Selected Media Coverage of Employee Ownership

The Portland Press Herald ran a November 24 story titled More Maine construction companies are embracing employee ownership, citing three transactions this year: Wright-Ryan Construction in November, Warren Construction Group in July, and Landry/French Construction Co. in May. The article quoted Maine-based ESOP advisor Jeanne Pendergast of Spinnaker Trust, who noted that an ESOP is often an alternative to a sale to a third party: third-party buyers often "will not keep the company intact. They will take jobs out of the state, eliminate the name, etc. An ESOP is a way to keep the legacy and the culture of the company."

The Working Nation ran an October 27 article making the case for employee ownership. An excerpt, citing Christopher Mackin of Ownership Associates, follows:

"Thousands of baby boomers own businesses that they will soon want to exit," Mackin says. "If the resources are there—and they partly are— to persuade owners to 'sell internally' to their workers, those boomers will do more to attack income and wealth inequality than they could ever do acting as independent philanthropists."

It's a compelling, non-partisan proposition: Departing owners get on with retirement, businesses survive in place and employees are incentivized to keep to pay down their debt by running profitable businesses. Departing owners get market value for their assets, while ESOPs enable workers to save their own jobs. Wealth is not so much redistributed as it is "predistributed" by virtue of how these transactions are structured.

As cited in a November 22 article in the Idaho Statesman, the management of employee-owned WinCo issued a statement to employee-owners. Below are excerpts from the email, which came from Melissa Vandenberg, senior corporate counsel:

I know the election and the surprising results have caused all of us to have an emotional reaction — for some, it was positive, and for others, it was not. This election has been polarizing, and as many media outlets have stated, we are a nation-divided.

That said, we are not and cannot be a WinCo-divided...

Regardless of what is happening outside the walls of WinCo Foods, inside our stores all people are welcome and should be made to feel safe and valued.