If you look fairly at what Ed Miliband has been saying in the last two years, Miliband appears to be wanting businesses of all sizes to act more responsibly. The corporate, like the individual under Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair, might have aspiration for outcome, and might be intensely ambitious. What Miliband is saying is a profound reshaping of political power indirectly through socio-economics.
It is shrewd, because Miliband is encouraging businesses to be individualistic, act in their best interests, like Thatcher did. Whereas it is claimed that Thatcher never said ‘there is no such thing as society’, Miliband’s narrative is intensely clever as it firmly puts business in the context of its society. Much of the recent criticism of the Conservative approach is that it has pit corporates against society, and the intellectual powerhouse of the Harvard Business School has been trying to contextualise corporate strategy within the context of the rest of society.
Miliband wishes workers and employees to feel valued in their employment through their ‘living wage’. Miliband, like Cable, outright rejects the proposals for ‘no fault dismissal’, concerned that such plans might heighten a sense of job security. It cannot be unprofitable for certain corporates to award their lowest paid workers a decent wage for living, if they are able to secure for their top CEOs a huge income and personal wealth. Miliband wishes the businesses to give ‘something back’ in nurturing the talent of their workforce, anticipating their future career and business needs.
Furthermore, Miliband outright rejects the notion of the corporate acting in isolation from the rest of Society. Whatever the Leveson Inquiry delivers as a verdict on phone-hacking, whether the ATOS contract is considered ‘value-for-money’ given the number of assessments overturned on appeal, whether G4s performed well in delivering their contract for the Olympics, whether A4e delivered ‘Workfare’ without internal problems, it is patently evident that the market on its own cannot be left to its own devices. The banking industry, and the City in general, stands to suffer if clients globally take their work elsewhere, which they could do perfectly justifiably if corporate scandals remain; for this reason, the Conservatives and Labour must tackle the issue of financial regulation more comprehensively.
While Miliband’s new policy may not be officially redistributive in terms of its economics, his framework is unashamedly redistributive politically. In such a framework, key stakeholders, such as UNISON in Hinchingbrooke Hospital, will not feel disenfranchised, and may even return value to their colleagues (and indeed their management). Corporates indeed stand to gain if they look after their own interests, but the key selling point for the Left is that this is not at the expense of the rest of Society. It will allow the Unions feel less demonised, and, when you think of the hard work done by teachers and nurses in the UK, this will be a good thing.
