Publications

Is there a way to combine the democratic governance of a worker cooperative and the financial performance of an ESOP? This webinar, the first in a short series, will provide the necessary background and legal specifics, as well as a case study of a company, that will outline the issues and solutions around creating an “ESOP-erative”. This session will assume at least a basic understanding of both ESOPs and Worker Cooperatives. Prior to the webinar, you can review both models at the bottom of this page. The next session will be a discussion around how the ESOP Trustee, the Board of Director’s, and the employee owners work together to create the culture and company that works. Moderator: Chris Cooper, Ohio Employee Ownership Center Presenters: Deborah Groban Olson, Attorney At Law, and Founder of The Center for Community Based Enterprise Bob Gelser, Once Again Nut Butter Collective, Inc. Scott Owens, Once Again Nut Butter Collective, Inc. This webinar is sponsored by the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University (with support from the USDA's Rural Cooperative Development Program); Once Again Nut Butter; The Center for Community Based Enterprise (C2BE); and the Law Firm of Deborah Groban Olson.

UNION EXPERIENCES WITH WORKER OWNERSHIP:LEGAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES RAISED BY ESOPS, TRASOPS, STOCK PURCHASES AND CO-OPERATIVES Wisconsin Law Review, v. 1982, no. 5
“Keeping Jobs and Capital at Home” 1984 Nova Law Journal 583
“Employee Ownership and Economic Development” 1987 NYU Review of Law & Social Change
“Unions and Employee Ownership”, ESOP Handbook (Probus, 1989)
UNIONS AND FAIR MARKET VALUE: AN ARGUMENT FOR A SAFE HARBOR FOR NEGOTIATED ESOPS The Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance, Winter 1992
ESOPs FOR PEOPLE, NOT FOR WALL STREET, The Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance, Spring 1993
“DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH AND EXPERIENCE OF ESOPS AND DEMOCRATIC EMPLOYEE BUYOUTS IN THE USA” A presentation made to the Conference on Strategies for Democratic Employee Ownership of the Foras Aiseanna Saothair (FAS) in Dublin, Ireland on October 21, 1993. FAS is the Irish government's Training and Employment Authority.
POINT OF VIEW: GIVING EMPLOYEE OWNERS A REAL VOICE AS STOCKHOLDERS , The Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance, Fall 1994
"The Employee Buyout Feasibility Study", Leveraged ESOPs and Employee Buyouts, National Center for Employee Ownership 1997; (updated 2005)
"Ownership for Everyone: Report on the COG 'Industrial Homestead' Policy Discussion Group" September 29, 2000
Summary of “Capital Ownership Group Industrial Homestead Policy Proposals” Business Ethics September 2000 and Accountability, December 2000; Chap. 17 “Labor Unions”
ESOP Answer Book, Panel Publishers, July 2000
"Labor Union Utility Mergers Toolbox", September 2000
“Fair Exchange: Providing citizens with equity managed by a community trust in return for government subsidies or tax breaks to businesses”, Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy (2006) – for policy conference at George Washington University Law School

Scan of Community Based Enterprise Innovations and their Application to Detroit , C2BE 2009.
"Building a Strong Green Community-Based Economy through Cooperation: Innovations of the Metro Detroit Community Economy Group” Presentations by Deborah Groban Olson at the US Economic Development Administration, Michigan State University Regional Economic Innovation Program “2012 Innovate Michigan! Summit”
- Report (PDF) Innovation Brokering for a Community-Based Economy
- (Download) Power Point Presentation (PPTX)
- Webinar Recorded on June 21, 2012 Transcript

EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP THAT FITS YOUR NEEDS

We can smoothly transition your privately-owned business to a worker-owned one that meets the seller’s objectives, is socially responsible and includes employee participation. Learn more

TESTIMONIAL

Atty. Deborah Groban Olson is an excellent attorney, whom I would recommend highly to anyone. She has kept our ESOP current with the law and helped us fix ESOP problems that occurred before we hired her, and has worked with us to develop appropriate policy changes as our ESOP has matured. When we hired her there was a lot of mistrust between labor and management. She was able to diffuse concerns about ulterior motives, by taking a professional, fact-based approach to identifying and fixing legal problems. She has also connected us to outside resources as we have diversified." -Steve Mullan, CEO, MBC Ventures, Inc.