Find more information on the issues deeply affected by private equity investments:
In May 2024, Blackstone announced a new program to distribute ownership to employees at all the portfolio companies it acquires in the future. The firm will start by implementing the program at Copeland,…
Workers at Industrial Hana, a Guatemalan factory that produced garments for Lucky Brand, were left without a job or legally mandated severance pay when the factory suddenly shuttered in October 2023. Industrial Hana failed to pay$1.56 million in…
On July 30, the Guaranteed Severance bill will be reintroduced in the Michigan legislature. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a federal law that requires employers to provide advance notice of mass layoffs or plant closings that…
The largest public pension fund in the United States, the $500 billion California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), began implementing its policy to address subpar labor practices at some of its private equity firms’ portfolio companies. During the…
Most recent estimates suggest private equity firms directly employ 12 million people in the United States alone, and millions more around the world. The largest number of workers employed by private equity-owned companies…
In May, Red Lobster announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, closed dozens of stores, and would be selling all its assets.[1] CEO Jonathan Tibus, who was brought in as a restructuring advisor, was quick to…
In early February, a Minneapolis Star Tribune article investigated the sudden closure of two Z Video Relay Service (ZVRS) call centers dedicated to providing American Sign Language translation services to the deaf and hard of…
This spring, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project launched the Private Equity State Risk Index, a groundbreaking tool aimed at assessing the impacts of private equity on different states. The Private Equity State Risk Index provides stakeholders…
This past week, Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, held its global limited partner (LP) conference in Boca Raton, Florida. A limited partner in private equity or venture capital refers to an individual or entity that provides capital…
Last month, PESP’s labor team traveled to Chicago to present to a packed room at the 2024 LaborNotes conference. Led by Senior Research Coordinator Azani Creeks and Campaign Coordinator Valentina Dabos, PESP’s panel centered on tactics for…
Investors in private equity seeking to mitigate adverse impacts on workers, financial risks, and reputational damage should adopt specific labor standards across their private equity portfolios. These standards should include fair wages, reasonable working hours, paid leave, non-discrimination,…
Last month, regulators approved private equity firm Roark Capital’s acquisition of sandwich giant Subway following a probe by the Federal Trade Commission. In November 2023, the FTC announced…
