This is the strategy being pursued now in Cleveland’s Evergreen cooperatives, which employ neighborhood residents who then work together to elevate their sector of the city.

Employees are also nearby residents and consumers they build on local pride through being owners in their workplace, and they keep earnings in the community, creating a multiplier effect in the local economy. Worker co-ops distribute ownership among members, who are all invested equally in the company and its successes. The equity or worth of co-ops is not publicly traded in the stock market nor are these firms subject to the whims of distant owners. Worker cooperatives are a type of capitalist enterprise but with strong local and social commitments. * Myth #1: Worker cooperatives are a form of state socialism.įact: Co-ops are not centralized programs but rather grassroots economic development initiatives.

Uk Cooperatives Workers' Cooperative Governance Principlesĭiscussion 8 Myths on Worker Cooperatives.

Structured in many different ways they are united by the principle of member control based on the co-op principle of “one member, one vote.' Some adopt a consensus decision-making structure.' ,

'Worker Cooperatives and Collectives are enterprises democratically controlled by their members.

A worker cooperative, therefore, has the characteristic that the majority of its workforce own shares, and the majority of shares are owned by the workforce.' ( ) In practice, control by worker-owners may be exercised through individual, collective or majority ownership by the workforce, or the retention of individual, collective or majority voting rights (exercised on a one-member one-vote basis). In 'pure' forms of worker co-operative, all shares are held by the workforce with no outside or consumer owners, and each member has one voting share. This control may be exercised in a number of ways.

'A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically controlled by its worker-owners.

DAWI – Template Operating Agreement Worker Cooperative LLC With a Permanent Capital Member.

DAWI – Choosing a Business Entity (2014).

DAWI – Bylaws and Operating Agreements: a Guide for Worker Cooperatives (2015).

CDI – How does a co-op structured as an LLC affect members’ individual taxes? (2015).

CDI – How A Worker Co-op Structured as a LLC Can Retain Earnings (2015).

SELC – Cartoon Operating Agreement for a Worker Coop LLC (2016).

Co-opLaw-org – Co-op Bylaws and Other Governance Documents.

ICA Group – The Framework For Democratic Control: An Introduction to Articles of Incorporation & By-Laws for Democratic Firms (2019).

Worker cooperative examples