Worker Cooperatives

In this episode of Punchcard, we speak to Rebecca Kemble, an experienced cooperator from the US, who is a member of Union Cabs Worker Cooperative in Madison and co-founder of the Solidarity Economy Principles Project.

I want to share a framework that explains the different varieties of tech worker cooperatives. This framework helps us understand the various pathways tech workers can take to join the tech worker cooperative movement.

Whereas traditional firms can simply lay off or decrease the hours of workers, those sorts of options aren’t really available for a lot of worker co-ops.

Reem’s California is a worker-owned restaurant. It is democratically run by local workers. Using worker-ownership, the restaurant challenges the long-standing inequality and violence prevalent in the restaurant industry, and provides an empowering and transforming workplace for those who have faced the most barriers–people of color, queer, formerly incarcerated folks, and undocumented individuals.

Chris interviews worker-owners at the 2024 Worker Co-op Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

How a group of metalworkers ended up creating an alliance with farmers is a fascinating story. Drawing on anthropological and sociological approaches to work, political economy, and social movements, this article uses the RiMaflow case to understand recovered enterprises in Italy and to shed light on the conditions under which solidarity against capital—conflict—and solidarity among the oppressed—mutualism—emerges when workers attempt to secure their livelihoods.

Amidst the global surge of refugees and migrants seeking economic opportunities, the call for inclusive, democratic, and cooperative models is more pressing than ever. With 2025 designated as the UN’s International Year of Cooperatives, there is a critical need to reform cooperative laws to ensure that no marginalized worker is excluded. This essay explores how inclusive and democratic cooperatives, alongside innovative models like member-managed limited liability companies (LLCs), can address these global labor challenges.
 

There is widespread agreement on the need for a bold economic development strategy aimed at realigning the interests of business with those of local communities. Less clear is what precisely needs to be done. We argue that an effective way to achieve this goal is by decommodifying business ownership through the democratisation of private companies.

Interviews with Julian Hendrix and Esther West from the 2024 USFWC Conference.

In 2022 Rhode Island passed the Rhode Island Cannabis Act. This made cannabis legal for adult use and mandated that a cannabis retailer license will be awarded to one social equity applicant and one worker cooperative per zone. There will be four licenses per geographic zone which means that half of the licenses are meant to create racial and economic justice within the cannabis industry in Rhode Island. A total of 12 licenses are specifically reserved for social equity applicants and worker cooperatives.