Cooperatives

The Baristas Who Took Over Their Café

September 15, 2024 Osita Nwanevu, In These Times. Create! Baltimore, Cooperatives, New Economy, Worker Rights and Jobs

In July 2023, early morning visitors to Baltimore’s Common Ground coffee shop found a sign taped to the door⁠. With a thank you to the Hampden community that had sustained it for 25 years, owner Michael Krupp announced the shop would be ceasing operations “effective immediately.” Common Ground employees released a statement saying they had only been notified themselves the previous afternoon and, notably, had been a few months into forming a union. According to Common Ground barista Nic Koski, the effort was sparked by “general workplace concerns in terms of people wanting more fair, equitable wages, especially between in front of house and back of house, and better treatment — wanting to look into health care and benefits.”

Aligning Our National Organizations With Co-Op Principles

August 20, 2024 Rebecca Kemble, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Democracy, Self-Determination, Worker Rights and Jobs

In his 2010 Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO) article “What should our movement look like in 2040?,” John McNamara, past president of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC, “the Federation”) and current Co-Director of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, used the metaphor of building a house. He saw the first four years of the USFWC (2004-2008) as the foundation laid by the cooperation and collaboration amongst three democratic regional formations: the Western Worker Cooperative Conference, the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy and the Midwest Worker Cooperative Conference.

Unlocking Community Energy Democracy

August 17, 2024 Nick Pearce, Resilience. Create! Cooperatives, Energy, Energy Democracy, United Kingdom (UK)

‍The UK Labour Party’s overlooked Local Power Plan could be an ambitious force ushering in a new generation of renewable energy by handing power to the people. Although the possibilities for local energy democracy abound, public detail on the plan is scant. Labour is promising a £3.3BN fund to support community ownership of renewable generation. This would offer grants and loans to local authorities and communities to “create one million owners of local power,” according to the plan. The proposal would be for Great British Energy (GBE), “a new, publicly owned clean generation company”, to partner with councils and community co-ops to develop 8 GW of clean power by the end of the decade.

The Union Co-Ops Council: Seventeen Years Of Forging Worker Alliances

August 2, 2024 Dylan Hatch, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Strategize! Cooperatives, New Economy, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

As the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2024, July marks seventeen years since the founding of its oldest member council – the Union Co-ops Council. Established to bridge worker cooperatives and organized labor, the Council has become a crucial player in both movements, fueled by the resurgence of unions and worker co-ops throughout the beginning of the 21st century. Just as the USFWC concludes its first twenty years with renewed energy, ambition, and capacity, the Union Co-op Council also reflects on its successes and sets a clear path forward to advance worker ownership and power.

The Transformative Power Of Urban Recipe’s Food Co-Op Model

July 18, 2024 BobJones, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Atlanta, Cooperatives, Food Coop, Food Security

It is 10 a.m. on a Monday morning, and the warehouse at 970 Jefferson Street in Atlanta is humming with activity. A forklift loads a pallet of cereal boxes. Two men are setting up a line of folding tables. Several people casually sort a box of bananas into grocery bags. Fog escapes from a walk-in freezer as someone rolls a dolly filled with boxes toward the line of tables. Five or six people walk in from the bus stop with rolling grocery carts. In the center of the bustling warehouse, JoAnn Crowder stands behind a desk with her clipboard, quietly orchestrating the hustle. For the last 24 years, JoAnn has spent almost every other Monday morning here.

Celebrating 20 Years Of The Worker Cooperative Movement

June 25, 2024 Margaret M. Bau, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, History, USDA, Worker Cooperatives, Worker Rights and Jobs

When Congress enacted the Cooperative Marketing Act of 1926, it directed the USDA to create a range of federal services in support of producer-owned cooperatives. For nearly 100 years, USDA has gathered statistics, conducted research, provided education, and offered cooperative development to America’s agricultural cooperatives. Occasionally, USDA conducted cooperative development among producer co-ops of artisans or created educational materials on housing, shared services, or worker co-ops. Though the name of the agency changed at times, most of USDA’s efforts remained firmly focused on farmer-owned cooperatives.

Technology Cooperatives In The Movement: Where Are We Now?

June 18, 2024 Micky Metts, Keegan Rankin and Benjamin Melancon, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Technology, Worker Cooperatives, Worker Rights and Jobs

Cooperatives have many benefits to their members and communities. The transformation of the economy to one that works for all, likely requires a much greater role for cooperatives—worker owned cooperatives perhaps most of all. Marxist economist Richard Wolff has gone so far as to posit that the critical failing of past socialist revolutions has been not democratizing the workplace. Certainly, catalyzing a solidarity economy network will require as much of the economy and public infrastructure as possible to be under people's direct control. Tech worker cooperatives have the potential to provide particularly crucial infrastructure for the communication and coordination necessary for a liberatory movement and a robust and just economy.

If This Is Us At 20, What Could We Be At 40?

June 14, 2024 Michael Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Strategize! Cooperatives, New Economy, Transformation, Worker Rights and Jobs

My main work over the past 44 years has been about figuring out how we can consciously develop democracy all over this country. This has included 16 years of active involvement with the cooperative/solidarity economic movements. I believe that bringing this developmental perspective to the cooperative movement can be a rich and productive way for celebrating the 20th birthday of the USFWC. I have two suggestions for consciously growing the worker co-op movement, which naturally reach beyond to the whole cooperative economic movement. The first is to make full use of both Eleanor Ostrom's work and the wisdom emerging from the field of cultural evolution.

Twenty Years Of Building An Economic Alternative To Capitalism In The US

June 3, 2024 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast - Clearing The FOG Capitalism, Cooperatives, Economic Democracy, New Economy

The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives recently turned twenty years old. Clearing the FOG speaks with Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, a professor and author of "Collective Courage: A History of African-American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice," and a charter member of the USFWC, about the work to create a national cooperative organization and the rise of the cooperative economy in the United States. She spoke about the role that cooperatives have played in advancing social and economic justice, the benefits of cooperatives not only to the individual but also more broadly to their communities, and the history of cooperatives that preceded the rise of capitalism and also how cooperative economies offer a better alternative to capitalism.

From ‘An Economy Of Hope’ To The US Federation Of Worker Cooperatives

May 31, 2024 Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Organize! Capitalism, Cooperatives, Economic Democracy, Worker Rights and Jobs

The first Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy was attended by 96 people mostly worker co-op owners and members of support organizations from Ohio to Maine, New Orleans to Washington, DC, and in between. We had agreed we would have been happy if only 20 people showed up, so having almost 100 people at our first conference was quite an achievement! We also felt strongly that any democratic workplace (such as 100% worker owned ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Companies) and democratically run nonprofits) was welcome.

The Benefits Of Indivisible Reserves And Their Connection To Communities

May 28, 2024 Bruce J. Reynolds, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Capital, Communities, Cooperative Principles, Cooperatives

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) issued a restatement of cooperative principles in 1995 that included the idea of indivisible reserves in its third principle as a discretionary option for cooperatives. When cooperatives build financial reserves, they may specify a certain share or all of it as indivisible, in other words, not transferrable to members. For cooperatives with indivisible reserves, closures of these businesses or acquisitions by private investors, would result in transfers of these designated capital funds to other cooperatives or to organizations supporting their communities. The ICA’s inclusion of indivisible reserves has an implicit connection to its seventh principle, Concern for Community.

The US Worker Cooperative Movement Turns 20

May 25, 2024 Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Economic Democracy, History, Labor Movement, Worker Rights and Jobs

These are examples of worker co-ops in the United States in the late 20th century. While doing great work, and with a wealth of cooperative experience between them, before 2000 these somewhat isolated islands of democratic work and community care stood alone on the U.S. economic landscape, operating separately, and independent of each other. Maybe they didn’t even know that each other existed, or what they were doing to solve similar problems – especially those on opposite coasts. And most people in the U.S. knew little to nothing about worker co-ops. Regional worker co-op conferences started to help bring co-ops like these together, not just locally but regionally - with the goal to form a national network.

Cooperatives In China And Prospects For Their Significant Growth

May 14, 2024 Ali Al-Assam, Orinoco Tribune. Create! China, Cooperatives, Food and Agriculture, New Economy, Socialism

During my recent visit to China from April 14th to 24th, 2024, I had the opportunity to engage with seasoned members of the cooperative movement, among whom were British nationals who live in China. A highlight of my trip was spending a substantial part of a day, together with colleagues from ‘Friends of Socialist China’, exploring an agricultural cooperative in the north-eastern Jilin province. The law on Specialised Farmer Cooperatives was passed by the National People’s Congress, coming into effect on July 1 2007. As stated by Tim Zachernuk In his excellent study of cooperatives in China: “The law acknowledges international cooperative experience as codified in the cooperative principles formulated by the International Cooperative Alliance.

Food Co-Op Tests New Approach To Equitable Community Solar

April 6, 2024 Sarah Shemkus, Next City. Create! Boston, Community Solar, Cooperatives, Energy, Food and Agriculture, Solar

A group of energy equity advocates in Boston is launching a community solar cooperative they say could be a scalable model for both reducing carbon emissions and building wealth in disadvantaged communities. The Boston Community Solar Cooperative is in the pre-development stage of an 81 kilowatt solar project on the roof of the Dorchester Food Co-op, in one of the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods. Residents will be able to buy or earn ownership stakes in the project, which will be governed by a board of community stakeholders.

Synergies Among Fair Trade And Cooperative Economic Principles

March 26, 2024 Gizem Bülbüller, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Capitalism, Cooperatives, Fair Trade, New Economy

Cooperatives have become increasingly prominent as organizational models amid the crisis conditions facing the world. Rather than advocating for the replacement of the capitalism-based economy with an entirely new model, there’s a growing trend of critiquing and adapting capitalism. Governments, international organizations, and the private sector are now including cooperatives in their agendas, recognizing their potential to blend traditional cooperative goals with newer social entrepreneurship objectives.

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