Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy
We are the workers of Anchor Brewery. We are brewers, production workers, managers, bartenders, and others who have come together to carry on the legacy of Anchor Brewing.
On July 12, we all received the devastating news that Sapporo intended to shut down the 127-year old business. Immediately, workers mobilized to do whatever they could to save the brewery and keep making the beer that we love.
One of the world’s largest coffee producer cooperatives, Brazil’s Expocacer, has rebranded with a new name and a focus on more sustainable agriculture and differentiation in the global specialty coffee market.
Formerly known, as “Expocaccer — Cooperative of Cerrado Coffee Growers,” the organization has dropped one “C” to become Expocacer, while maintaining its vision to expand the global reach of Cerrado Mineiro coffees.
Solidarity economy-based alternative spaces result from an interface among structural factors, institutional regimes and forms of collective action that mobilise narratives of change, collective identities and non-capitalist economic practices.
As people who study and invest in strategies to address poverty and improve jobs, we have seen and heard the impact employee ownership creates. When you talk to leaders and workers at employee owned companies, you hear stories of deep collaboration and people pulling together to make their company successful. People talk about their co-workers as family. They talk about the dignity the work offers and how the workplace is often participatory, where everyone’s voices and ideas are heard. You hear the pride as they talk about their company and their role as owner.
Rachel and I started Louder Than Ten because we didn’t want to be subjected to that. We wanted autonomy over our basic needs and the single biggest thing that can offer financial security—our jobs. We believed the only way to control our destiny was to own our company instead of having bosses with so much control and influence over our livelihoods.
A global enterprise based in Spain may seem an unlikely role model for a fledging American Indian initiative. But inspired by its success, Winona’s Hemp and Heritage Farm in Anishinaabeg territory is sowing the start of an intertribal cooperative consortium.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Canada will need an additional 3.5 million homes by 2030. Housing continues to get less affordable as the average price of a home in Canada rose 6.3% to $668,754 over the past year.
O’Donal’s Nursery is always busy during the harvest season, but there has been an extra buzz this year. This season marks the garden center’s first as Maine’s newest worker-owned cooperative.
O’Donals is widely known and regarded by gardeners, homeowners, and landscapers throughout northern New England. Founded in 1953 by Royce and Selma O’Donal, Jeffrey O’Donal purchased the business from his parents in 2006. Last year, O’Donal announced he was ready to retire, but wanted to find a way to maintain the family-owned ethos in the transition.
The future of a music co-operative has been secured after it signed a "momentous" deal with the city council.
Lancaster Music Co-op (LMC), which started in 1985, said Lancaster City Council had signed a 99-year lease for its base on Lodge Street and provided a grant to help fund essential repairs to the building.
The venue has been closed since 2021 after the building was declared unsafe.
The LMC's Holly Blackwell said it was "absolutely joyous" news for the city.
Susu means “little by little” and also “to plan” in Ghana’s Twi language. Members of a Susu contribute a set amount of money regularly, which is then pooled together and given to each member in turn over a defined period. The bulk sum allows members to accumulate capital, making it easier for them to embark on business ventures, make larger purchases, pay for school fees, weddings, or funerals, and fulfill other needs. While this is the loose structure, each Susu group has its own set of rules.
