This week, Joseph Cureton and Jim Johnson of the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED) go over the basics of starting a worker-owned business, and then answer questions about everything from membership criteria to tax implications.Â
A Guide to Starting Your Worker-Owned Business
by Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy
Are you co-op curious? Come join Baltimore Roundtable for economic Democracy for a fun filled hour full of conversations about legal structures and capital! We will be discussing the pro's and con's, the differences between these flexible forms of doing business, and how you can put what you learn to work.
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La Siembra and Equal Exchange Integrate
Equal Exchange — The worker-owners of La Siembra Cooperative and the members of Equal Exchange Worker Cooperative have merged, creating a unique model of international worker cooperation. This integration follows the path set by global cooperative networks like Mondragon, which has led the way in cross-border worker ownership and democratic governance. It also builds on the 10-year MOU between the two cooperatives, which have shared a long-standing commercial and solidarity relationship as fair trade worker co-ops...
Inside Cleveland’s pay-as-you-can plumbing co-op
Signal Cleveland — People’s Plumbing is a worker-owned cooperative based in Cleveland that offers plumbing and home repair services through a gift economy model. Founded by longtime plumber and community organizer Cristobal Van Breen in 2023, the co-op grew out of a belief that access to clean water and safe housing are human rights...Cristobal and co-op member Wren Fiocco talked to Signal Cleveland about how People’s Plumbing began and how gift economics and cooperative ownership shape their work...
Report Back: The 2025 Union Co-op Symposium
Industrial Worker — Much of the information provided on the matter of the union contract came from one of the sponsors of the event, the United Steelworkers (USW). While advocating for an atypical collective bargaining agreement, where worker owners are distinguished from an often elected management of some kind, the main reason for sourcing these contracts with unions like USW came down to 2 main reasons. One was to speak plainly, healthcare. USW has a healthcare network attached to many of their current shops, funded through the union itself. The second, however, is something less capital-intensive, a cooperative council...
Solidarity Economies and the Unmaking of Racial Capitalism
University of Minnesota Press — Two large, painted signs sit at the entrance to the César Andreu Iglesias Community Garden, a large community garden roughly the size of a city block located in North Philadelphia. “WELCOME. BIENVENIDOS. GROW SHARE GATHER,” reads the first in lavender and green. Beside it, in yellow and red, a second sign declares, “ESTE TERRENO NO ESTA EN VENTA” (this land is not for sale). A raised fist—the universal symbol of solidarity—is painted beneath the text. Together, the two signs convey complementary messages about the garden...
Webinar: Cooperative Legal Framework Analysis
International Cooperative Alliance — Wednesday, 25 February 2026 | 14:00–15:30 CET...Building on 79 national reports and 4 regional reports, the LFA maps and analyses cooperative legal environments across regions, identifying strengths, gaps and reform needs. This webinar marks the public unveiling of the LFA as a coordinated, regionally implemented activity of the ICA, providing a shared platform for ICA members, lawmakers, policy professionals, civil society partners and private sector actors to engage with its first global findings...
Seize the Means: A Leftist Television Collective
This is Revolution Podcast (YouTube) — Means TV is a subscription-based video on demand streaming service owned and managed by The Means Cooperative. The service features films, documentaries, television series, an original news program called Means Morning News, and independent creators from YouTube and Twitch. The cooperative raised nearly $200,000 in its crowdfunding campaign. The full streaming service launched February 26, 2020.
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