EFES NEWSLETTER - OKTOBER 2008

Time to buy
It is remarkable that most articles about employee ownership in the world's press tell about similar information: Time to buy. For a former Prime Minister, Maltese dockyards should be transferred to a workers' cooperative rather than to foreign ownership. Austrian Airlines: Unions ask for strategic employee ownership which could even be a reason to choose Air France-KLM's offer rather than Lufthansa. Alitalia: Big unions are more reluctant here than Austrian colleagues, but Pilots Union asks for significant employee ownership. Ireland: Eircom's Employee Share Ownership Trust, which alreay owns 35pc of the telecommunications firm, is considering a stake in its majority owner Babcock & Brown Capital. France: Long struggle to rescue Ledar Papermaker through a new workers' coop. Successful new employee share plans for AXA, Société Générale, EDF… Finally, the question is also coming from the USA: "Maybe it's time for Chrysler's employees to buy the company."

Press review
Much new information about employee ownership in September 2008, with 1.446 articles in this press review (on which 500 involving stock options and 280 about workers' cooperatives). We made a selection of  57 remarkable articles in 15 countries: Algeria, Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Malawi, Turkey, UK, USA, South Africa.
Algeria: Government doesn't like employee shares.
Austria: Austrian Airlines: Unions ask for strategic employee ownership (like in Voestalpine or Flughafen Wien) which could even be a reason to choose Air France-KLM's offer rather than Lufthansa.
Belgium: Employee share ownership is a key-element for the succesful retail chain Colruyt.
Germany: Employee share ownership should be the right way for Germany.
India: Much questions about the financial crisis and employee owners risks, "the Achilles heel of employee ownership?"
Italia: In Alitalia airlines, big unions are more reluctant than Austrian colleagues, but Pilots Union asks for significant employee ownership.
Malta: For a former Prime Minister, Maltese dockyards should be transferred to a workers' cooperative rather than to foreign ownership.
Turkey: Turkish Weekly observes that shared capitalism schemes, in which workers are given larger financial stakes in their employers, are growing in popularity.
United Kingdom: Very good news for the hundreds of thousands of employees who sign up to a SAYE scheme each year.
USA: Carnage continues. Employee-ownership was at the core of Lehman Brothers' culture, they have to face a $10 billion in losses. Does employee ignorance undermine shared capitalism? On the other hand, results from the Employee Ownership Foundation's 17th Annual ESOP Economic Performance Survey prove the decision to become employee-owned means enhanced company performance and greater wealth creation for employee owners. In 2008, 92.4% of survey respondents reported that creating employee ownership through an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) was "a good business decision that has helped the company." The highest figure erver reported in the 17 years this survey has been conducted. Finally, "maybe it's time for Chrysler's employees to buy the company."
South Africa: Distributing mining wealth through employee ownership seems fairly crucial for sustainable future.

The full press review is available on:
              http://www.efesonline.org/PRESS REVIEW/2008/September.htm 

WHAT ABOUT YOU?
This is how much an employee held in 2007, on average, in shares of:
UBS  83.000 €
SocGen 49.000 €
BNP Paribas 38.000 €
Total 55.000 €
Novartis 61.000 €
Mondragon 56.000 €
CréditSuisse 84.000 €
AXA 46.000 €
Vinci 24.000 €
CréditAgricole 40.000 €

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