The West Midlands is leading the way when it comes to employees owning a stake in the company they work for, the European Parliament heard. Conservative MEP Anthea McIntyre said employer ownership was on the decline in many countries, but in the UK is was a huge success story and many of the best examples were to be found in her home region.
She was speaking during a debate in Strasbourg on "promotion of employee financial participation".
Miss McIntyre, Conservative employment spokesman in the parliament, said: "Last year saw more people in work in the UK than ever before. We saw 83% of new jobs being quality, full time and permanent jobs.We also saw the number of employee-owned businesses rise by 9%. Some 30% of employees in the UK hold shares in their company. Our flagship is the John Lewis Partnership. Overall such companies contribute some £30 billion to the UK economy.
In my own region we have employee owned companies ranging from a veterinary practice in rural Herefordshire, to a world leading manufacturer of machinery protection systems in Kidderminster; from the largest independent chartered insurance brokers, based in Birmingham, to a family owned food distributer in Willenhall that has been trading for nearly a hundred years."
She said the things they had in common are higher productivity, greater innovation and better profitability. Employee-owners also thought and acted for the long term - sometimes in marked contrast to the short termism that could prevail.
The statistics are impressive and contradict outmoded assertions that the interests of employers and employeess are conflicting in modern British industry and commerce.