Randy Rauton, president of Rauton Construction Company, helped his employees assume their responsibilities, and in the process, solved his company’s financial problems.

Rauton believed the Negroes working on his construction crews “were men—and they should be treated like men,” he said. “They have dignity and responsibilities.”

“It was not our business what the men did with their paychecks—it was our business when they came in on Monday morning to borrow money, and we let it—without interest—and lost.’

What happened was this:

--The borrowers, fearful they could not repay the loans, quit their jobs, leaving the company with their debt and a vacancy on the construction crew.

--Rauton solved the problem by forming a credit union.

“The hardest part of that,” he said, ‘was convincing the president of the credit union that our company was a good risk, because of the high ratio of Negro to white employees.”

The employees were anxious to join the credit union. They agreed among themselves to have five dollars a week deducted from their paychecks and deposited in the credit union. The money earns five and a half percent interest. The borrowing rate is six percent, “much less than if the men were to borrow from a loan company,” Rauton emphasized.

“The men are shareholders in the credit union. If they go to borrow money, the credit union recognizes their dignity. As shareholders, they will have to assume responsibility.” So far, nobody has come to borrow money, he added.

Rauton does receive Saturday morning phone calls. The men “think about the money they are putting away,” he said. One caller said he “had figured what he was making a week, and added up the interest his money was earning in the credit union.” He just wanted Rauton to know. “The men that understand this program—you couldn’t pry loose,” Rauton said.

There are other reasons for Saturday morning phone calls. Recently, an employee asked Rauton if he would “stand for the bill at the hospital for my wife?” The expenses amounted to more than 800 dollars. Rauton reminded the employee that “you can stand for that bill yourself.”

The company has adopted a group insurance plan that covers life and major medical expenses for employees and dependents. The insurance paid the hospital and medical bills.

“Many of the men had no life insurance program before this group plan was organized,” said Rauton. The employees pay a small sum each week for their dependents and the company pays the group insurance costs for the employees. “It is a small charge compared to what would be commercially available to them,” Rauton said.

Rauton, a member of Christ the King parish, has kept his convictions and is keeping his personnel. “Anything I could do to benefit the employees and coworkers is important,” he said. “With good personnel, you can make a profit, so my motives are also based on self-interest.”

Does he think the credit union plan will work?

“Come back next year and ask me that—see whether we are still in business,” he said.