On March 18, 50 worker/owners of local companies amassed in Philadelphia’s City Council chambers. They urged the Council to use its purchasing power to create wealth in poor neighborhoods by demanding that the city buy from businesses that have profit sharing and worker-ownership plans. This mobilization represents the first attempt of the 1.5 million worker/owners in America to become a political force for a more equitable distribution of wealth. I’ve joined them, and I hope you will consider doing the same.

The workers came from diverse companies: Sun and Earth, a manufacturer of citrus-based cleaners; Urban Works, a janitorial company; Laser Labs, an eyeglass manufacturer; City Sort, a mail sorting company; and Phoenix Foods, a symbiotic fish and basil farm I run. All the companies share a commitment to building a new type of business where the workers share not only in the profit but also in the ownership. All are attempting to offer an alternative to the greed and avarice that has characterized too many American corporations. Until the City Council hearing they had never been melded into a political force.

What held them together was The Equity Project, a newly formed advocacy group. The group’s mission is "to ensure that every American gets their piece of the pie." The Equity Project is directed by Jacob Gray, a serious man in his early 30s with a background in the development of nonprofits.

It is housed in the Resources for Human Development’s New Beginnings program. Resources, as it is known, is led by Robert Fishman, its founder and CEO. Resources has emerged as one of the most entrepreneurial nonprofits in America. It employs more than 3,000 workers and has an annual operating budget approaching $100 million a year.

Gray and his board have their work cut out for them if they are to reach their goal of organizing all the worker/owners in America into a political force. That force, if harnessed, argues Gray, will be, aside from unions, the largest group of organized workers in America. "Imagine," challenges Gray, " a force of 1.5 million fighting for tax incentives, access to loan funds and government contracts for worker-owned businesses."

In briefing after briefing Gray lays out the background for The Equity Project. His pitch is simple: From the early 1980s until today, America has gone through the largest redistribution of wealth in its history -- a redistribution from the poor and middle class to the super wealthy!

America’s wealthiest 1 percent now own more of America than in any time since the Gilded Age, a period that preceded America’s Great Depression. The statistics are staggering. In 1998 the 13,000 richest families in America had almost as much income as the 20 million poorest households. According to Princeton economist Paul Krugman, in 1970, the medium per capita income in the country was $32,522; in 1999, it was $35, 864, an almost insignificant increase. But over the same period the median income of America’s top 100 CEOs grew from $1.3 million a year to $37.5 million. That’s a 2,880 percent increase. If the average family had kept up most of us would be making a million dollars a year.

The worker/owners and their supporters went to City Council to ask the city to use its budget and buying power to reward businesses that have profit-sharing plans or worker ownership and pay every worker a living wage. Gray, speaking before Council, urged the members to dream with him of generating thousands of worker/owners in Philadelphia and creating wealth in neighborhoods throughout the city. To make it possible, City Council has to do five simple things:

• Choose to do business with businesses that have profit-sharing and worker-ownership plans.

• Reward businesses that institute profit sharing by lowering their business taxes commensurate with the amount of profit sharing and worker ownership -- there will be no net loss to the city as the higher wages will lead to higher wage tax collection.

• Use 1 percent of the city’s pension fund to start businesses that have worker/owners in Philadelphia. There will be a double return to the pension plan: the return on their investment and the revenue growth resulting from job creation.

Do you want a society that supports worker ownership, profit sharing and a more equitable distribution of wealth? If so, this election cycle is the time to let the mayor and his opponent and all of City Council know.

Lance Haver is the managing partner of Phoenix Foods, a worker-owned sustainable fish and basil farm in West Philadelphia. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (850 words), contact Howard Altman, City Paper editor in chief, 123 Chestnut St., third floor, Phila., PA 19106 or e-mail altman@citypaper.net.