Summary
The fifty employee owners of Jet Rubber Company, a manufacturer of custom molded goods and rubber-to-metal parts founded in 1955, celebrated the 10th anniversary of their ESOP in March 2003. The firm is located in Rootstown, Portage County, Ohio, a city small in size but large in pride with well-kept Victorian homes surrounding the town square and American flags waving proudly along the downtown streets. The employee-owners of Jet share a similar spirit of local pride in their business, planting deep roots to stabilize their jobs and their community.
‘The ESOP has meant a lot to all of us because we are working here for ourselves,’ said Thelma Matthews, a 20-year employee and Finishing Department Supervisor. ‘We feel like a family; it’s great working in an atmosphere where everybody helps out.’
‘The value of Jet’s stock has gone from $23 per share ten years ago to $78 today. That’s not going to make or break Wall Street,’ says John Logue, OEOC Director, ‘but it does make a difference to 50 employees, their families and Rootstown, Ohio. Jet’s achievements as an employee owned company are impressive. Employee ownership has meant better jobs, better pay and benefits, and better retirement than would have been the case if Frank Brubaker had sold to anyone else.’