EFES

Dear Mr. Mathieu;

My name is Bill Bishop, and I have been a friend and supporter of ESOPS since my friendship with Louis Kelso in the middle 60's.

I notice that you are the Secretary-General of the European Federation of Employee Shareownership in Brussels, and that you have launched an appeal for a "wide consultation" on Employee Ownership in the European Union. This will result, as we all hope, in an "action plan" for the European Social Agenda launched at the Lisbon Summit last year by the Council of Ministers.

With a few Rochester Minnesota City leaders, I have been able to suggest an action plan relevant to Minnesota - and the rest of the United States. A few months ago, we created R.I.S.E.S. - The Rochester International Share Equity Society with the hope that we can do a small part to close the widening gap between those who own no assets - and those who own many. We plan to do this by teaching a unique curriculum to the working poor who have, at the moment, nothing but their labor to sustain themselves and their families. After 2 months of learning about the power of capital in wealth creation, we plan to help our participants organize themselves into investment clubs. In addition, we hope to offer them IDA's which, in the United States are Individual Development Accounts, a tripartite Government effort to help assetless citizens own significant assets.

We are not in the consultation business; I have been consulting as an activist, for 35 years, and am the former founder and Director of the Pennsylvania Capital Ownership Council in 1987, the nation's first. Governor Bob Casey signed our legislation permitting $4 million dollars of state money to be used for feasability studies for workers to consider buying - via ESOP - their companies. I have known, and worked with, David Binns, Corey Rosen and Norman Kurland, all of whom whose work I support.

RISES is a way for the working poor to have access to the information they need to become asset owners and, hopefully, prospering Capitalists We are not exclusive - in the sense that ESOPS are the only way to go. There are Co-ops and other variations on the theme. The issue is - as Louis Kelso put it - "The only problem with Capitalism is that it doesn't create enough Capitalists". We intend to work with the best and the brightest. We are negotiating with CITIGROUP and MERRIL-LYNCH for partnership and support, and we would be happy to widen our arms, as well as open our hearts, to like-minded people in the European Union.

Should you be interested in our approach, our work and our action plan, please let me know.

I am teaching at King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, but I am connected to the RISES Board members in Rochester. This message is being sent to the Board Chairman, Mr. M. Hamud of the Mayo Clinic.

Please let me know where to go from here.

Sincerely,

Bill Bishop

EFES: a RISES contribution to the European Commission on Employee Ownership