Ownership at the workplace: at least 11 million people are worker-members of their cooperative

On the International ‪‎Workers’ Day‬, CICOPA underlined how the democratic participation and control of worker-members reinforce the economic sustainability of the enterprise and its resilience in times of crisis. According to the results of the study, “Cooperatives and Employment: a global report”, at least 11 million people worldwide are worker-members, namely at the same time employees and owners of their cooperative.‬‬‬ Read more

The New York Times dedicates an article to workers’ buyouts in Europe

The North American daily newspaper The New York Times has published a thorough article on business transfer to employees. It analyses the story of the Editoriale Zanardi in Italy, transformed into a ‪‎worker cooperative in 2014. It also mentions the latest workers’ buyouts in Spain and France together with CECOP’s experience in this field. Read more

The impact of cooperatives in their communities, the topic of the third edition of the International Summit of Cooperatives

The third edition of the International Summit of Cooperatives will be held from October 11 to 13, 2016, in Quebec City, Canada. While the first two editions aimed to promote the cooperative business model and raise its profile, the third edition will show the impact cooperatives have on the local, regional, and world economy by showcasing the actions of cooperatives in their communities. Read more

The cooperative view of the Expo Milano kick starts with the stories of workers’ buyouts in Europe

The first of 17 events the Italian Confederation of Cooperatives, Confcooperative, network is organizing at the Expo Milano put workers’ buyouts at the center of the debate. On May 26, the conference entitled “Feeding our local areas: quality services for quality of life” brought together national and European experiences. CECOP network, including representatives from the Bulgarian worker cooperatives movement and the Mondragon Corporation in Spain shared the international view with the audience. Read more

How can worker cooperatives inspire Croatian economy?

Cooperatives have been existing in Croatia for 150 years, mostly in the agricultural sector. However, they started more recently to develop in other sectors, such as in tourism, renewable energies etc. The creation of social cooperatives providing work integration to disadvantaged groups has been particularly important over the last few years. A new law on cooperatives entered into force in 2011, with a reference to worker cooperatives but no workers cooperative has been created from that time. Read more

The European Young Cooperators Network is on air

The European Young Cooperators Network has been officially launched in the framework of Cooperatives Europe General Assembly in Paris on 23 April. The day before, 70 people from 10 different countries across Europe, representing thousands of youths, gathered to decide on the aims and actions of this network. Worker and social cooperators have actively participated at the first meeting of the network. Read more

The Spanish social cooperative La Fageda winner of the 2015 Emloyment for All awards

The winners of the 2015 Emloyment for All awards organized by the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) are the social cooperative La Fageda from Spain for their work in facilitating quality job opportunities for individuals with mental illness and disabilities and Elite Supported Employment Agency, Ltd from the United Kingdom as a best practice on providing support services in employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. Read more

More young leaders in worker and social cooperatives than in conventional enterprises in France

Cooperative values and participative management are assets that appeal to new generations willing to give a meaning to their working lives. According to a study by CG Scop, the French Confederation of cooperatives in production and services, cooperatives in these sectors are managed by 420 young leaders under 35 years, 15.5% against 11.3% for traditional businesses. Read more

More than 30,000 visitors attended the Fourth European Forum on Social Entrepreneurship

The fourth successive Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, co-organised by CECOP and the National Union of workers’ productive cooperatives in Bulgaria, took place from 26 to 29 March 2015 covering an international fair involving more than 100 social enterprises from Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Spain, an European Conference on Social Entrepreneurship for Growth and Jobs, and different workshops on the social economy. Read more

Colombian cooperativism in state of alert

Recently cooperativism in Colombia has had to confront various attacks from official sources. Whilst article 69 of the National Development Plan (PND), which would have opened the door to allowing health cooperatives to be turned into private profit-making companies, was ultimately cut out on 6th May, only a few days later the Government set alarm bells ringing again. Read more

Cooperatives as a means of rehabilitating people

The Kbrones workers’ cooperative is the first in Argentina to have been formed inside a prison, and the second in Latin America. It was set up barely four years ago on the initiative of a group of inmates, and with the support of FECOOTRA, the Federation of Workers’ Cooperatives in Argentina. Kbrones has become well integrated in the cooperative movement, providing help to many former prisoners after their return to freedom; they turn to the organisation when in search of work. Many of them have gone on to become members of the cooperative. Read more

Rebecca Kemble has won a seat on the Madison Common Council (US)

Rebecca Kemble, President of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives Board and of CICOPA North America has won a seat on the Madison Common CounciI, the capital city of the state of Wisconsin and is home to one of the highest concentrations of cooperatives in the US. Read more

The collaborative decision-making tool designed by a worker cooperative

You may have heard of Loomio. The name might sound familiar to the ones using collaborative platforms. A hint: it’s called Loomio, like a loom for weaving diverse perspectives together. Yes. It is indeed an online tool for decision-making, built by a team of technologists, activists and cooperators in New Zealand Read more