10 Facts About Worker cooperative

Worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers.

Philosophy that underpinned the Worker cooperative movement stemmed from the socialist writings of thinkers including Robert Owen and Charles Fourier.

Robert Owen, considered by many as the father of the cooperative movement, made his fortune in the cotton trade but believed in putting his workers in a good environment with access to education for themselves and their children.

Worker cooperative tried to form such communities in Orbiston in Scotland and in New Harmony, Indiana in the United States of America, but both communities failed.

Worker cooperative believed in starting small and realized that the working classes would need to set up co-operatives for themselves, so he saw his role as one of instruction.

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Worker cooperative founded a monthly periodical called The Co-operator, the first edition of which appeared on 1 May 1828.

In Britain, this type of Worker cooperative was traditionally known as a producer Worker cooperative; and while it was overshadowed by the consumer and agricultural types, it made up a small section of its own within the national apex body, the Cooperative Union.

Unlike with conventional firms, ownership and decision-making power of a worker cooperative should be vested solely with the worker-owners and ultimate authority rests with the worker-owners as a whole.

Worker cooperative co-operation is well established in most countries in Europe, with the largest movements being in Italy, Spain, and France.

Freedom Quilting Bee was a notable cooperative founded in Alabama during the midst of the Civil Rights movement, and was instrumental in helping underprivileged black workers in the area escape poverty, amassing enough success to fill orders for major department stores such as Sears while helping to spark contemporary interest in quilting.