Labor Union Led Employee Ownership
Employee Ownership Helps Unions Save Jobs and Create New Ones
Unions use worker ownership to protect jobs and organize new members. The United Steelworkers and the United Food & Commercial Workers, International Association of Machinists and United Auto Workers have used ESOPs to save jobs See Labor Union led Case Studies. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a worker co-op owned home care company and a licensed vocation nurse (LVN) co-op, and is investigating other uses of worker co-ops to help their members.
Our firm has helped a number of unions respond to possible sales, purchase offers or divestment by a parent company, for businesses where they have members. Deborah Olson has been creating democratic and participative worker ownership at unionized companies helping them save and create jobs 1981. (See Labor Union Led Case Studies) See also link to Resources: Educational Materials for Unions
As traditional models of work are rapidly changing, we can help your union find new ways to organize and represent workers that are not bound by traditional labor law. (It is not yet possible to publicly describe projects in process.)
As businesses become more globalized; it is increasingly important for workers to have control over the future of their livelihoods through worker ownership. Unions and worker ownership are the only institutions that protect the rights of workers as workers. As union density has decreased in the US, the number of employee owners is now equal to or greater than the number of union members in the US. See Resources: Educational Materials for Unions
Employee ownership provides:
A way to anchor local businesses & jobs in a community
A strong business succession tool
Great tax benefits for sellers, companies, and employees
More success at surviving and thriving as a good employer
Stronger unions with more member participation
In addition to the case studies linked above, Deborah Olson also provided employee ownership advice for the following unions or their members organized into buyout committees: UAW, USWA, IAM, UPIU, Carpenters, IBEW, OPEIU, Teamsters, Boilermakers, ALPA, SEIU, AIW, UFCW, Visiting Nurses; among others.
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP THAT FITS YOUR NEEDS
We can smoothly transition your privately-owned business to a worker-owned one that meets the seller’s objectives, is socially responsible and includes employee participation. Learn more
TESTIMONIAL
“Our firm would not be the strong, participative, growing ESOP company it is today without Atty. Deborah Groban Olson’s guidance over the past 15 years. When we hired Deb, our company was undergoing major changes and the employees almost lost ownership of the company. Deb helped us work through complex legal matters to make difficult, but necessary decisions. She helped labor and management understand necessary changes and took the heat out of many discussions between them which led to our current cooperative relationship. Deb’s work has been thorough and prompt and she has been available to speak with us whenever needed." -Mary Landry, Board Chair, MBC Ventures, Inc.
