United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives

The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) is a federation of worker cooperatives in the United States. USFWC was founded at the U.S. Conference of Democratic Workplaces in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2004.[2]

United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives
TypeCooperative federation
IndustryWorker-owned enterprises
Founded2004 (2004)
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
Area served
United States
Key people
Melissa Hoover, Executive Director[1]
MembersWorker cooperatives, co-operative developers, worker co-operative regional networks and individuals
Websitewww.usworker.coop

The Federation was sponsored by The Cooperative Foundation in addition to other cooperative support organizations. It was created partly in response to growing regional organizing among United States worker cooperatives and to foster the sharing of information and resources between national gatherings.[3]

Meetings

The membership meets annually. The Federation holds a biennial conference called The Democracy at Work Conference in conjunction with the annual meeting. The schedule for the meetings/conference is as follows:

  • 2006 New York City (and Conference)
  • 2008 New Orleans (and Conference)
  • 2009 Madison
  • 2010 San Francisco (and conference)
  • 2011 Austin, TX
  • 2012 Boston (and conference)
  • 2016 Austin (and conference)[4]
  • 2018 Los Angeles (and conference)[5]

Membership

USFWC membership classes:[6]

  • Worker Cooperatives include organizations that meet the standard for a democratic workplace according to the CICOPA World Declaration on Worker Co-operatives.
  • Democratic Workplaces include organizations that may fall short of the World Declaration, but still exist as a democratic workplace such as democratic Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) owned by 100% of its workers.
  • Federation Partners include any local and regional association of three or more workplaces.
  • Cooperative Developers receive one vote per developer (or organization of developers).
  • Start-up Workplaces include organizations that are either in start-up mode or transitioning to a worker co-operative from another type of business.
  • Associates are organizations that support worker co-operatives and worker rights but are not worker co-operatives, collectives or democratic workplaces. Consumer co-operatives, labor unions, and ESOPs with less than 100% worker control are examples. This class does not have voting rights.
  • Individual Allies may join the organization but do not have voting rights.

Board of directors

The Federation is governed by a nine-member board of directors. The Board oversees the Federation and the Executive Director.
Members:

  • Eastern Representative – Aaron Dawson
  • Northern Representative – Rebecca Kemble
  • Western Representative – Yilda Campos
  • Southern Representative – Anna Boyer
  • At Large Directors
    • Ben Mauer
    • David Smathers Moore
    • Scott Crow

See also

References
  1. Woo, Beadsie; Hoover, Melissa. To jumpstart US job market, turn workers into owners. The Christian Science Monitor. 11 Jan. 2010.
  2. Hoover, Melissa. Farther, Faster, Together: The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives at Two. GEO Newsletter.
  3. Introducing Green Worker Cooperatives. Archived 2011-06-15 at the Wayback Machine Sustainable Business. 17 June 2004.
  4. 2016 Annual Member Meeting Archived 2019-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
  5. 2018 Conference Archived June 20, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Membership | US Federation of Worker Cooperatives". Archived from the original on 2006-10-07.
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