Employee Ownership in the United Kingdom
The March 1, 2010 Employee Ownership Update is online and discusses the following:
- Conservatives in UK Now Want to Expand Worker Ownership to All Public Sectors
- New NCEO Data Looks at Frequency of Broad-Based Option and Stock Purchase Plans
- ABC News Story on Bob's Red Mill
- Foundation for Enterprise Development Sponsors Essay Contest on Employee Ownership
- Janich, Dodge Appointed to the NCEO Board
The Update discusses how the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom has called for privatization into employee-owned companies through 'worker co-operatives':
David Cameron has renewed a pledge to give public sector workers the chance to form co-operatives to run services as part of a push to woo Labour voters.
Staff of taxpayer-funded services, such as primary school teachers and nurses, would decide how they were run - within certain national standards.
Mr Cameron said it would "unleash a new culture of public sector enterprise".
Employee Ownership of public services – A Success Story notes that co-ownership will be an issue in the upcoming elections and shares an example of employee ownership that has worked in the United Kingdom.
UPDATE 3/2/10: Here is a link to additional information about a policy document issued by the Conservative Party that will use co-ops to shake up public services.
It also discusses the National ESOP Coverage of Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods and the NCEO's initial findings of how many companies have broad-based option plans:
There is no easy way to find out how many companies have broad-based option plans (plans offered to most or all employees) or ESPPs. There is no required government registration for these plans, so the only practical way to find out is to look in the benefits section of their careers page on the Web or, in some cases, in their 10-K filings (many companies do not provide all of this information there, however). So the NCEO has been painstakingly going through a list of over 2,000 large public companies to compile who has plans and who does not. We will also soon have data on other kinds of broad-based equity plans (restricted stock, stock appreciation rights, and phantom stock). So far, we have found that about 12% of the companies have broad-based options and about 30% have ESPPs.