Workers Challenging Private Equity to Create Good Jobs

Private equity-owned companies employ millions of workers in the U.S, and the number continues to grow as private equity firms are acquiring additional companies at a record level. The largest number of workers employed by private equity-owned companies are in low-wage industries: food service, retail, healthcare, security, and call centers.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project and the Cornell ILR Worker Institute invite you to an online forum on Thursday, October 21 from 1-2:30 p.m. ET. At this online forum you will hear from workers employed by private equity-owned companies how they are standing up and fighting for good jobs.

The largest number of workers employed by private equity-owned companies are in industries where employers often pay low wages: at least 1.5 million workers in food service, 1.1 million workers in retail, and almost 1 million in security and healthcare.

Focused on growing cash flows at the companies they buy, takeovers by private equity ownership of companies can lead to devastating consequences for workers, their families, and entire communities. Private equity takeovers often result in significant job losses and decreases in average worker wages at the companies they buy. For example, private equity-owned retail companies have laid off hundreds of thousands of workers due to store closures and bankruptcies.

The panel will include:

• Anthony Sanchez, UE member, worker at a Refresco plant in New Jersey (PAI Partners) 
• Phil Contee, UFCW member, worker at a Safeway store in Maryland (Cerberus Capital) 
• Lindsay Ruck, Cheesecake Factory worker in Arizona (Roark Capital)
• Zella Roberts, former worker at Sonic Drive-In in North Carolina (Roark Capital) 
• Ed Gadomsky, 1199 NUHHCE, former worker at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut (Leonard Green and Partners) 
• Michelle Hilt, IUE-CWA member, former worker at Hufcor plant in Wisconsin (OpenGate Capital)
• Isabella Burrows, PetSmart worker in Michigan and United for Respect member (BC Partners)

RSVP HERE

Moderator:

Rosemary Batt is the Alice Hanson Cook Professor of Women and Work at the ILR School, Cornell University. She is a Professor in Human Resource Studies and International and Comparative Labor.

Bio

Sponsors:

The mission of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project is to identify, engage, and connect stakeholders affected by private equity with the goal of engaging investors and empowering communities, working families, and others impacted by private equity investments.

The Worker Institute engages in research and education on contemporary labor issues and brings together researchers, educators and students with practitioners in labor, business policy and making to confront growing economic and social inequalities.