by Erin M. Kesler Late last week, on October 19, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a resolution to the Judiciary Committee designating October “National Employee Ownership Month.” Sponsored by Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the resolution was signed onto by senators as diverse as Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Angus King (I-ME), Todd Young (R-KS), and Pat Roberts […]
Continue ReadingMondragon through a Critical Lens
Ten Lessons from a visit to the Basque Cooperative Confederation By Jill Bamburg I recently completed a study tour to Mondragon, a small town in the Basque region of Spain, which is the home of the world’s largest and most advanced cooperative economy. In the United States, the cooperative sector, which represents over $500 billion in […]
Continue ReadingEmployee-Ownership Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Employee-owners are more confident about their financial security. by Erin M. Kesler At a time of growing anxiety around economic issues for many workers, recent news indicates that employee owners are experiencing significantly less stress. According to a recent Forbes piece, employee owners have far fewer worries about paying their monthly bills than workers at other firms. […]
Continue ReadingInterview with Certified EO
Spreading the word about Employee Ownership by Erin M. Kesler Set to launch on September 5, 2017, Certified EO is a membership organization that seeks to transform the way American businesses see employee ownership. Certification is a proven tool for spreading market innovation. For example, fair trade labels help discerning consumers choose products that meet […]
Continue ReadingEmployee ownership and the next system
The Democracy Collaborative’s Research Director Thomas Hanna and Next System Project Deputy Director Dana Brown sat down with Dr. Joseph Blasi — preeminent expert on employee ownership, Distinguished Professor at Rutgers’ School of Management and Labor Relations, and regular contributor to work around Fifty by Fifty — for a chat about the importance of employee ownership and its role in a larger […]
Continue ReadingThe ESOP-erative
A new design: worker cooperative governance with ESOP tax benefits By Martin Staubus Businesses interested in transitioning into employee ownership are often presented with a structural dilemma: convert into an ESOP or a cooperative? Go for the democratic worker control and participation of a cooperative, or the tax benefits of an ESOP? I recently helped […]
Continue ReadingHalf of American Workers Could be Employee-Owners
by Thomas Dudley For those interested in employee ownership, it is critical to understand if employee ownership can achieve the scale required to truly reduce wealth inequality and create strong local economies. In a previous post, we saw that today there are thousands of employee-owned business operating in every industry and employing up to 2 million Americans. But while […]
Continue ReadingSix Lessons in Getting Published
Spreading the world on employee ownership by Majorie Kelly Okay, true confessions: I used to be a weekly columnist for a daily paper. That was on top of my work at that time as publisher of Business Ethics magazine. I’m a journalist at heart, and the daily paper is still the beating heart of journalism, in my […]
Continue ReadingReal Pickles DPO: How Employees Raised Half a Million Dollars to Buy a Business
A Creative Tool For Financing a Worker Cooperative by Erin M. Kesler Real Pickles sold its first jar of organic dills in 2001, when founders Dan Rosenberg and his wife, Addie Rose Holland, decided to turn their pickle-making hobby into a business. By 2015, the business had grown to over than $1 million in revenue. […]
Continue ReadingWhat do Craft Beer and Solar Have in Common?
By Marjorie Kelly, Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow, The Democracy Collaborative When it comes to identifying low-hanging fruit for companies most ready to convert to employee ownership, the “contagion effect” can be a key strategy. One industry where this phenomenon is well known is craft beer, where the trend is poised to get a boost from […]
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