Worker Cooperatives

Catalyst Cooperative is an all-remote, 8-person, tech worker cooperative based in North America. The coop was founded in 2017 with the mission to make US energy system data more accessible. Catalyst's main objectives are to curate the free, open-source Public Utilities Data Liberation project (PUDL) and help clients navigate a myriad of energy or environmental data needs.

B Lab’s research suggests that certification has at least struck a chord with consumers. While worker co-ops seem to perpetually struggle with a lack of “awareness” around the model, one in three consumers in Canada and the US reportedly understand the B Corp label.

In this video farm tour, we visit Ferme Coopérative Tourne-Sol, a thriving co-op farm just outside Montreal, Quebec. Farmers Dan Brisebois and Emily Board walk us through their seed-growing operation, discuss how their worker co-op farm was founded, and share how it functions today.

Cecosesola is a remarkable federation of Venezuelan cooperatives that artfully manages multiple ventures as commons while deeply immersed within a system of capitalist markets. 

Increasing the prevalence of perceived quality drivers through the expansion of home care cooperatives, the adoption of cooperatives’ practices by traditional agencies, and the implementation of industry-wide policies that facilitate them may significantly improve care quality across the home care sector. 

 In this conversation with John Abrams, author of From Founder to Future, we explore how founders can strategically pave the way for a more equitable future through the worker co-op model and how work can influence every area of life.

Ai Van Kok explains how she has used "The £1 Model" to help worker co-ops in the UK better understand, and take control of, their business expenses.

In recent years, there’s been renewed interest in the worker co-op model. The Earthworker cooperative network focused on Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. The goal: find new types of employment and products in a coal area undergoing transition.

Are you a business owner who is retiring or transitioning out? Don’t just close the door—pass the torch.

When is a “Coop” not really a cooperative? The short answer is whenever the actual activity of the “cooperative” is not carried out by the members but by employees. The problem is, of course, not in cooperation per se but in the hiring, employing, renting, or leasing of people to carry out the supposedly “cooperative” activities of the “cooperative.”