Cooperatives

source: U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives

Worker cooperatives are business entities that are owned and controlled by their members, the people who work in them. All cooperatives operate in accordance with the Cooperative Principles and Values. The two central characteristics of worker cooperatives are: (1) worker-members invest in and own the business together, and it distributes surplus to them and (2) decision-making is democratic, adhering to the general principle of one member-one vote. The international worker cooperative federation CICOPA established basic standards for worker cooperatives in the World Declaration on Cooperative Worker Ownership (also known as the Oslo Declaration) at a meeting in Oslo, Norway in 2003. The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives has signed on to this document.

Though we lack comprehensive data on the nature and scope of worker cooperatives in the U.S., researchers and practitioners conservatively estimate that there are over 350 democratic workplaces in the United States, employing over 5,000 people and generating over $500 million in annual revenues.

 

 

NPR – When Residents Take Ownership, A Mobile Home Community Thrives

NPR – Home Sweet Mobile Home: Co-Ops Deliver Ownership

Mother Jones – The Trailer Park Revolution

New York Times – And Now the Mobile-Home Co-op, a First in New York

City of Houston – Office of Business Opportunity

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U.S. Worker Cooperatives – Find a Coop

List of Worker Cooperatives in the United States

Texas Secretary of State – Information on the Texas Business Organization Codes

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Truth Out – Worker-Owned Cooperatives: Direct Democracy in Action

New York Times – The Case for Worker Co-ops

Bill Moyers – How Worker-Owned Companies Work

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Bill Moyers – Cooperatives in small-scale fisheries: enabling successes through community empowerment

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COOPENAE – savings and credit cooperative

Learn More About COOPENAE and Investing in Costa Rica

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Truth Out – Chicago Workers Thrive Three Years After Taking Over a Window Factory

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Truth Out – How the Largest Worker Owned Co-op in the US Lifts People Out of Poverty

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City Lab – Can Co-Ops Help the Rockaways Recover?

Yes Magazine – Why Teaming Up with Unions Might be the Best Way to Build the Co-Op Movement

Yes Magazine – These Neighbors Got Together to Buy Vacant Buildings. Now They’re Renting to Bakers and Brewers

Yes Magazine – The Italian Region Where Co-ops Produce a Third of Its GDP

Entrepreneur – This Company Asked Its Employees for Cash and Everybody Won

The Guardian – Occupy Buenos Aires: the workers’ movement that transformed a city, and inspired the world

KUT – This Is How a Taxi Co-Op Would Work in Austin

Business Insider – Italy’s strained banks are using wheels of Parmesan cheese to back loans

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City of Houston – Office of Business Opportunity

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Cooperatives can offer solutions to hunger and poverty, President of Costa Rica says

Business Insider – Italy’s strained banks are using wheels of Parmesan cheese to back loans

Forbes – Why Do Some States Have More Employee-Owned Companies Than Others?

Daily Kos – Walmart’s ‘Worst Nightmare’ Competition Has Cashiers And Produce Clerks With $1 Million Pensions

Truth Out – Is Worker Ownership a Way Forward for Market Basket?

TIME – Meet the Low-Key, Low-Cost Grocery Chain Being Called ‘Walmart’s Worst Nightmare’

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Next City – Buying a Share of Detroit’s Revitalization

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The Nation – Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies

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