[yochaigal]

I have founded two worker co-ops; both in the tech sector.

Whenever one of these posts hits reddit or this website, there is a surge of interest - and then nothing. Our rate of growth (400 or so worker co-ops in the US) is abysmally slow; if anything I've seen more co-ops fold than start anew! Our conferences seem to bring more and more each year, though - just not workers; instead we get specialists, folks from social justice and non-profits... Just very few workers. At the East coast conference two years ago, 75% of the speakers were non-owners, just co-op specialists; do-gooders and SJWs.

The only new co-ops I seem to see are those that get created by top-down institutions; non-profits and the like. I'm talking Evergreen, WAGES, etc. Once in a while we get web co-ops (like the one liked here); more often than not, they too have a political bent (beyond worker-ownership).

Not sure why I'm saying all this here; I suppose I just wanted to offer a different perspective on all this. I love worker co-ops, and think they should be everywhere. But I'm not sure culture in the US is yet compatible!

Checkout http://reddit.com/r/cooperatives it you want to know more.

[morisy]

I seriously considered it for my organization a little over a year ago, and while ultimately it wasn't the right fit I think a clear document and explanation of how someone else would do it would have been very useful to think about.

I think part of the reason that they haven't succeeded is the necessary capital and scale of technology organizations these days. It seems there's a hollowing out of the mid-tier of bootstrapped organizations where a co-op would be feasible, and if you're a founder who is going to put in years of unpaid or low paid work and funding, giving up ownership is a tough sell.

[yochaigal]

Yeah, this is one of the reasons why it is so important to start as a co-op, rather than convert later.

[woah]

Does it offer distinct advantages compared to a regular job (aka employees get paid more)? I've been around a lot of communitarian stuff in my life, like cohousing and hackerspaces, and a lot of it seems to be driven by people who enjoy meetings.

[yochaigal]

It really depends. In IT (where VC is king) it is really hard to compete on a monetary level. On the other hand, benefits are pretty good - healthcare, time off, sick days etc. Also, having a direct say into how your business functions is a pretty huge benefit, in my eyes.

In other industries (repair, baking, house-cleaning) I'd say it pays a lot more than average.