Shareholder and Financial Strategies

Corporations are perversions of a democratic system, where money equals power in a twisted franchise. However, at the end of the day, shareholders wield significant power over the operations, leadership, and financial structure of publicly-traded corporations. While many investors consistently advocate for headcount reductions, cuts in capital expenditures and increased share buybacks, some others—with varying degrees of sincerity—profess to oppose these approaches and instead advocate for the pursuit of “long-term” value and profitability. Are there “win-win” strategies for both workers and shareholders? And how does one define “value” and “profit” for shareholders? John Marshall of UFCW 3000 & 324 will lead a strategic discussion on shareholder strategies, and where the relationships between firms and their shareholders create opportunities or challenges for unions. This workshop will be pitched at a level where both beginners and experienced researchers can benefit, however a significant portion of the material will involve financial statement ratios. Therefore students who are unfamiliar with financial statement ratio analysis are strongly encouraged to take Financial Analysis Parts 1 and 2 earlier in the day.

For use in the workshop:

Data for Shareholder & Financial Strategies

Assigned Texts: 

To get the most out of the workshop, the facilitator encourages you to read or watch the following before Saturday:

• Advocating for freedom of association as an investor
• Reuters: S. California union takes major step towards strike
• Times of San Diego: Opinion: Ralphs pays its employees fairly and all of Southern California benefits
• Bloomberg Law: Kroger investors pay gap proposal win emboldens activists

Extra Credit Texts:

• Shared Prosperity: The Investor Case for Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
• Marx, Capital V.1 Ch. 4: The General Formula for Capital

John Marshall is the Director of Capital Strategies for UFCW 3000, and Assistant to the President at UFCW 324. From 2009 to 2022 he held the title of Senior Capital Markets Economist with the UFCW International Union’s Capital Stewardship Program, where he worked with investors and analysts on financial and governance issues in the retail, meatpacking, and food processing sectors. Previously he was the Research Director for SEIU’s Capital Stewardship Program. John received his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2003, and was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2007. In 2019, John was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as a member of the California Future of Work Commission.