Networking & Collaboration

Ekhilur, a nonprofit citizen cooperative, is pioneering an innovative approach to strengthening the local economy. Instead of creating a new currency, it operates its own payment system — regulated by the Bank of Spain — to maximize the circulation of the existing euro within the community for as long as possible.

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

Co-founder of two worker co-ops, Yochai Gal, joins us to talk about his co-op's recent merger with another tech worker cooperative, and how the new co-op incorporated the best of both of the worker co-ops that formed it. Then Yochai shares his (rather critical) thoughts on the trajectory of the USFWC over the last several years, and why he thinks it has largely failed to fulfill it's original goals.

Today, on their one-third-acre lot in Oakland (California), there are 20 adults and 4 babies living in 6 buildings with 10 units. There's a 4-plex with 5 adults, 2 apartments with 2 or 4 adults upstairs and families downstairs, and 2 houses with families.

The Democracy at Work Network was an organization of worker co-op peer advisors that operated successfully for several years, assisting fledgling worker co-ops by offering technical assistance from experienced worker-owners, on a sliding price scale.

As the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2024, July marks seventeen years since the founding of its oldest member council – the Union Co-ops Council. Established to bridge worker cooperatives and organized labor, the Council has become a crucial player in both movements, fueled by the resurgence of unions and worker co-ops throughout the beginning of the 21st century.

These WhatsApp groups changed my life overnight. I went from struggling to find something to eat and a way to get around to relaxing into the support provided by the care of an Excel sheet.

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.

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.