About us

Who are our current members?

Membership currently sits at around 100 members, the vast majority of whom are worker co-ops, spread across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. You can read more here about who we are.

Many sectors and industries are represented by our members – you can see a few examples of current members in our case studies – from large social care co-ops, to wholefood shops and courier companies.

As a decentralised organisation we are actively counter the South East and London bias, with the majority of members in the North/North West, and a significant number of members in Scotland.

What do we want to achieve?

We want to organise to advance the shared interest of worker co-ops by:

• being the voice and network for worker cooperation
• bringing together and providing access to specialist advice, support and shared services for worker co-ops
• strengthening worker cooperative culture by mobilising cooperators and supporters through industry and peer networks, co-learning, events and collaborations
• making the system of worker control and collective ownership accessible and relevant to different groups of people, new audiences and generations of workers
• working through international workers’ and worker co-op organisations, and strengthening international worker solidarity.

How are we structured?

workers.coop is a democratic, member-driven organisation made up of working groups and supported by two part-time paid workers and a paid board Secretary. Individuals contribute their labour through working groups, who make decisions and carry out activities.

• The members elect a board, who look after our mission
• Two strategic working groups (Movement Building and Co-op Support & Development) work alongside the board to co-develop mission and strategy
• Working groups have delegated power from the board who decide their own composition, manage their own budgets and determine their own work.

workers.coop combines the organising model of both a federation and a campaign. We are a membership organisation, but our ambition is bigger than that and we therefore draw on a larger, organised circle of worker cooperators and individual volunteer supporters and organisers.

Our working groups are: Movement Building (strategic), Co-op Support & Development (strategic), Board (strategic), Communications, International, Digital, People, Policy & Culture (PPC), Co-ops and Anti-Racism (CAR), along with project-based groups such as Event organising groups.

Who we collaborate with

workers.coop has two sister organisations, CoTech and Solidfund. CoTech is the industry network for tech-based worker co-ops, while Solidfund is a member-run fund for worker co-operation. workers.coop cross-collaborates with both organisations on aspects such as membership and events.

Through our Movement Building activities, we work to support the work of our members, particularly where there are shared aims around democratic worker control, and around broader social movement goals – for instance Stir to Action, Tipping Point, Trademark Belfast and unions-coop.

We are currently funded by JRCT and working with Outlandish/Space 4 and Tipping Point to deliver a worker co-op accelerator programme.

What is the world we want to see?

One where everyone has access to rewarding, meaningful and sustainable work, and where:

• workers aren’t exploited
• wealth is spread fairly
• we work on a basis of equality and solidarity
• people have personal and collective control over their working lives
• the production of goods and services is integrated with democratic community development
• capital serves workers, not the other way round.

Join us

If you are a worker co-op, or another type of co-op where workers have significant control, please fill out the application form or read more about membership.

If you’d like to contribute as an individual to the federation’s work, and become a worker member by joining a working group, express interest by contacting secretary@workers.coop to find out more.

If you’d like to become a registered supporter as an individual by joining Solidfund, please see instructions on their website.