# Shareholders Are Stealing Our Jobs

1 Opinion October 25, 2018 Fortune ![Tensie Whelan](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/TensieBody.jpg?itok=DSVRCnmy) By Andrea Armeni and Tensie Whelan > To help American workers and shareholders, we suggest asset managers and owners move to reject shareholder primacy and embrace stakeholder capitalism.

It’s not the robots that are coming for American jobs. It’s not the immigrants. It’s not evil offshoring CEOs either. It’s the shareholders.

Under shareholder capitalism, the U.S. labor force has become a liability—a cost to be contained—rather than an asset, and the decrease in worker well-being is a simple externality to be placed off books and ignored.

To help American workers and shareholders, we suggest asset managers and owners move to reject shareholder primacy and embrace stakeholder capitalism, invest in positive approaches to quality employment, and help workers regain a voice in corporate decision-making.

Read the full [*Fortune* article](http://fortune.com/2018/10/25/socially-responsible-investing-stakeholder-capitalism/).
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*[Tensie Whelan](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/tensie-whelan) is a Clinical Professor of Business and Society and Director of the Center for Sustainable Business.* ## More Opinions from Tensie Whelan

- [Demystifying the ‘Say-Do’ Gap in Sustainable Product Purchases.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/demystifying-say-do-gap-sustainable-product-purchases)
- [How LPs Can Better Assess Sustainability-Linked Value Creation.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/how-lps-can-better-assess-sustainability-linked-value-creation)
- [Lessons From a Decade of Teaching Sustainability at B-School.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/lessons-decade-teaching-sustainability-b-school)
- [ESG Reporting Needs a Refresh. Here’s How to Fix It.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/esg-reporting-needs-refresh-heres-how-fix-it)
- [The B2B Opportunity in Corporate Sustainability.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/b2b-opportunity-corporate-sustainability)