North America

Thu, 31/12/15

New Era Windows Cooperative

Located in: Chicago, U.S.A. | Produces: Energy-efficient windows

In 2008, Republic Windows and Doors went bankrupt and was shut down, leaving outstanding debts to the staff.  The workers protested through occupations and sit-ins, and a construction company took control of the factory. After the new owner decided to shut down the factory, the workers with the support of the community and funding from 'The Working World' decided to buy out the machinery and start a worker-owned democratically managed cooperative that produces energy-efficient windows. read more »

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Thu, 08/03/12

Workers' control in the United States of America

The United States cooperative and council movement is rooted in sustained working-class struggles against the most rapacious forms of capitalism in rural agrarian regions and, since late-19th century, expanded into urban production industries. For about 150 years, working class efforts to form cooperatives and self-organized workplaces have endured in response to predatory corporate expropriation and as a means of resisting capitalist oppression through establishing socialist self-management and workers democracy. read more »

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Tue, 26/01/16

Who Needs a Boss?

Historically, worker co-ops have held the most appeal when things are harder for laborers. Yet, despite their ability to empower workers, co-ops remain largely relegated to boutique status in the U.S.

If you happen to be looking for your morning coffee near Golden Gate Park and the bright red storefront of the Arizmendi Bakery attracts your attention, congratulations. You have found what the readers of The San Francisco Bay Guardian, a local alt-weekly, deem the city’s best bakery. But it has another, less obvious, distinction. read more »

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Fri, 22/01/16

Own The Change: Building Economic Democracy One Worker Co-op at a Time

A documentary that shows the potential of a networked worker co-op movement, created by GRITtv and TESA to help form new alliances and turn conversations into action in many communities.

The explosion of worker cooperatives in recent years has social justice organizers talking. Transitioning to a people-powered economy will require the work of many different social movements and worker co-ops have come to the center of the conversation due to their ability to address multiple issues at once. read more »

Geographical: Era: Topic: Media: 
Thu, 31/12/15

New Era Windows: Our Story

The struggle that led to the creation of the New Era Windows workers' cooperative, as told by the workers themselves.

In 2008, the boss decided to close our windows factory on Goose Island and fire everyone. In 2012, we decided to buy the factory for ourselves and fire the boss. We now own the plant together and run it democratically. This is our story. read more »

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Wed, 30/12/15

How Workers Laid Off from a Chicago Factory Took It Over Themselves

When their boss tried to fire them, the workers of Republic Windows and Doors occupied the factory. Now they own it as a cooperative.

Four years ago, as the recession took hold and layoffs around the country were approaching 500,000 a month, a group of workers in Chicago saved a factory and inspired a nation. Fired by their boss, they occupied instead of leaving. Fired by a second boss, they occupied and formed a worker’s cooperative. Now they are worker-owners of a load of equipment and they’re setting up a factory in a new location. read more »

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Wed, 30/12/15

When the Workers Become the Owners: Taking the Co-op Movement to the Next Level

An interview with Esteban Kelly and Melissa Hoover, two prominent figures in the worker-cooperative movement.

There's a revolution taking place in the US workforce - but you may not have heard about it.

Around the country, workers are starting businesses that they democratically control and that financially benefit them. These businesses, called worker cooperatives, are owned and governed by the employees. Every worker is a member of the co-op, which gives them one share and one vote in the company's operations. read more »

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Wed, 30/12/15

Inside America's Largest Worker-Run Business

Can workplace democracy pave the way to better conditions in low-wage industries? For home care aides, the results of one 30-year experiment are mixed.

Fifteen years ago, Clara Calvo had just left her husband and her job. Both were abusive in their own ways. Her husband beat her, while her job at a beauty salon required long, unpredictable hours for little pay. read more »

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Wed, 30/12/15

Why Unions Are Going Into the Co-op Business

As manufacturing in the United States continues in free fall, the USW aims to use employee-run businesses to create new jobs to replace union work that has gone overseas.

“Too often we have seen Wall Street hollow out companies by draining their cash and assets and hollow out communities by shedding jobs and shuttering plants,” said United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard in 2009. “We need a new business model that invests in workers and invests in communities.”

Gerard was announcing a formal partnership between his 1.2-million-member union and Mondragon, a cluster of cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain. read more »

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Wed, 30/12/15

Sewer Syndicalism: Worker Self-Management in Public Services

Public services under worker control can serve as demonstration projects to promote workplace democracy and worker empowerment more broadly.

In the current US political climate, the prospects of implementing a robust form of public service syndicalism will surely appear remote. Yet, the example of Britain suggests that at least measured steps in that direction might be politically feasible here. Particularly at the state and municipal levels, there may be opportunities to engage in “novel social and economic experiments” with worker-run public services. Through such experimentation, public services under worker control can serve as demonstration projects to promote workplace democracy and worker empowerment more broadly. read more »

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