From the Huffington Post: In a 4,000-square-foot industrial space tucked away in a West Berkeley neighborhood, a team of glass blowers is hard at work. In one corner, a young man named Sam is repairing a piece of laboratory glassware used for cannabis distillation, the bright orange flames from his lathe dancing just inches from […]
From Truthout: It’s been more than 10 years since the financial crisis of 2008, and working people are still being hammered by its effects — stagnating wages, a widening gap between the rich and the poor, and a rise in the sharing economy to meet basic needs. At the same time, one legacy of the […]
From the Gazette: “A big part of that solution is participatory capitalism, allowing people to own part of the upside that they create through the value of their labor,” Polis said. “The companies I started had stock options for every employee. Another way to do that is ESOPs (employee stock ownership plan), like Save-A-Lot, which […]
From KOAA News 5: Governor Jared Polis was in Colorado Springs Wednesday to sign an executive order that establishes a commission on employee ownership. The commission will provide support and resources for businesses that want to become employee-owned. “When employees succeed, the business succeeds, and when the business succeeds, the employees succeed,” said Governor Polis. […]
From Fast Company: Massachusetts wants to nudge these business owners toward another option: selling their companies to their employees. The state hired two nonprofits with expertise in shifting to employee ownership models–Working World and ICA Group–to revive its Office for Employee Involvement and Ownership (EIO), which was initially established in the late 1980s but faded […]
From Nonprofit Quarterly: Vartikar says that most small businesses choose one of three options when their owner retires: 1) sell to a competitor or institutional buyer, 2) pass the company on to their children, or 3) shut down entirely. Vartikar estimates that two-thirds of businesses end up closing down. Now, however, state and business officials […]
From the Boston Business Journal: In an era of a widening wealth inequality, the time has come for the advancement of employee ownership models. That’s why I am thrilled that the EIO will soon be back in business. Over the last two years, thanks to the leadership and vision of Senate President Karen Spilka, who has worked […]
From the Boston Globe: he news: The Massachusetts Office of Business Development last month hired two consultants, ICA Group and Working Wealth, to revive the Massachusetts Office for Employee Involvement and Ownership. ICA and Working Wealth will be paid $150,000 to travel the state and preach the gospel of employee ownership — at events and in meetings with potential candidates […]
From NPQ: Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis “is taking action on one of his top economic development priorities—promoting employee ownership of businesses and companies in the state,” reports Aldo Svaldi in the Denver Post. Polis, Svaldi notes, when he was in the US House of Representatives, was a member of the Cooperative Business Caucus.” Svaldi […]
From the Denver Post Gov. Jared Polis is taking action on one of his top economic development priorities — promoting employee ownership of businesses and companies in the state. Polis, when in Congress, was on the Cooperative Business Caucus and has long supported shared-ownership models, which have a rich history in Colorado and are seeing […]