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| Links and Resources on Worker Cooperatives and Democratic Workplaces |
| Below is an informal list of links and resources collated
over the several years researching our film: BEYOND THE BOTTOM LINE: American Worker Cooperatives Note: Some links may have expired. Please inform us and we will post the corrections. Please inform us of other or newer cooperatives that are not included and we will post them as well. Our five most used pages with links to hundreds of great resources: http://www.ncba.org/ National Cooperative Business Association http://www.cccd.coop/ California Center for Cooperative Development http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/index.html/ University of Wisconsin, Center for Cooperatives http://www.cooperative.org/ Home of the .coop internet registration & info http://www.geonewsletter.org/ A great online & print resource A moderated discussion group for those actively working in or actively starting a worker coop: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/workercoop/ Individual Coop Home Pages (by no means comprehensive): http://www.burley.com/Burley Design Cooperative, Eugene, OR manufacturer of bicycles, bicycle trailers, clothing. 100 workers, democratic worker coop RECENTLY BOUGHT OUT BY PRIVATE FIRM! http://unioncab.com/ Union Cab Cooperative, Madison WI. Cab company http://www.bponline.com/ Bookpeople, Berkeley, CA book distributor, democratic worker owned (doesn’t call itself a coop) http://www.isthmuseng.com/ Isthmus Engineering Co., Madison, WI http://www.goodvibes.com/ Good Vibrations, San Fran. CA, retailer of sex toys, books, videos. 80-100 workers, ANOTHER RECENT CONVERSION TO PRIVATE CO! http://www.rainbowgrocery.org/ Rainbow Grocery, 250 member worker cooperative (not a ’food coop’, extremely successful, provides working class jobs representing a cross section of SF’s communities. http://www.cliq.com/ Website administrator/progammers coop, San Fran http://www.equalexchange.com/ Free Trade coffee worker coop that also purchases from and helps found producer coops in source countries. http://www.alvaradostreetbakery.com/ Commercial bakery with natl. distribution, Santa Rosa, CA 80 workers $12 M worker coop http://www.breitenbush.com/ Breitenbush Hot Springs, worker owned resort in north central Oregon http://www.missinglink.org/ Missing Link Bicycles, Berkely CA, 25 person, 32 year old bicycle shop, worker coop, $2-3M year http://www.belugasoftware.com/ Olympia WA software/programming coop, 20 workers, 6 years old http://www.circlepinescenter.org/ Michigan member owned summer camp http://www.akpress.org/ Oakland, CA small publishing worker cooperative http://www.proarte.org/ Boston, MA, musician owned orchestra http://inkworks.igc.org/ Inkworks, Berkeley, CA printing collective, 28 yrs old http://www.ifbikes.com/ Sommerville (Boston) MA based high end bicycle manufacturer, worker coop http://www.ispfh.org/ Chicago based web hosting coop http://www.hoedads.com/ Historic worker coop (Hoedads) now defunct http://www.chroma.com/ Brattleboro VT, manufacturer of microscope filters for scientific use, democratic hybrid coop/esop, 12 yrs old, 70 workers http://www.bigtimberworks.com/intro.html Bozeman, MT timber frame home maker, great story of sole proprietor selling his business to long standing employees http://www.hobbamock.com/ Graphics/design company http://www.pedalexpress.com/ Pedeller’s Express, worker owned courier company with branches in California, Oregon and NC. http://www.casanueva.com/ Worker owned restaurant & cantina, Athens, OH http://www.mfii.com/ Market Forge Industries, Boston, MA, democratic ESOP, worker buyout of commercial cooking machinery factory, http://www.wagescooperatives.org/ San Francisco Bay Area network of small coops & support organization, training low income, mostly immigrant women to start & run small businesses. http://www.mypid.com/ptshipwright/ Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop WA, small boat building & repair coop http://www.newseattlemassage.com/ New Seattle Massage, a coop of "self-employed" professionals, a slight twist on typical worker coops. Each member is an independent business entity who shares in collective space, reception staff, facilities, etc. 45 members http://www.collectivecopies.com/ Amherst MA, photocopy & printing business, 2 locations, 20-25 workers? http://www.pvsquared.coop Western MA, photovoltaic supplier, http://www.sunshinepropane.com/ Port Townsend, WA propane supply and service company, 20 workers, http://www.lpomusic.com/ Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, bankrupt orchestra "saved" itself by going entirely worker owned. http://www.somoco.com/ Martha’s Vineyard Design/Build firm http://www.redsunpress.com Boston, MA graphic design/print shop Food from the Hood in LA http://www.foodfromthehood.com/ http://www.breakaway.org/webraising/food_hood/Index.htm Home page & articles about Team X/Sweat X cooperative garment business in Los Angeles: http://www.sweatx.net/ http://www.laweekly.com/printme.php3?&eid=33859 http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la000025260apr09.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dpe%2Dbusiness http://www.uniteunion.org/ The movement toward cooperative schools (teacher-owned) is spearheaded here: http://www.edvisions.coop/ http://www.mncs.k12.mn.us/ This was the original coop school Home pages and articles about Cooperative Home Care Associates (probably the biggest 1 member, 1 vote worker coop in the country) : http://www.paraprofessional.org/Sections/CHCA.htm http://www.nedlc.org/nnsp/practitioners/chca.html http://www.pbs.org/capital/stories/hca.html http://cog.kent.edu/PapersSept2000/SubNational.htm http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/info/i_pages/health.html http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/prod_detail.asp?992019 Canadian Coop Home Pages and Organizations http://www.glinx.com/~jcline/Centre.htm http://coop-studies.usask.ca/ http://temagami.carleton.ca/cstier/cedtap/Directory/cwcf.htm http://www.risingtidecoop.com/ http://www.workercoop.ca/ http://www.coopcca.com/ Coops 101 - An Introduction to Cooperatives http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/cir55/cir55rpt.htm A great list of coop resources in a progressive web-zine http://www.newvillage.net/2rescoop.html A few Progressive and/or Democratic ESOP home pages http://www.kingarthurflour.com/ http://www.mfii.com/ http://www.jc.com/ http://www.stone-equip.com/ http://www.marlandmold.com./ http://www.the-esop-emplowner.org/media/marland.html (article about Marland) http://www.sunandearth.com/ http://equityproject.org/ (parent organization for previous, incubator for worker-owned businesses) ESOP resource pages http://www.nceo.org/ http://www.workerownership.org/ http://www.esops.com/ http://www.workerownership.org/ Books and Articles on ESOPs/Buyouts http://dept.kent.edu/oeoc/Sum1999/OlmstedSum1999.html http://www.american-capital.com/bookstore/ownershipbooks.html Some cooperative development consultants (more listed at the NCBA website at http://www.ncba.coop/econcenters.cfm http://www.ica-group.org/ long established cooperative development consultants www.ownershipassociates.com These folks have some great documents regarding creating and maintaining ownership culture http://www.clcr.org/ Center for Labor & Community Research in Chicago International Cooperative Organizations: http://www.coop.org/welcome.htm http://www.copacgva.org/index.html http://www.co-opstudies.org/ http://www.mondragon.mcc.es/ Some miscellaneous Coop Links: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/cooprpts.htm (This is a boatload of downloadable articles on Coops) http://www.jps.net/redcoral/WorkCoops.html John Curl’s History of Work Cooperation in America http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/info/dawson.htmlArticle on Dawson Textile Coop http://dynamics.org/~altenber/PAPERS/BCLSFV/Leland Stanford’s Cooperative History http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/working.htmlA number of articles on Coops http://www.awish.net/AWISHPages/rockymtn.htmlRocky Mountain Center for Economic Democracy Coop Taxation and Subchapter T Articles, etc: http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/plain/bus_info/tax_pro/irm-part/part07/36079.html http://www.caplindrysdale.com/ http://www.dsbcpas.com/faqtechnical/0001_subt.html Federation of Southern Cooperatives: (Farm coop serving minority farmers) http://www.federationsoutherncoop.com/ http://www.farmworkers.org/fscpage.html http://www.grass-roots.org/usa/fedsoco.shtml http://www.supermarketcoop.com/fscpage.html Close but not quite a worker owned coop: http://www.frotiercoop.com/ a natural foods business owned by producers and clients, I think. Other Resources Anyone interested in starting their own worker coop should start with these invaluable print references: "Putting Democracy to Work" by Frank T. Adams and Gary B. Hansen (1992) This is a step-by-step guide that discusses the merits and disadvantages of ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) as well. "Steps to Starting A Worker Coop" by Gary B. Hansen, E. Kim Coontz, and Audrey Malan (1997). This summarizes some of the information in the above book, adds additional info and features short case studies. "We Own It: Starting and Managing Co-ops, Collectives and Employee-Owned Ventures" by Honingsberg, Kamoroff, and Beatty, CPA I have only read the first edition (1982), but there is a subsequent (1991) one available. This is more technical than the above & includes some discussion of state & federal cooperative law as well as tax law pertaining to cooperatives. Most of the above are available through: "The Coop Catalog": Rayve Fulfillment, P.O. Box 726, Windsor, CA 95492 e-mail: rayvepro@aol.com phone: 800-852-4890 fax: 707-838-2220 or via the NCBA website listed above (http://www.ncba.org/) "Steps to Starting..." is available through the UC Davis website (http://cooperatives.ucdavis.edu/) Page updated 11/06 |
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