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Let's talk about some of
the great innovations that

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are happening at local
levels in our workplaces

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across the country.

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If you're like me,
I'm sure you're

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frustrated with
the gridlock that

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is blocking any progress in
public policy in Washington.

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I've seen this go on for
30 years in our field

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where Congress and the
President can't pass anything

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because there's an impasse
between business and labor

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on employment and labor policy.

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So we need to look to other
places for innovations today.

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The good news is that
there's a lot going on

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at the local level in
established companies,

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in startups, in state and local
governments, in non-profits.

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And so that's
where historically,

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most of our major innovations
at work have occurred.

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So let's look at a few of these.

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You've heard of companies such
as Southwest Airlines started,

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in 1970.

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It's the most profitable
airline in the United States.

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It has consistently been rated
as one of the best places

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to work.

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It has great customer
satisfaction,

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and it has low prices.

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And it's worked effectively
for shareholders

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and for employees and for
customers for many years.

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So that's one example,
but there are others.

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Across almost every
industry we can

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find good companies
that are able to provide

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good jobs at high
profits and good service

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to their customers.

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In the health care
area you often

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hear about Kaiser Permanente,
a major nonprofit health care

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provider that both is an insurer
and clinics and doctors offices

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and has hospitals.

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Google, as you all know, is
one of the greatest employers

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today.

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It's got the resources to
have parties on Fridays

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and treat employees well
and encourage them to work

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creatively on their own work.

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Here in New England,
we celebrate the work

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of Market Basket, one
of our grocery chains

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where employees went on
strike to support their CEO

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to save the business culture
and the business that

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was good for employees
and good for customers

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and good for shareholders.

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We'll talk more about Market
Basket in future sessions

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of this class.

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On the West Coast, there's
a similar organization

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called In-N-Out Burgers, again
a retail restaurant which

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is doing very very well.

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So there are
companies that do this

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but then there are new
forms of work emerging out

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of the so-called
on demand economy

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with names like
Uber, TaskRabbit.

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Companies that disrupt
traditional ways of organizing

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work and that bring
customers more directly

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into the work process.

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We will discuss the
pros and the cons

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of these new ways of working
throughout this course.

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And we see equally
exciting innovations

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all across the world.

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The Swedish furniture
maker Ikea, for example,

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is a global leader in
environmental sustainability,

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in serving low income
customers with good quality

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furniture at reasonable prices,
and providing good working

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conditions, including ensuring
that its lowest paid employees

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earn a living wage.

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Or consider Semco, an
innovative company in Brazil

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that has gained a reputation
for empowering employees

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to control their own jobs
and their work schedules

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and yet has grown to
become Brazil's most

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successful company.

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The CEO who grew and shaped
the company, Ricardo Semler,

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was recognized by the
World Economic Forum

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as one of the global
leaders of tomorrow.

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But what about innovations
on the labor market side?

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Well, in the 20th
century, unions

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were the source of
tremendous innovation.

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They're happy to tell you
that they are the group that

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brought you the weekend.

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And, in fact, that's true.

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They negotiated for
time off for holidays,

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for weekends, for various kinds
of vacation pay and sick leave

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pay.

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But unions, as you can see
here, have fallen on hard times.

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They have lost membership
going from about a third

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of the workforce down to
less than 15% percent today,

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and in the private sector,
they're even lower at about 7%.

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But in the wake of
this decline, we're

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seeing new forms of worker
organization emerge.

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Sometimes they're
called cooperatives,

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sometimes they're
called worker centers.

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Sometimes they're called
fast food strikes,

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as we've seen against
McDonald's and other industries.

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Sometimes it's protests
against Walmart

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on Black Friday where
workers are protesting

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low wages in that industry.

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But we're seeing
these organizations

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come along and develop their
own form of innovation that

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helps to represent workers
and provide workers

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a voice that allows them to
improve their own conditions

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on the job.

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And some are using social media
to provide new opportunities.

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You've heard about
Mechanical Turk, which

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provides jobs for people who
can sign up on the internet

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to do coding jobs and other
very basic kinds of things

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that they can do from home.

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Well, this thing called
Turkopticon has come along

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and it said, we
will rate employers.

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Are they good employers?

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Can we trust them?

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Do they pay their
employees wages on time?

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Do they live up
to their promise?

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This is all done
spontaneously to organize.

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So we're seeing new
forms of organization

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like this come along.

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So we can do this.

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We need to continue
to put our good faith

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efforts into creating
innovations at the workplace.

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We need to ask then, how can
we take those innovations

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and spread them
across the economy

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so that more and more people can
benefit from these good ideas?

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That's our job.

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I look forward to
seeing more innovations

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and I look forward to seeing
what you and your generation

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creates as the
next form of work,

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the next kind of
organizations that

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will meet the needs
of our economy

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and our society going forward.