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. As a member, your co-op can:

  • Be involved 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 our home countries, Europe and around the world.

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+VAT. 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+VAT
  • If your total labour costs are less than £150,000 we would still need you to contribute £150+VAT. 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 us if you need a bit of help calculating your membership fee.

Just email solidarity@workers.coop if you need help calculating your membership fee.

“…It’s a genuinely ‘member animated’ network, and a new way of doing things. Our goals are pretty ambitious: we want to change the meaning of work, as well as its control and ownership”

Siôn Whellens
Calverts

No co-op left behind

Worker co-ops which can’t contribute the minimum £150+VAT 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.

Get half price membership of Co-operatives UK

Worker co-ops joining workers.coop are eligible for a 50% discount on standard membership of Co-operatives UK. The discount doesn’t cover membership add-ons such as their Contact or HR packages. As the voice of the UK’s co-operative movement, Co-operatives UK empowers and supports co-operative enterprise with specialised knowledge and expertise, to grow the co-operative economy and create a fairer society. If you are already a member of both organisations, let Co-operatives UK know to benefit from the dual membership offer.