Oak Creek's Eder Flag is now 100 Percent Employee-Owned

OAK CREEK -- Labor Day 2016 took on extra meaning for the owners of Eder Flag in Oak Creek.

All 170 of them.

The company, which was founded in 1887 by the Eder family, has announced it will transition its company to 100 percent employee ownership through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

According to a report by the Milwaukee Biz Times, Eder Flag, which has 170 employees, is the largest flag and flagpole manufacturer in the country. It distributes more than 20,000 products to more than 5,000 customers from its Oak Creek and Orlando, Florida facilities.

According to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, an Employee Stock Ownership Plan is a qualified retirement program, similar to a 401(k) profit sharing plan, but it gives workers a stake in their employer. It will put thousands of dollars in the retirement accounts of individual employees, said Tim Ksobiech, Eder Flag’s chief financial officer.

“We chose to make this announcement around Labor Day weekend because it is a holiday to celebrate working people. We thought it would be a perfect time to roll this out,” he said to the Journal Sentinel.

Image Credit: City of Oak Creek