Workers in California are taking economic change into their own hands. The Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives is one of the shining examples of how shared ownership empowers workers and builds community. For the past 20 years, the association, comprised of six bakeries, has been innovating the way business is done. What’s its recipe for success? It turns out that it is more than just tasty treats: Each bakery is democratically-owned and governed by its workers.
A worker-owned cooperative is a business in which each employee owns one equal part of the company. They share the profits in the good times, and they share the burdens in the hard times. Worker co-ops can have anywhere from three members to thousands, and they have varying pay scales and job structures.
I work at the TESA Collective (The Toolbox for Education and Social Action), which creates resources for the cooperative movement and other social justice causes, like Rise Up: The Game of People & Power and Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives. TESA currently has five workers, an equitably structured pay scale, and horizontal governance. Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA) in New York City has over one thousand worker-owners, and a more traditional structure with a board and a company president.
Yet at the same time, there’s nothing traditional about the organization: At CHCA, it’s the workers who elect the board members, not outside shareholders. On a smaller scale, the Arizmendi Association operates with equalized pay for all workers and has about 175 worker owners. (For a more detailed explanation and experiences from people who’ve started co-ops, watch this short, free, online documentary that TESA helped make.)
In addition to Arizmendi’s six bakeries, they also have “a development and support collective” that helps their existing bakeries while also launching new ones. Through this collective, all members share accounting, legal, educational, and support service responsibilities, as well as contribute to…