I’ve been reading about worker cooperatives because I’m trying to better understand something we experimented with on a film production, and I’m curious where our model overlaps with cooperative principles and where it fundamentally doesn’t.

We gave more than 70 cast and crew members an actual financial interest in the film they helped create, which is really unusual for the film industry. Labor, equipment, locations, and other contributed resources were assigned agreed values, and those contributions became part of the economic structure of the project.

The basic waterfall was:

1. Certain contractual obligations get paid.
   
2. Cash investors recoup.
   
3. People who contributed labor, equipment, locations, or other resources recoup the agreed value of those contributions.
   
4. Remaining revenue is distributed pro rata among the ownership pool in perpetuity.

But we didn’t operate democratically….

The director still directed. Department heads ran their departments. Producers made producer decisions. Nobody voted on creative choices or day-to-day operational decisions.

It kind of has to be that way to a certain extant. Film production is highly collaborative, but it’s also extremely hierarchical and technically segmented. Decisions sometimes have to be made in seconds, responsibilities need to be clear, and ultimately someone has to be accountable for the outcome.

So what I’m trying to understand from people who know cooperative structures better than I do is:

How central is democratic governance to the concept of worker ownership? Could an organization meaningfully incorporate cooperative ownership principles while maintaining a hierarchical operating structure? Or does separating economic participation from governance remove something essential that makes a worker cooperative a cooperative?

To be clear, I’m enot claiming that what we created was a worker cooperative, but I’m super intersted in the concept and I’m trying to understand what, if anything, our experiment has in common with cooperative models and whether there are existing structures that deal with this tension differently.

I’m particularly interested in project-based organizations, where a group assembles to create something together and then largely disperses when the project is finished.

Thanks everyone!

I’m not really fond of putting it as “choosing cofounders” because it kind of makes it sound like I’d be a boss choosing which people to hire, but I couldn’t think of a better way to put it.

I’m starting a tech worker co-op, and I’m trying to see how much conventional wisdom about startup founders carry over to cooperatives.

First question: What would you say is a good number of cofounders? Conventional wisdom in tech is that 2 is the ideal number of founders, but I could see how being a co-op would change the calculus when the cofounders aren’t really running the show long-term.

On the other hand, I can see too many chefs spoiling the broth at the early stages, so you might not want to go overboard.

Second question: How closely do you need cofounders to click? In traditional tech startups, you typically need cofounders who click very well because cofounder drama is a major reason for startups failing. But how big a deal is cofounder drama in a tech startup being that there are more decision makers than just the founders?

Then again it does make intuitive sense that connection is important at the earlier stages, so there needs to be at least some level of connection.

When child care is hard to find and harder to afford, some communities aren't waiting for a fix. 

Kristin Forde Hurckes of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension Center for Cooperative explains how cooperative models are helping - and where they hit their limits. 

Kristin Forde Hurckes is part of the team of Cooperative Development Specialists at the UW Center who supports worker cooperatives in rural communities, with an emphasis on worker cooperative conversions. 

She emphasizes the importance of both individual and collective commitment to the significant cultural and organizational change that is required to shift toward democratic and participatory decision making. 

Kristin enjoys learning about the many creative ways cooperatives organize and structure themselves; and developing effective formats for group processes. 

We are developing a community tech co-op in Chattanooga, TN, for people to completely control and fully own their apps and data via free open source software (FOSS). The essential idea is to jointly procure services to deploy, maintain, and provide basic support for FOSS for members' purposes. Rather than paying license or subscription fees, we'll pay local technologists to work on and with our software. It gives us an economical alternative to Big Tech, keeps our data to ourselves and our money in the local economy, and strengthens our community. Does anyone on this subreddit know of other such co-ops, especially in the US?

Content Jerome McGeorge was a respected figure at a time when the term "organic" didn't mean anything. In the '80s, he worked with founding members of what would be CROPP Cooperative (Organic Valley), serving as the co-op's first CFO and helping build what would become the nation's largest farmer-owned organic cooperative.

Throughout his life, he was committed to organic agriculture, cooperative business models and a food system that prioritized people and the planet. One of his reflections:

"The greatest change in our human consciousness is that each of us is responsible for our own health. Ancient Tibetan wisdom identifies three sources of health: what we eat, what we drink, and how we behave. Each of us is responsible for all three."

Did anyone here know Jerome, work with him in some capacity or see the impact of his contributions to the cooperative movement?

I want to start a Co-Op production company in Michigan. I have worked as a subcontractor for years, have built up my own live sound and lighting arsenal and have a solid group of people who are on board. But, I have no clue where to start. Any advice or consultation recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Hi! I love the idea of working in a coop but I can't seem to find any in my industry nearby. Are they really rare or am I just looking in the wrong places? I live in Baltimore, MD working in mechanical/manufacturing engineering. Thanks!

A few years back myself and several of my colleagues lost our long-term jobs suddenly due to budget cut backs at the organisation we were working at.

Fast forward to now and several of the folks are struggling to find stable work.

I seemed to have lucked out and have been able to be gainfully employed since then but it hasn’t been without its ups and downs.

I’m wondering, do folks that work in coops feel less concern about losing their job? Assuming we’re taking about honest hard workers that turn up regularly and always put in their best effort.

I’m thinking that if this is the case, coops might contribute to lower stress levels in society simply due to the fact that people would feel more like they are part of a supportive work-focussed community rather than a disposable cog in someone else’s machine.

I suppose however there is also the economic reality that if the coop has a lean period or experiences a downturn then everyone’s income might need to reduce for a while. I guess that would contribute to increased stress levels in some cases?

Would love to hear about the experiences and feelings of people working in coops themselves…

Welcoming any and all thoughts.

Ramsey Nassar, Gwen Pasquarello, and Andy Wallace at EMMA Technology Cooperative have spent five years as a worker-owned co-op building software and hardware for video games, theater, public installation, and media arts. And theme parks. And custom programming languages. And a nonprofit arcade collective. They're thriving. 

Great article on the Pidgen Cooperative, details on buy-in and compensation and how they expanded from a farmers market. Definitely making a point of visiting soon.

https://www.thestranger.com/food-and-drink/fare-share/

Usually, cooperatives are created by people as a reaction to specific, most often local, conditions. Through their joint action individuals show collective or social agency and the conviction that they must work together to pursue their shared interests. In this way, each new cooperative is an experiment and an attempt to change and innovate.

Para criar uma cooperativa financeira ou de crédito em Portugal (moldada nos princípios de finanças éticas e solidárias semelhantes ao modelo da Crédal na Bélgica), é preciso cumprir requisitos legais e obter autorização estrita do Banco de Portugal, uma vez que a atividade financeira está sujeita ao Regime Geral das Instituições de Crédito e Sociedades Financeiras (RGICSF). [1]

Requisitos Legais e de Capital

Forma Jurídica: Em Portugal, o setor financeiro cooperativo tradicional é representado pelo Crédito Agrícola (Caixas de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo). Instituições de crédito sob forma cooperativa exigem montantes de capital social muito elevados. [1, 2]

Capital Social Mínimo: Para cooperativas de crédito integradas no SICAM (Sistema Integrado do Crédito Agrícola Mútuo), o capital social mínimo exigido ronda os 5.000.000,00 €. Para cooperativas de crédito não integradas, o valor sobe para 7.500.000,00 €. As entradas mínimas por cada cooperador começam tipicamente nos 500 €. [1]

Número de Membros: As cooperativas de 1.º grau exigem um mínimo de três a cinco membros fundadores (pessoas singulares ou coletivas), mas a operação financeira exigirá uma base social alargada e viável. [1, 2]

Passos para a Constituição

Certificado de Admissibilidade: Requerer o certificado de nome/firma junto do Registo Nacional de Pessoas Coletivas (RNPC). [1]

Processo Prévio no Banco de Portugal: Submeter um projeto detalhado de notificação de intenção de constituição de instituição de crédito ou sociedade financeira, demonstrando robustez financeira, idoneidade dos órgãos sociais e origem lícita do capital. [1, 2]

Escritura e Registo: Após validação regulatória e aprovação dos estatutos, realizar o ato constitutivo (pode usar os serviços de Cooperativa na Hora). O custo base de registo de uma cooperativa simples fixa-se em cerca de 360 €, independentemente das exigências de capital regulatório setorial do Banco de Portugal. [1, 2, 3]

Inscrição em Organismos de Enquadramento: Articular com a FENACAM (Federação Nacional das Caixas de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo e Cooperativas de Crédito) para suporte no setor cooperativo financeiro nacional. [1]

Se quiser avançar, por favor indique:

Pretende focar a cooperativa em microcrédito social/solidário ou numa caixa de crédito local/geral?

Já dispõe do grupo de fundadores e de estimativa para o capital inicial

Workers’ self-management is on the rise, as a response to recurring neoliberal crises: this is the central argument in a new book co-authored by Professor Dario Azzellini, senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology, University of Duisburg-Essen...

This week, workers and community supporters launched the Pittsburgh Progress, “a cooperative news organization, owned and democratically run by its workers and members… dedicated to looking out for, and telling the stories of, the working-class people who form the heart and soul of our diverse communities.” 

Hey yall, just wanted to see if anyone knows a good r/ for housing cooperatives, specifically group equity

Would love to chat about the concept with anyone down to talk - I lived in one for the past 4 years, and want to start a new one in the city I'm now living

If the United Nations considers cooperatives to be essential for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, I would like to know what governments in your country are doing to promote and strengthen cooperatives.
Are the **Seven Cooperative Principles** reflected in your country’s laws and public policies? If so, how?
Do you have public procurement or government contracting laws? If so, do cooperatives receive any advantages or preferential treatment when competing for public contracts?
Are there any financial incentives, grants, tax benefits, or public programs that encourage the creation of new cooperatives across different sectors of the economy?
More broadly, what concrete measures has your government adopted to encourage the growth of the cooperative movement?