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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

We need more worker cooperatives. They're democracies. Workers elect managers and the board. They're better at protecting jobs. Workers are less likely to be laid off during a recession. They're more equitable. Pay ratios are often below 5:1.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Someone placed me on a "Doesn't follow back" list before, and I'm like... I'm not here to follow random people who are only here to farm numbers and would never engage with me otherwise.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It can feel dehumanizing, to say the least. I don't want to change the way I communicate. It does not feel nice at all when I am sharing about a topic I've researched deeply and am quite passionate about, only to be called a bot or "GPT slop."

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I've experienced explicit accusations here that I'm a bot as well as more subtle implications that I don't engage like a human being. My special interest is incredibly important to me, and so I am deeply invested in ensuring my communication and grammar are clear, accurate, and correct.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Indigenous groups use cooperatives to preserve and pass down traditional knowledge, language, and culture. Co-ops are democratic, allowing these communities to directly participate in decisions concerning natural resources, food sovereignty, the workplace, and the economy.

cooperativesfirst.com

Four co-ops that preserve Indigenous knowledge and traditions

For Indigenous communities that want to embrace traditional knowledge, cultural practices, and languages, the co-op model is a useful tool. This business

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This is a good starting point. www.usworker.coop/resources/ If you have any questions about worker co-ops, I'd be happy to talk about them more. They're my special interest.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Worker cooperatives might interest you. In U.S. worker co-ops, the ratio is 2:1.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Information asymmetry means it is possible for businesses to generate profits by misleading and harming society. Worker-owned businesses foster decentralization. Do you support them?

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Employees suffer when any business doesn't do well. By being fired. In worker-owned businesses, workers' jobs are relatively better protected according to a big pile of empirical research.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Consumers do not have access to perfect information. That's why in reality we have imperfect markets and why information asymmetry is a term taught in economics. Sellers can and sometimes do exploit uninformed customers. Purdue Pharma is a prime example. Feel free to read about it.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Businesses can profit from doing good things (like providing food services a community needs) and from doing bad things (like selling a highly addictive drug in a misleading way).

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Many support the idea that workers own their workplace. Studies show there is large support for having more democracy in the workplace, for cooperatives, and for having more support to create these things.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's fair to say that those things would be an aspect of a socialist society, but socialism would entail the economy being largely under forms of worker, social, community ownership as well. Until then, what you're describing is more social democracy than socialism.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is a common misconception. Millions of workers do own their workplaces today and empirical research over decades has found that it is a viable form of enterprise. Data also shows us that worker-owned enterprises often experience a productivity and employment stability boost.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is a false equivalence. Worker-owned businesses exist and have been studied. They are nothing like "collective farms." They provide benefits to working people, including greater job security and retirement savings.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

CHCA is the largest home care worker co-op in the United States, showing us what is possible. The home care industry is expanding due to an aging population, but low wages and worker exploitation are prevalent. Worker ownership can help create better conditions for these essential workers.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

According to @rmeoc.bsky.social, worker-owned home care agencies pay higher wages and provide better employment stability compared to the industry average.

The Industry Average
75% annual turnover
$26,000 median earnings a year
83% of US home-care agencies are now for-profit.

At Worker-Owned Agencies
38% annual turnover
+$2 more an hour
Caregivers help set the training, the culture, and the finances.

Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center
https://www.rmeoc.org/

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

free training to hundreds of women every year. The business pays their workers more than other agencies in the city and provides a 401(k). Home care is vital for our aging society, and yet these workers, who are primarily women of color, are chronically underpaid and experience low job quality.

nycetc.org

Cooperative Home Care Associates - New York City Employment and Training Coalition

NYCETC’s Member Spotlight series – which introduces our readers to the wide variety of workforce programs and services that our members offer across the five boroughs – is shifting to highlight the wa...

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The cooperative movement may interest you. It's about realizing democracy in our economy and giving a voice to the marginalized, entailing mutual aid and cooperation among humans instead of the prioritization of pure profit. There's a worker co-op in NYC owned by their home care workers. They offer

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Yes, though conservatives are now calling social democrats socialists, so it adds to the confusion.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Add the promotion of economic democracy to the list.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Here's one. "We intend to strengthen and diversify our local economy. Our worker-owned grocery store sources from local entrepreneurs and farmers in California with a focus on black and brown farmers and food makers." www.mandelagrocery.coop

mandelagrocery.coop

Mandela Grocery Cooperative

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This subject can naturally entail an academic vibe, especially when it comes to research and data. I also focus on correct grammar and avoid slang. I want to ensure that what I discuss can be understood well. I hope that more people can become aware and mindful about this. Thanks.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Sometimes, autistic people are accused of being a bot for the way they communicate. This can lead to feelings of isolation and distress. I've experienced it myself here on Bluesky. It can hurt even more when you're sharing about your interest. My interest happens to be cooperative economics.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Norway has a higher rate of public ownership than even China. There is a lot of municipal and cooperative ownership in Norway. People like to treat economies as monolithic and attach single labels, when the reality on the ground is much more complex and multifaceted. Simplicity gets clicks though.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Even Scandinavia has experienced a rise in wealth inequality. Capitalism inherently concentrates wealth.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

We need more economic democracy like this so communities get to have a say in the decisions that affect them. Politics and economics both affect people. It is reasonable to extend the same logic of political democracy into the realm of the economy. And studies show it works.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

That's true, worker co-ops are not publicly traded. I was referencing the fact that a few publicly traded companies have an ESOP, some holding significant portions of the overall stock.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The vast majority of worker-owned firms in the U.S. are privately held and not publicly traded.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

There are a few thousand worker-owned businesses in the United States encompassing several million workers. While that is not the majority, it is probably more than many realize.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

We should push past the status quo, but unions can still play a helpful role. Unionized co-ops are pretty great, pulling from the benefits of both. Cooperative Home Care Associates is one such enterprise, located in New York City. Unions can support co-ops, like United Steelworkers does.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

To add to your point, people who would benefit most from cooperatives tend to be the working class, the poor, and the marginalized. They hold the least amount of capital in our society, further contributing to low creation rates.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

One of the best ways to incentivize businesses to take care of their employees is to have those employees be the owners. It doesn't hurt to give those workers participation in decisions either.

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Here are supporting sources on the barriers to the creation of worker co-ops: www.aspeninstitute.org/events/democ... www.emerald.com/books/edited... journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... www.researchgate.net/publication/... www.project-equity.org/wp-content/u... ncbaclusa.coop/content/uplo...

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It's important that these barriers marginalized communities face are not dismissed. Disadvantaged people have disproportionately relied on cooperative economics throughout history and still do. Claiming that these barriers do not exist contributes to narratives that perpetuate inequality.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Access to capital is a major barrier. Conventional banks are more reluctant to provide loans to a business structure they are unfamiliar with. It doesn't help that the Small Business Administration's loans feature a personal guarantee requirement that disfavors cooperative structures.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Awareness levels remain low. Education rarely focuses on cooperative economics. Business schools emphasize status quo economics. This carries into the legal environment where lawyers and experts are few. Legislation is patchwork, as most states have no worker co-op law, adding an additional barrier.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Worker cooperatives are an alternative economic ownership model, but there remain systemic barriers to their creation. Some downplay/deny that these barriers exist, which supports the narrative that no action is necessary to make it easier for the marginalized to create more equitable systems.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

What if relationships were a mechanic? Helping a person could yield expanding access to benefits because their sibling is a baker or something like that. Your knowledge of the people's lore would expand as you help them.

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The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

What about a region that utilizes a mutual aid system? Maybe helping people increases your reputation or standing with them, and the higher you rank, the more services and items you will have access to. /hmmmm

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yep. Also, WinCo's annual share appreciation is ~20% over the past couple decades, which is pretty decently above the overall stock market rate. There is a retirement savings crisis brewing, so this kind of thing could really help address the issue for many and reduce strain on social programs.

forbes.com

Millionaire Grocery Clerks: The Amazing WinCo Foods Story

In Corvallis, Oregon, a couple miles north of the Oregon State University campus, sits a WinCo Foods discount supermarket and, unless you’re in need of groceries, you might drive by without noticing i...

The Cooperative Economy @cooperatives.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Some cashiers there retire as millionaires in part due to shares they own. That plus a 401(k) which Winco also offers can really set people up for a decent retirement.