How To Start A Workers Co-operative - PopularResistance.Org (original) (raw)
By Staff, www.american.coop
April 12, 2014
Note: We believe that we are in the midst of economic and political transformation. There are many aspects to the changes people are helping to make happen. On the economic side we advocate for economic democracy — where people have greater control over their economic lives. One foundational change is ownership? The workplace where most work is not owned or managed by the workers. One way that changes is the creation of a worker owned cooperative. More people are moving in this direction and as a result there is more information available about how to create a worker owned coop.
Worker Cooperative Startup Guides
There are several written guides for starting worker cooperatives, and many more for starting cooperatives in general that include sections on worker cooperatives. Having a good organizer or consultant, or mentor, surely makes any of the guides more useful. A few examples are:
Think Outside the Boss: How to Create a Worker-Owned Business, from the Sustainable Economies Law Center (2013)
Steps to Starting a Worker Cooperative by Gary Hansen, E. Kim Coontz, and Audrey Malan (1997)
Empezando una Cooperativa de Trabajadores by E. Kim Coontz, CCCD. A Spanish-language version of Steps to Starting A Worker Co-op.
In Good Company: the Guide to Cooperative Employee Ownership, a Worker Cooperative Toolbox by Margaret Lund and the Northcountry Cooperative Development Foundation (2006)
Starting a Worker Co-op: A Canadian Handbook produced by the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation (2009)
How to Set Up a Workers’ Co-op, Radical Routes, UK (2012)
A Technology Freelancer’s Guide to Starting a Worker Cooperative by Jim Johnson, Brent Emerson, et al (2009)
Co-op 101: A Guide to Starting a Cooperative from the Cooperative Development Institute (2010)
Putting Democracy to Work by Frank T. Adams and Gary Hansen (1987)
Starting a worker owned cooperative for home care workers by Margaret Bau (2008?)
Forming and Operating a Worker Cooperative. A slide presentation at the 2010 Vermont Employee Ownership Conference by Newell Lessell of The ICA Group and Erbin Crowell of Co-operative Fund of New England.
Cooperatives: A Tool for Community Development by Mary Myers , Greg Lawless , and E.G. Nadeau , University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives and Cooperative Development Services (1998)
Considering Cooperation: A Guide for New Cooperative Development by Brian M. Henehan and Bruce L. Anderson, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University (2001)
Cooperative Feasibility Guide by James Matson, USDA (2000)
The Co-operative Formation Decision by Graeme Charles and David Griffiths, Cooperative Federation of Victoria, Australia, 2003
How to Start a Cooperative by Galen W. Rapp and Gerald Ely (1996)
Creating ‘Co-op Fever’: A Rural Developer’s Guide to Forming Cooperatives, by William Patrie, USDA Rural Development (1998)
A Legal Sourcebook for California Cooperatives: Start-Up and Administration by Van P. Baldwin (2004)
Starting a Cooperative on the website of Cooperative Life
Steps in Forming a Cooperative – a basic guide published by Cooperative Development Services, Madison WI.
Cooperatives 101: An Introduction To Cooperatives by Donald A. Frederick, USDA Rural Development (1997)
Creative cooperatives. A guide to starting a cooperative in the creative industries. Cooperatives UK
Starting a Co-operative, Co-operatives UK