New York City has hosted worker cooperatives for years and is moving to provide additional support for WSDE development.  New York City’s Cooperative Home Health Care (CHCA) is the largest worker cooperative in the United States.  Given its expanding cooperative economy, Democracy at Work recommends that New York City commit more resources to this sector, such as grant funding for start-up and operation of WSDEs, tax abatements, and a dedicated agency that oversees training and funding, like the Small Business Administration.  

Today's excluded populations, particularly the formerly incarcerated and disadvantaged workers, suffer repeated exclusion from the workplace or exploitation when employed, which only serves to increase recidivism. WSDEs are a viable solution especially since all employees are included in the democratic decision making of the company. Workers also benefit from the experience of solidarity while working within a structure committed to equality and mutual support.

This is Part III of a five-part series on worker-directed cooperatives as an autonomous community self-development tool.

Founded in 1956, the Mondragon worker cooperative, located in the Basque region of Spain, now employs over 75,000 people in 257 different businesses. Italy's Emilia Romana region has a high density of WSDEs due to favorable laws that support the formation of cooperative enterprises. And the United States has an increasing number of WSDEs, some of which date back to the 1970s.

This is Part II of a five-part series on worker-directed cooperatives as an autonomous community self-development tool.

The wealth disparity between those labeled "the one percent" and the remainder of the population continues to provoke anxiety and anger. At the same time African Americans struggle with an unemployment rate double the white rate across all educational levels and experience disproportionately high rates of State-sponsored violence.

The democratic organization of nonprofits is both possible and, in many cases, more desirable for workers. So why is it so uncommon?

This is Part I of a five-part series on worker-directed cooperatives as an autonomous community self-development tool.

American workers and prison laborers are both trapped in oppressive systems, but non-incarcerated workers are increasingly opting out of conventional business structures to become worker-owners in Worker Self Directed Enterprises (WSDEs).