[Humboldtsnee]

I mean, the owner is a worker. These are not mutually exclusive roles.

If times are tough, then the owners probably take a smaller salary for their labor, or the workers can decide how to cut costs together through salaries, benefits, reducing costs of manufacturing, or whatever.

[idopmstuff]

The owner is a worker AND an investor. If they're actively working in the business, they deserve to be paid for that labor. Regardless of whether they're actively working in the business, they deserve to be rewarded for taking the extremely risky step of creating a small business, which in turn created all the jobs for those workers.