Atria Senior Living and Lazard --  I've been writing about bigger-picture issues but today I'd like to go back where this started, to the most vulnerable people - the elderly.  The residents at the Atria Senior Living facilities are the direct victims of a big company buying up a number of senior living chains, combining them into one big chain and then financializing this as an investment, because everyone knows that the Boomers are getting old so this is a great way to get in on the ground floor of a growing business.  

But viewing elderly people as a business and good investment is the wrong way to approach this.  It's backwards.  It should be, let's take care of elderly people, and do a good job, and provide a good service, and be fairly compensated for our efforts.  That is how a business should be run.  The goal is doing a great job with the product or service provided, not makingthe quick buck by cutting back services and squeezing employees.  This si the new American way of looking at business, but it is just wrong.  

Starting this series, I wrote,

To set the stage, think about yourself getting old, or about your parents or grandparents. Think about reaching a point where you just can't quite get by living on your own at home anymore. So at some point you decide you have to move into a senior facility. What about if you need assisted-living facilities -- a place with people to help you take a shower and things like that. And finally, think about when you might need "memory care." (This is a the name for a special facility for people with Alzheimer's disease.)

These are people who are in no condition to fight battles. Vulnerable is the word here. Extremely vulnerable. You would think people in this phase of their live are people who our society would give special care, special attention, special protections. You would think that our society would join together to take care of them, protect them, shelter them, fight for them.

I have been writing about the Campaign to Improve Assisted Living -- please visit their website.  

I'd like to talk about the larger picture.  The other day I asked Who Is the Corporation

So here is the thing.  When you talk about a corporation doing something, who are you talking about?  In reality you are talking about a few PEOPLE, not some anonymous corporation, PEOPLE.  And when you talk about the people of a corporation you are not talking about Bob in Sales or Mary in Accounts Receivable.  They are not the people who make decisions -- they aren't even asked.  They are told from the top how it is going to be.  When you talj about a corporation doing or saying something you are really talking about A FEW PEOPLE and the things these people do and say are not for "the company" they are necessarily for THEMSELVES.  Corporations do not have voices or thoughts or ideas, a few people who have control of the resources of the corporation do, and always, always act for their OWN gain.

Today let's take a look at Why?

Here we have a country that allows vulnerable elderly people to be treated as a product to be harvested and workers to be treated as economic units or annoying costs to be replaced if they are not efficient enough.  The average worker faces longer working hours for less pay and fewer benefits each year.

How did we get here?  When did we decide to have a system like this?  Did we ever decide?

Who benefits from this system?  In the case of Atria Senior Living Bruce Wasserstein benefits.  Other executives at Atria and Lazard benefit.  Does anyone else?  Why do we allow it?

We used to have kings and feudal lords who "owned" almost everything and told everyone else what to do.  People rose up, battles were fought and eventually a compromise was reached.  England still has a Queen!

In America workers faced brutal conditions because a few powerful wealthy people controlled the economy and the mines and the mills and the factories.  Over time unions formed and fought this and a compromise of sorts was eventually reached.  And over time those unions have been eroded and things have been slipping backwards.  That is a gross simplification, but here we are.

When do We, the People start to decide what kind of economy we want?  In Europe and much of the rest of the world people get five weeks vacation, health care, child care, and rights.  That is because the people there understand that they are in an ongoing fight between the people and the powerful, and they still have strong unions.  In America a very few get fabulously wealthy, supported by the work the rest of us -- here and in the outsourcing countries -- do.

When will We, the People decide that WE want a better system for US?  I suggest taking a look at the SEUI's Accountability Project.  This campaign is intended to help all of us, not just their own membership.  It's a start.  But in your own actions and thoughts, start demanding more.  Start demanding that the few ultra-wealthy and the corporations butt out of our system. We are We, the People and We are supposed to be in charge here.

This post was sponsored in part by The Campaign To Improve Assisted Living.

Last week in Gouging Vulnerable Seniors -- What Can Be Done? I wrote about two big pension funds that have invested in the "Lazard affiliate" that owns Atria Senior Living, and suggested they ask Lazard to clear up their act.  (If you are not familiar with what is happening with Atria, please click this.)  One of these funds is in Quebec, the other in the Netherlands.  These funds have signed on to the United Nation's Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI) and these principles call for investors to take action when their investments are causing harm.

PGGM is a large pension fund in the Netherlands that serves that country's public social workers and health care workers.

La Caisse de Depot et Placements du Quebec ("CDP") -- a large public pension fund in Quebec.

These are prominent, large funds with good reputations on a global stage. They are responsible investors and take it seriously enough to be signatories to the UN-PRI. The Principles' FAQs say "The Principles suggest a policy of engagement with companies rather than screening or avoiding stocks based on ESG criteria (although this may be an appropriate approach for some investors)." I am writing here to encourage PGGM and CDP to ask Lazard to clean up their act, and have Atria treat their elderly residents and their workers better. Ask them to support the International Labor Organization's core conventions, especially Freedom of Association: "The right of workers and employers to form and join organizations of their choice is an integral part of a free and open society. It is a basic civil liberty that serves as a building block for social and economic progress. Linked to this is the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. Voice and representation are an important part of decent work."

So OK, that's what THEY can do.  What about you?  

Bumped - Todd

I have been writing about Atria Senior Living, owned by a "Lazard-affiliate."  Atria is big a chain of facilities where elderly people live.  It offers assisted living care and "memory care"(which means Alzheimer's care facilities).  Lazard is a big "Bermuda-based" (HA!) Wall Street "buyout firm."

Here's the deal.  Big Wall Street firm Lazard buys a few senior-care facility chains and combines them into Atria.  The "boomers" are aging and will need care so this is the Next Big Thing investment.  Pension funds and others hand over to Lazard millions for this "investment," expecting Lazard to provide a rich return.  This means the seniors (well, their incomes, actually) are the PRODUCT, not the customer here.  The seniors are an annoyance, inefficient, demanding, in the way of maximizing revenue.  Employees are even worse, of course, because they expect to get paid, and want to go home sometimes, and are generally in the way of the supreme goal of maximizing revenue.

And to complicate things Lazard has set up an extremely convoluted system of corporations "affiliated with" other corporations, some based in Bermuda (HA!) and none particularly traceable to being the actual owners of Atria.  No one can really find who ultimately can be held accountable for the hundreds of violations of regulations that Atria commits.

So here is the thing.  When you talk about a corporation doing something, who are you talking about?  In reality you are talking about a few PEOPLE, not some anonymous corporation, PEOPLE.  And when you talk about the people of a corporation you are not talking about Bob in Sales or Mary in Accounts Receivable.  They are not the people who make decisions -- they aren't even asked.  They are told from the top how it is going to be.  When you talj about a corporation doing or saying something you are really talking about A FEW PEOPLE and the things these people do and say are not for "the company" they are necessarily for THEMSELVES.  Corporations do not have voices or thoughts or ideas, a few people who have control of the resources of the corporation do, and always, always act for their OWN gain.

So far this week, in the unfolding story of Atria Senior Living, Bermuda-based (HA!) buyout firm Lazard and the really, really rich guy at the top of the food chain Bruce Wasserstein:

Part four: Gouging Vulnerable Seniors -- What Can Be Done?:

The world recognizes that there is a problem with this kind of uninhibited greed. Many people and organizations recognize that such a system is not sustainable, harms the people who work for the companies, the communities around them, the customers and the economies in which they operate. Sure, a few executives make out like bandits for a while, but over time it doesn't do the rest of us any good, not even their companies.

[. . .] I am writing here to encourage PGGM and CDP (La Caisse de Depot et Placements du Quebec) to ask Lazard to clean up their act, and have Atria treat their elderly residents and their workers better. Ask them to support the International Labor Organization's core conventions, especially Freedom of Association: "The right of workers and employers to form and join organizations of their choice is an integral part of a free and open society. It is a basic civil liberty that serves as a building block for social and economic progress. Linked to this is the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. Voice and representation are an important part of decent work." They work for YOU, you have responsible investment policies, and what Lazard is doing goes against these policies.

This is part four of an unfolding series on the Atria Senior Living chain of senior living facilities, and how they treat their residents and workers. So far:
Part three: Living and Working at Atria
Part two: Extreme Wealth Just Isn't Enough
Part one: When Seniors Are the Product

I have been writing this week about the Atria Senior Living facilities, which are owned by a Lazard-"affiliated" fund.  The elderly people who live in these corporate-owned and managed facilities are treated as a product, neatly packaged up and flowing to the investors.  Services for them are costs that must be reduced and reduced, while the rates increase and increase.  Employees are an irritating necessity, not human beings to be fairly compensated and treated with respect.

Part three of our unfolding story is about living and working at Atria Senior Living.

Go read Unassisted Living: Atria Residents, Families, and Workers Tell Their Stories -- Boztopia.com,

"Not long after she became a resident, mom and I began to notice many problems with her level of care. They didn't have enough staff to do even the one check that was part of her care plan. The short staffing was apparent in other areas. Crucial doctor's appointments were cancelled without notice because there wasn't a driver. Showers were not routine. Even after constant requests, too few staff were available to keep up with the requests."

We are people, not economic units, and there is a difference.  This may be a difficult concept to grasp after three or four decades of constant corporate-funded "free market" propaganda.  But people make decisions for higher reasons than just making or saving a buck or two.  Most people, anyway.

Part One of the unfolding story was about the vulnerability of the elderly -- perfect targets for exploitation.  

In Part One the Bermuda-based (HA!) "buyout" firm Lazard, LLC. set up Atria Senior Living which an "affiliated entity" owns.

Atria houses seniors, and collects a monthly fee, which ends up in Lazard's (affiliated) bottom line. ... Atria has been reducing services, raising rates, cutting wages, and generally treating the residents and employees like money trees that exist to be squeezed.

Part Two is about extreme wealth.