaw the firing of more than 100,000 GE employees, and was awarded a severance package of $417 million when he retired in 2001, the largest such payment in history.
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