EFES NEWSLETTER - APRIL 2009
Employee
ownership and the financial crisis
Witnesses
from some major European companies: Voestalpine, Vivendi,
Mondragon Corporación Cooperativa, Bank of Scotland, Veidekke
and others. This will be the main piece of the Eighth European
Meeting of Employee Ownership on May 18, 2009. Registration
and practical information
Manifesto for the 2009 European Parliament Elections
Six
proposals and questions to all candidates. Every day we
receive new reactions from candidates and political leaders
in all countries. All answers and reactions are published
on the website. See
all reactions
Press
review
Much new information about employee ownership in March
2009, with 2.273 articles in this press review (on which
1.582 involving stock options and 242 about workers' cooperatives).
We made a selection of 100 remarkable articles in 15 countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, UK,
USA.
Major
political debates, particularly in France. Who is going
to pay for the crisis? States? Employees? Employee owners?
Top managers? What about stock options? To be forbidden?
Reserved for a small number? Stock options for all? What
about repricing underwater options? Rewriting remuneration
to include more shares and less options?…
Even
more: Are we living the end of share-based capitalism? The
end of employee ownership?
Austria:
New share plans for Voestalpine, for Erste Group Bank.
China:
Promoting stock options incentives.
Germany:
"Kapital für alle" (capital for all) !! IG Metall
calls for employee share ownership in the Opel bailout.
The new legislation for employee ownership is now in force.
On the other hand, Angela Merkel's government introduce
stronger regulation for top remunerations. "In der
Krise boomt die Mitarbeiterbeteiligung" (the crisis
boosts employee ownership).
Canada: Workers cooperatives for business transmission
are multiplying.
France:
"Il faut encourager l'idée que les salariés puissent
reprendre leur entreprise" (the idea of employee buyouts
should be encouraged). Bailouts through workers cooperatives
are multiplying. Hard political debate: Who is going to
pay for the crisis? New legislation about stock options
and top remunerations, in urgency. On the other hand: New
employee share plans for Publicis, for BNP Paribas. Employee
Savings Plans were increasing in 2008.
Italy:
CISL (Italian first union) encourages employee share ownership
to face the crisis.
Poland:
New privatisations through employee ownership.
UK:
Need new rules for top executive pay? On the other hand,
FTSE-100 financial directors saw a huge loss on the value
of shares they held in their own companies and a further
significant loss on equity-linked assets tied up in their
employer. Former Minister Alan Milburn (Labour Party) calls
for employee share ownership to be made more accessible
to a wider employee base.
USA:
World's first professorship in employee ownership at Rudgers
University. Underwater stock options get a lifeline from
many firms, shareholders should expect a surge in the number
of companies repricing options. Are ESOPs still a good idea
for employee retirement security? In the face of the
stock market's sharp decline, more people are calling for
a reduction of employer stock in retirement plans. Data
show this would be a serious error.
The press review is available
on:
http://www.efesonline.org/PRESS
REVIEW/2009/March.htm
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A
political roadmap for employee ownership in Europe
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