Cooperatives

Sociocracy: A ‘Light In Our Path Towards A Co-operative Society’

March 23, 2025 Alice Toomer-McAlpine, The News.Coop. Create! Collective Wisdom, Cooperatives, New Economy, Sociocracy

When it comes to collective leadership, simply having the willingness to work in this way is not always enough, and trying to ensure everyone is heard without systems and structures to support this aim can become messy and unworkable. A growing number of co-ops are exploring how the governance system of sociocracy can help them to ensure those involved have a say while still getting things done. Sociocratic organisations are made up of small, semi-autonomous working groups called circles, connected by members who ensure the flow of information between them. Roles within circles are selected via an open, transparent selection process rather than a secret ballot.

Arizmendi: A Co-Op Of Co-Ops

March 15, 2025 Transition Bus, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Democracy, New Economy, Solidarity, Worker Rights

I like everything all together. I like the fact that it's a cooperative. I like working with my hands and I like physical labor. Everybody's paid the same wage no matter how long you've been working at the Cheeseboard. Even though I'm one of the newest people there - I've only been there two years - I still have all of the rights, responsibilities and privileges as somebody who's been there for 30 or 40 years. Everybody is valued equally and we operate by consensus, but we all make decisions collectively. We're always trying to work together to make the decision work for everybody. So we reach unanimity on almost every decision.

How Common Ground Cafe Workers Won A Union And A Cafe

February 28, 2025 Bernadette King Fitzsimons, EWOC. Organize! Baltimore, Cooperatives, Maryland, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In December 2022, workers at Common Ground Cafe in Baltimore started to talk about forming a union. They wanted to address issues of pay equity and workplace discrimination, among others. They hoped their boss would be open to working with them to improve the cafe, which had been a mainstay in Baltimore’s Hampden neighborhood for over 20 years. Instead, when the boss found out about their union drive in July 2023, he closed the business with less than 12 hours’ notice. Nik Koski, a Common Ground worker involved in the union campaign, was completely shocked: “We prepare ourselves for the different ways a boss might retaliate, but to actually experience it was something else.”

Tech-Enhanced Deliberation For Cooperative Decision-Making

February 20, 2025 Arantzazulab. Create! Cooperatives, Democracy, Governance, Mondragon, Technology

In 2025, we will be exploring ways to put this in practice in MONDRAGON’s cooperatives to learn how the principles behind citizens’ assemblies – sortition (randomly selecting decision makers), deliberation, and rotation – can be applied in the context of cooperative decision making and governance. The goals are to help lead to a more engaged workforce and membership, as well as to result in better, more informed, and legitimate decisions in times of complexity. Furthermore, we will test how new technologies can enrich deliberation processes and facilitate new approaches to decision making in cooperatives.

How Solidarity Economies Take Hold

February 20, 2025 Maliha Safri, Marianna Pavlovskaya, Stephen Healy and Craig Borowiak, Next City. Create! Capitalism, Cooperatives, Solidarity Economy, Urban Planning

In cities powerfully shaped by racial capitalism and economic exclusion, communities have long fought to reclaim their futures through economic solidarity and cooperation. This has been the case through the darkest stages of racial capitalist urban history and remains especially important in the face of a resurgent patriarchal white supremacy today. Our research, detailed in our new book “Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Mapping Transformation,” reveals a striking pattern: The very neighborhoods redlined into disinvestment and organized abandonment decades ago have become hubs of worker cooperatives, credit unions, community gardens and mutual aid networks that, together, constitute the decentralized but vibrant solidarity economy movement.

Could A New Housing Cooperative Help Create Affordable Homes?

February 16, 2025 Noelle Fujii-Oride, Next City. Create! Affordable Housing, Cooperatives, Hawaii, Housing

For the last year and a half, Chase Hasegawa and a few of his neighbors at the Courtyards at Waipouli have been trying to preserve their Kaua‘i apartment complex as a much-needed source of workforce housing. The tenants have been working with a Honolulu nonprofit with the hope of buying the property and turning it into an affordable housing cooperative. If their Waipouli Housing Cooperative is successfully established, it would be the first affordable housing cooperative to be created on Kaua‘i and the first in decades for the state. But the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) is planning to acquire the property for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries soon.

A Cautionary Tale From The US Federation Of Worker Co-ops

February 15, 2025 Caleb Elliott, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Resistance Report Cooperatives, Democracy, New Economy, Worker Rights

In this episode of Punchcard, we speak to Rebecca Kemble, an experienced cooperator from the US, who is a member of Union Cabs Worker Cooperative in Madison and co-founder of the Solidarity Economy Principles Project. From 2009-2016 Rebecca was a member of the board of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and in late 2024, Rebecca penned an article pointing a finger at the Federation for having drifted away from its grassroots cooperative movement origins, by centralising power and becoming unaccountable to the cooperatives that it claims to represent.

How A Worker Cooperative Is Mitigating The Stray Animal Crisis

February 13, 2025 Damon Orion, NationofChange. Create! Animals, Cooperatives, New Economy, Texas, Worker Rights

The popularity of support animals attests to the mental health benefits of bonding with a pet, such as decreased stress, anxiety, and loneliness. According to the Mayo Clinic, having pets may also positively impact cardiovascular health and blood pressure control. Unfortunately, many animals that could be treasured companions never get that opportunity. This is especially true in the state of Texas. According to the animal welfare group Best Friends Animal Society, approximately 568,325 cats and dogs entered Texas shelters in 2023, and an estimated 82,681 of these animals were killed.

Varieties Of Worker Cooperatives In Tech

February 11, 2025 Stefan Ivanovski, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Platform Coops, Technology, Worker Cooperatives

Working conditions in the tech sector are deteriorating. Leading tech firms like Google, once considered top employers, have laid off thousands of workers despite reporting profits. Traditional tech firms struggle to reconcile the paradox of high job quality and profitability. Can worker cooperatives offer an alternative for tech workers? Known for prioritizing equity and social well-being, can they succeed where traditional firms fail? I believe worker cooperatives are a viable solution for tech workers. I want to share a framework that explains the different varieties of tech worker cooperatives.

Celebrating Collective Courage

January 28, 2025 Malikia Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Black History, Book Review, Cooperatives, Economic Security

In 2014, the seminal book, Collective Courage: A History of African-American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice debuted, and with it a flame sparked in the cooperative movement. Slowly and then exponentially the book went viral by word of mouth throughout black and brown communities across the U.S. and beyond. It was a “how-to” for self-determination and making an impact in the world that was tangible. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard’s book gave us both the answer to a viable alternative outside of petitions and protests and provided a blueprint for how our ancestors, names both widely known and unknown, paved a path toward cooperative economics.

Meet The Cleaners Taking Control Of Their Work

January 26, 2025 Isaac Phan Nay, The Tyee. Create! Canada, Cooperatives, Low wages, Worker Rights

Lulu Hernández said when she first started working as a cleaner in Vancouver, she just accepted the long hours and low wages that were the industry standard. But two women she met on the job helped her realize her workday could be different, Hernández said. “We were just dreaming about having a company where we are all women and fairly paid and a community,” she said. “We had all these ideas, but we didn’t know what we were creating until we put the name on it.” Hernández is one of the three founders of the Cleaning Co-op. Since incorporating in May 2023, the co-operative has grown to employ about 20 women and gender-diverse employees, including cleaners and administration staff.

New Co-op Financial Association For Southern Small Farmers

January 14, 2025 Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Agriculture, Cooperatives, Small Farmers, The South

East Point, Georgia - This past October, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund ("the Federation") joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other partners for the announcement of the historic launch of the Southern Farmers Financial Association (SFFA). This new cooperatively-owned institution was created to increase access to capital for its member-owners to begin farming or strengthen existing small farming operations and agriculture-based businesses in high-poverty areas across the Southeast.

Arab Street Corner Bakery Challenges Inequality with Cooperation

January 12, 2025 Mari Nishitani, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Arab Americans, California, Cooperatives, Restaurant Industry, Restaurants, San Francisco, Solidarity, Worker Rights and Jobs

Reem’s California is an Arab bakery shop in San Francisco. Proudly embracing the slogan “Arab Street Food made with California Love,” this restaurant serves traditional Arab bread infused with fresh, locally sourced ingredients from California. As soon as you step in, you will be welcomed by a vibrant mural titled “Seeds of Love” which includes a quote by Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqan: “If it were in my hands, if I were able to flip this world, if I possessed the ability to fill this world with seeds of love.” This space is filled with the inviting aroma of freshly baked bread, a scent infused with the love, care, and mutual support of Palestinian Americans and local community organizers.

Why More And More Journalists Are Launching Worker-Owned Outlets

January 9, 2025 Angela Fu, Poynter. Create! Cooperatives, Independent media, Journalists, Media, Worker Ownership, Worker Rights and Jobs

When staff at the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal decided to unionize in March, they were almost immediately hit with layoffs. The paper’s parent company, a nonprofit called the Long Beach Journalism Initiative, laid off nine of the 14 staff involved with the union drive just four days after their unionization attempt. Undeterred, those nine workers — along with three others who had gone on strike in protest — decided to start their own publication: a worker-owned cooperative called the Long Beach Watchdog. “We wanted to build this as a place that respected workers, respected the labor that they do, and allowed everyone a seat at the table and a voice in how the business is run,” said Dennis Dean

From Dream To Reality: Go-Op, Britain’s First Cooperative Railway

January 5, 2025 Jack Simpson, The Guardian. Create! Cooperatives, Railroads, Transportation, United Kingdoms

The idea for the country’s first cooperative rail service came to Alex Lawrie in 2004 after another frustrating trip across Somerset. Having moved to Yeovil four years earlier with his young family, his job as a cooperative development manager involved daily trips across the south-west trying to set up member-owned businesses. A reluctant motorist, he quickly became frustrated with the rail service he was depending on to get around. “It baffled me, trains came at seemingly random intervals, there were only a few trains serving a big town like Yeovil, hours would pass without a train coming,” Lawrie says.

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