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I think many in business would agree to a large degree with this.
The issue is how labour is trying to address this. Employee ownership for large companies is already encouraged through tax free share purchases. Expand on that rather expropriate and give the equity to a state fund.
Unions in Germany are different to unions in the UK, not as far to the left and they do not see business as the enemy.
ESG is becoming a big topic for business, with room for improvement but I think people already started to move on from quarterly shareholder returns. Guess what, companies with solid ESG are more valuable, so investors likes them.
hesa-
Employee ownership for large companies is already encouraged through tax free share purchases. Expand on that rather expropriate and give the equity to a state fund.
A state fund is not a bad idea. Norway's oil fund is the largest equity investor in Europe and responsibly managed - for the benefit of Norwegians in perpetuity (i.e. not to exhaust for short term reasons). But general attitudes in Norway are different - national pride equates to caring about it, the people, and a responsibility to future generations - in contrast to a 'what's in it for me' in UK. (No offence intended to anyone and my assertion re Norwegian's is based on limited, but positive experience).
The problem with any state controlled activity is the inherent corruption within the system which is throttles the ability for genuine change to be accomplished.
There have been good initiatives in the last decade to fund engineering/ manufacturing technology, but the translation from my own experience and various anecdotes is that this has been channeled to benefit the larger corporate interests, fraternal networks and has not required genuine commitment to the UK. There needs to be far more transparency and accountability, but without administrative burden and closing as many doors for potential cynical exploitation as possible.
welpeur
Employee share ownership I think is very good. It is way more direct in addressing the problem of distribution of wealth of 'business' and reduces the amount of capital that can avoid taxation.
Employee control is good. In the same way Toyota delegated problem solving to the floor, re-investment vs distribution decisions can be made more sensibly rather than the operation of maximising shareholder returns on 1y horizons.
'Business' should be about more than maximal returns for shareholders. Given its expectation for govt support, policy making and its direct and disproportionate impact on society, why should it not have a commitment to more than an elite who control capital?
Perhaps gov't can operate policies to encourage employee ownership in targeted sectors as one part of trying to build a 'mittelstand' type framework and economic rebalancing to regenerate secondary activity in the UK