Washington, DC (June 10) – J. Michael Keeling, President, The ESOP Association, will testify at 2 PM today in front of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit for the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mr. Keeling is testifying on behalf of The ESOP Association, the national trade and advocacy organization for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).
The hearing, “Financing Employee Ownership: An Overview,” will focus on expanding employee business ownership in the United States and providing financial institutions incentives to provide loans to employees in order to create employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and Eligible Worker Owned Cooperatives (EWOCs).
In addition to Keeling, George A. Ray, Chair, The ESOP Association, and Chairman/CEO of Santa Fe Springs, CA-based LeFiell Manufacturing Company, a global leader in the design and fabrication of precision tubular products and preferred supplier to the Boeing Company, as well as Sherry Ceresa a Statistical Analyst for Burlington, VT-based Gardener’s Supply Company, a 100% employee-owned owned catalog company specializing in gardening tools and supplies including composters, seed starting equipment, greenhouses, fertilizers and, other gardening needs, will also present testimony.
Keeling states in his testimony, “Whether you agree with his politics, or his recommendations for tax laws and health care laws, I believe that Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) of the House Committee on Ways and Means said it best in the opening remarks he made on April 11, 2002, during the House consideration of the Enron-ERISA reaction legislation. I believe the basic statement is unassailable. He said, “There has been a quiet revolution going on in the United States, and it was so quiet that a lot of people did not notice…The quiet revolution that I am talking about is the change that has occurred over the last half century, speeding significantly in the last third of the 20th century…that is…there is becoming less and less of a distinction between workers and owners. As…more and more companies are being owned by the workers.”
In conclusion, Mr. Keeling comments to the members of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, “You are right to say let’s make sure that this trend of more employee ownership is financed properly, and that everyone, not just the tax committees, and the labor committees, get with the trend of growing employee ownership; and let us have the legal, financial, and accounting system that makes the Vision of ESOP advocates a reality.”
Founded in 1978, The ESOP Association represents more than 2400 companies and service providers with a professional commitment to employee ownership through ESOPs.