EFES NEWSLETTER - JULY 2012

Employee Ownership Summit 2012
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg together with Ministers Norman Lamb and Francis Maude organized the first Employee Ownership Summit on July 4 in London. "We are completely enthusiastic about employee ownership" Norman Lamb said. "Never before, employee ownership had so much attention in the UK." It is a fact that the British legislation for employee ownership revealed itself to be much less effective than the French one. More information

Key recommendations to the British Government
Growing the economy is the British Government's most pressing priority. The Government adviser on employee ownership published its report, including his 28 recommendations to promote employee ownership in the UK. The recommendations focus mainly on the promotion of employee ownership in small and medium sized enterprises, at least 25% employee-owned. More information

Press review
We made a selection of 28 remarkable articles in 9 countries in June 2012: Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA.
Canada: Ballots held at companies' annual meetings this year show a growing trend to cast “no” votes, opposing how much salary, bonus and stock options major companies are giving executives.
France: Capital Ingenium's Annual Survey 2011 on employee ownership and savings. France Telecom: Employee shareholders want voting rights to be exercised by employee shareholders themselves rather than by employers or by unions. Some typical workers' co-operatives. The new socialist government will support workers' coops. New employee share plan for Société Générale.
Germany: Deutsche Bank promotes employee ownership in Germany. Doubts about employee share plans for Commerzbank.
Ireland: Eircom: Game over for employee ownership.
Italy: The ENEL employee shareholders association joins the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
Spain: An island of safety in Andalucia.
UK: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and other political figures want to see “responsible capitalism”, claiming firms that are owned by their staff are “more dynamic” and have higher morale. LSE chief calls for expansion of employee share ownership schemes. Does an employee-owned business model lead to better customer service? British co-operatives have outperformed the UK economy for the fourth consecutive year.
USA: An ESOP is a special type of retirement plan that purchases stock of the business where the employees work. Peerless Electronics is now an employee-owned company.

The full press review is available on:
              http://www.efesonline.org/PRESS REVIEW/2012/June.htm 

A political roadmap for employee ownership in Europe

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