What is a Worker Co-operative?

Worker co-operatives are co-operative enterprises that are owned and democratically controlled by the employees. The main purpose of a worker co-operative is to provide employment for its members. Each member pays a membership fee or purchases a membership share, and has one vote regardless of how much money they have invested in the co-op. The co-ops' assets are collectively owned and surplus earnings are allocated to the workers according to policies established by the co-op, often in proportion to hours worked by members and with limited return on shares.

How does it differ from other businesses?
Traditional businesses aim to make profit for the shareholders, who receive their share of profit according to the amount of money they have invested in the business. Control of the business is also based on the amount of the money invested usually one vote per share purchased.

In a worker co-op, each member has one vote, no matter how many shares they have purchased. They all have equal say in the way the business is run and in the decision affecting their everyday worklives. Members combine their skills, interests and experiences to achieve mutual goals, such as creating jobs for themselves, providing a community service or increasing democracy in the workplace. Because they develop the policies that determine the co-operative's daily and long-term operation, trust, communication and co-operation are vital elements in the co-op's success.

How does it differ from other co-ops?
Most of us are familiar with co-operatives in one for or another - financial (credit unions), service (housing co-ops), consumer (co-op retail stores) or producer co-ops (fishery and farmers' co-ops). Though these co-ops all supply services (credit, groceries and farmers' co-ops) to members, the membership is not made up uniquely of those employed by the co-op, as in worker co-ops.