Meeting of the Board: Restored Classics to Go Edition

Walter Towne, a nervous vice president at the Robling Titanium Corporation, begins the day with disaster already closing in: he is late, the shop steward Bailey is waiting to punish him, and the company's reports point toward collapse. In this sharply satirical reversal of industrial life, workers own the business, demand dividends, and wield the power once reserved for management, while executives scramble to keep production alive. As Walter is hauled before Daniel P. Torkleson, the hard-edged union secretary who effectively rules the company, he argues that declining sales, crippled research, and relentless pressure for quick profits have doomed the enterprise. When threats and blacklisting fail to break him, Walter turns to the only weapon left: a management strike. He and a handful of allies plan a "lock-in," sabotaging the machines so the workers can no longer run the plant without them. The stunt becomes a national sensation, exposing how labor gained control through stock ownership and financial leverage, and how that power has now turned chaotic. As trash cans replace vital products, a courtroom showdown and a packed board meeting force a final reckoning over competence, control, and the true meaning of ownership. Darkly comic and biting, the novel skewers corporate politics, union power, and the absurdities of a world turned upside down. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.