News & Resources

Resource List: Union Cooperatives as a Strategy for Building Worker Power 

May 16, 2024

A worker-owned co-op is a business owned and controlled by its workers. Worker cooperatives are values-driven businesses that put worker and community benefit at the core of their purpose. In contrast to traditional companies, worker members at worker cooperatives participate in the profits, oversight, and often management of the enterprise using democratic practices.

Just some of the reasons that Co-op Cincy, a co-op developer, has identified for bringing unions and cooperatives together:

  1. Helps co-ops scale with their values intact
  2. Collective bargaining leads to clear expectations, clear human resource policies 
  3. Balance out the democratic work environment
  4. Access to improved and affordable benefits 
  5. Direct connection to a movement of workers in the same industry pushing for working conditions industry-wide. 
  6. Connects the co-op to a platform for acting in solidarity with other workers.
  7. Policy advocacy opportunities

Find resources below to learn more about union, worker-owned cooperatives as a strategy for building worker power. Pair these resources with this six-part series on building community power, published by Nonprofit Quarterly with NEC in 2024.


The basics


Organizations & Movement Builders

U.S.

  • 1worker1vote.org/ – NEC member organization dedicated to building a national network of unionized worker-owned cooperative businesses to overcome opportunity, mobility, and income inequality. Founders and others authored Humanity @ Work & Life, 2023.
  • Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP), launched in 2019, is a growing Massachusetts network bringing together worker co-ops and developers, grassroots organizations and labor unions, funders and investors to resource and coordinate the advancement of a worker ownership movement across the state. COWOP works with its sister network MASEN (Massachusetts Solidarity Economy Network) and is supported by NEC member Center for Economic Democracy. 
  • Co-op Cincy – Founded in 2011, NEC member Co-op Cincy is the first and most mature union co-op incubator in the US and now nurtures a resilient, interconnected network of several union and not-yet-union co-ops in greater Cincinnati with the goal of an economy that works for all.

Canada

  • Union Cooperative Initiative (UCI) Founded in 2021, the UCI supports the creation, incubation, and operation of unionized cooperatives that provide family sustaining and flexible jobs that are good for people and the planet, that provide business opportunities for underserved communities, and are accountable to the communities we serve. Unions in British Columbia who are part of this venture include the Arts and Cultural Workers Union, Canadian Animation Guild, IATSE Local 891, LiUNA Local 1611, MoveUP and United Steelworkers District 3.
  • What is the Union Cooperative Initiative?presentation to USFWC Union Co-op Council
  • Arts & Cultural Workers Union, IATSE Local B-778 FormationACWU presentation

United Kingdom

  • Union-coops:uk – A campaign organization of worker co-op and labor movement working to create decent work through the creation of union worker co-ops.


Tools & Resources


Events, Webinars, Videos, Podcasts

 

Articles

About Union, Worker-Owned Co-ops …


In Academic Publications …


About Unionizing at Consumer Co-ops

A consumer co-op is a business owned by its customers, for the mutual benefit of its customers. The purpose of consumer cooperatives is to offer goods and services at the lowest cost to the customer-owners — in contrast to companies that serve the interests of stockholders.

 

To edit/suggest a resource for this list, write info@neweconomy.net
List published April 2024

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