In the News: Corporate Restructuring/The Value of Employee Ownership/Providing Quality Service/Voting for Board of Directors/Union Negotiations
August 28, 2007

Salem Distributing Co. (Winston-Salem, NC)

Salem Distributing Co., a 100%-owned ESOP, was recognized as the Company of the Year for the Carolinas Chapter of the National Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Association. Their corporate website contains more details:

“Only into the third year of 100% employee ownership, Salem has made great strides in a corporate restructuring initiative, which included reinventing its corporate culture to focus on empowering, inspiring and challenging its employee-owners. The bottom lines of this initiative were to better serve and grow its customer base. The results yielded an impressive 15 percent growth in the first half of 2006 that yielded Salem’s recognition as one of the Triad area’s FAST 50 a business growth competition sponsored by THE BUSINESS JOURNAL.”

M. Dyer & Sons, Inc. (Pearl City, HI)

A biography of the President and CEO of M. Dyer & Sons, Inc. includes the company's ESOP story:

“In 1996, Medford and Masu Dyer after 30 years in business sold 100% of the company stock to the employees in an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The success over the past ten years is the result of educating the employees to the value of employee ownership. We instill a sense of pride in providing quality service and pleasing clients which results in an increase in their employee stock value as well as pride in company ownership.”

Shelton Turnbull Printers (Eugene, OR)

Shelton Turnbull Printers, a printer in Oregon with 90 employees, was sold to the employees in January 2002. The employees are participating in the decision making process:

“In March, all ESOP plan participants voted for Shelton Turnbull's seven-member board of directors, which is more representative of the overall company than the previous board….Another change under employee ownership is that departmental decisions are made by the department that's affected, rather than by a single owner…Involving the group takes advantage of "their expertise and experience and their practical knowledge of what they do every single day,"”

The article also discusses how employee ownership has impacted “spoiled work” and its impact on union negotiations:

“Employee ownership added a new twist to recent labor negotiations at Shelton Turnbull. Roughly half of the company's employees are covered by the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. In its first three-year contract since Shelton Turnbull became employee owned, the union agreed to a 7 percent raise over three years, said shop steward Bill Babcock. "We would have been a little more demanding if we hadn't been employee owned," he said. Employee ownership "tempers your reaction," Babcock said "because you realize ... that actions you might have taken against a sole proprietor, now if you do them, you're really in essence doing it to yourself. You have to consider what you're asking for - how that affects the ability of the company to survive," he said. “

Prior In the News segments can be found here:

In the News: Constant Comprehensive Communication and Education/Long-Term Objectives/More Than 100 Millionaires

In The News: Sharing Ownership and Creating a Market / Producing a Competitive Advantage / Leaving a Legacy

More ESOPs in the News

In The News