Chapter 22 - THE OHIO REVOLUTION
Two weeks later, Charlotte traveled to a struggling industrial town in rural Ohio to oversee the worker-owned transition.
The local factory workers gathered in the union hall, eyeing the young billionaire in her understated blazer with cautious skepticism.
"You think some Wall Street executive in a fancy suit is going to save our pension funds?" an old welder asked bluntly.
Charlotte walked up to the podium, setting aside her notes and looking out across the room of hardworking Americans.
"I didn't come here to save you; I came to hand you the keys to your own factory so you can save yourselves," Charlotte declared.
Murmurs of astonishment rippled through the union hall as the terms of the worker-ownership trust were projected onto the screen.
Every employee would receive direct equity shares and a voting seat on the new operational board of directors.
"Why are you doing this, Ms. Valle? What's the catch?" a younger machinist asked, raising his hand.
"The catch is that American manufacturing belongs to the people who build it, not the parasites who trade it on paper," she answered firmly.
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A thunderous roar of applause shook the rafters of the union hall, sealing a partnership that would reshape the Midwest.
***
