Worker-owned businesses can be huge.

Co-op Rhody is building on old foundations—and with the help of old friends.

Mondragon is a network of worker cooperatives in the Basque country of Spain employing over 80,000 worker-owners (!!!)

Like many in the cooperative movement, we’re inspired by the incredible success they have acheived over their nearly 75-year history.

Give all these workers a voice, At Mondragon, workers participate in “Consejos Sociales,” or social councils, to represent represent their interests as laborers to the broader corporation. But in the United States, we don’t have a comparable system to build on… Or do we?

The union co-op model: Mondragon for the USA

In 2009, the Mondragon network worked together with American cooperators (including folks at the United Steelworkers and UFCW Local 75) to figure out how to strengthen worker-ownership in the United States. The result of this collaboration?

The invention of the union co-op model—in theory and in practice.

Union cooperatives combine the benefits of worker ownership– including financial profit-sharing and democratic governance– with the benefits of union membership– like access to benefits and workplace protections. In the union co-op model, unions step in not to negotiate against a hostile management party, but facilitate transparent and democratic collective bargaining among workers who are balancing both labor and management interests.

The model started to prove itself in just a few years, as some who helped develop the theory worked with community members to put it into practice.

  • They launched Our Harvest, the first union co-op in the U.S…
  • And they founded Co-op Cincy, a union cooperative incubator that has gone on to support hundreds of worker-owners.

Now, it’s Rhode Island’s time to lead the way.

In collaboration with UFCW Local 328, Co-op Rhody aims to carry forward the tradition of the union-worker cooperative partnership in the United States, building on unprecedented legislative wins right here in Rhode Island.

In cooperation with many others, we are laying the foundations for a Rhode Island network of cooperatives which, like Mondragon demonstrates, can provide unique dignity, security, and power for workers.

Interested in starting a co-op?

Founding a business is hard, but we’re here to co-operate. Let’s work together.

For more information on the history of the Union Co-op model, check out this fantastic article from our friends at Worx Printing.