Worker Cooperatives

This is a "nuts & bolts" session on transitioning existing businesses to worker-owned cooperatives. Attendees learn about the option and process of worker buyouts and hear a wide variety of company transition stories, from initial exploration through deal structuring, financing and post-transaction support. Business owners considering a sale to employees as well as current workers exploring or engaged in a buyout will find value in the session.

This year is the 20th Anniversary of the formation of the USFWC. To celebrate, GEO is asking cooperators to share their experiences in the US worker cooperative movement over the last two decades (and beyond).

Join Courtney Berner and three worker co-op members for a deep dive into worker co-op governance practices and the trends that are shaping them.

Tech worker cooperatives have the potential to provide particularly crucial infrastructure for the communication and coordination necessary for a liberatory movement and a robust and just economy.

My main work over the past 44 years has been about figuring out how we can consciously develop democracy all over this country. This has included 16 years of active involvement with the cooperative/solidarity economic movements. I believe that bringing this developmental perspective to the cooperative movement can be a rich and productive way for celebrating the 20th birthday of the USFWC. 

John McNamara is an important player in the US worker co-op movement. For our coverage and reflections on 20 years of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, we naturally asked John for some reflections. He willingly gave us an interview and John filled out our survey.

While there are many people who contributed to the founding of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, I would like to provide reflections on the role played by the Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO) Newsletter Collective.

A review of the benefits of indivisible reserves, their connection to community, and the early 19th century origin of these ideas are discussed in this article.

GEO is kicking off a special collection in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.

Yuill Herbert, a co-founder and long-time worker member at Sustainability Solutions Group, joins us to talk about life in an expanding co-op, and the 100-acre land trust he also helped start.