Be part of a new, independent worker co-op federation.
workers.coop, in partnership with Co-operatives UK, aims to meet the unique needs and aspirations of worker co-ops, while spreading the word about worker cooperation among new generations and groups of workers.
- Be part of a member-animated, growing network of worker cooperators in diverse industries and localities
- Identify new opportunities for your co-op
- Benefit from co-created learning, development and support programmes to share resources and insights
- Connect with new audiences and sectors through youth, policy and diverse worker awareness activities
- Meet the challenges of the times by being in solidarity with worker cooperators across the four home countries, Europe and around the world.
Membership classes
There are two types of membership: enterprise members and individual worker members.
The vast majority of members are enterprise members, that is to say worker co-ops or employee owned enterprises with significant worker control. However those in workers.coop’s working groups are eligible to become worker members, although this does not give double voting rights.
On the website you can apply to join as an enterprise member, but if you’re interested in finding out more about becoming a worker member get in touch at solidarity at workers.coop.
Our first year
Worker cooperators organised in six work groups are developing an activity programme for the next twelve months. Here’s some of what’s planned:
- Collate the best resources, templates and policies from worker co-ops to search, download and share
- Create learning modules, starting with the basics like: what is a worker co-op, what it means to be a member, effective meetings
- Develop a Co-op Clinic to match co-ops experiencing challenges with peer mentors or professional worker co-op advisers
- Host member meet-ups, establish regional and industry networks starting with wholefood, creative and tech sectors, and for workers in HR and business development roles
- Develop a business referrals channel, to increase knowledge of each others’ commercial goals and get new business for members
- Start to form productive relationships with other workers’ and social movement organisations.
What does it cost?
The subscription fee is one thousandth (or 0.1%) of your labour costs in your last financial year. The minimum level is £150. Please calculate your co-op’s contribution on the basis of:
- Total wages bill (for employees) / 1,000
- Total paid to members (for self-employed workers) / 1,000
- These added together (for mixed employee/self-employed worker co-ops) / 1000
For example:
- If last year your total wage bill came to £500,000, your subscription would be £500
- If you distribute £200,000 a year to your self-employed members, your subscription would be £200
- If your total labour costs are less than £150,000 we would still need you to contribute £150. We think this is the lowest cost for which workers.coop can sustain a member resource.
This formula is fair, because worker compensation is the truest proxy for the financial strength of a worker co-op. Whether you have highly paid workers, or mainly low paid, part time and even volunteer workers, it’s appropriate for every kind of worker co-op. We need to make workers.coop valuable for all our members.
Just email solidarity@ if you need a bit of help calculating your membership fee,
Dual membership with Co-operatives UK
Worker co-ops joining workers.coop are eligible for a 50% discount on standard membership of Co-operatives UK. This doesn’t cover add-ons such as their Contact or HR packages. If you want to connect with consumer and other kinds of co-ops, or have direct access to Co-operatives UK’s services, we recommend taking up this offer. If you are already a member, let them know you are joining workers.coop to benefit from the 50% discount.
No co-op left behind
Worker co-ops which can’t contribute the minimum £150 because of financial capacity – for example, you are in startup mode – can join workers.coop on a ‘pay what you can’ basis for up to two years. The network will support you to be ready to subscribe normally in due course, and you will have exactly the same Membership rights as other members, with full access to the network and its resources.