"The solution is to be the Lernaean Hydra, so that from each cut head two new ones emerge (if they are more, better). The goal is the distributed network, where the fewest possible nodes fall when there is an attack like the one we have seen.
Perhaps seen this way, the closure of A/I is an opportunity to create something new, a network where we are sovereigns of our spaces, where they do not silence us and, above all, as A/I always reminds us, we continue to be human."
In Paris, France, the local press highlights the activity and employment cooperative (CAE), which allows young self-employed workers to receive support and the protection of a permanent employment contract (CDI), feeling supported in their dual role as entrepreneurs and employees
In Brittany (France), bakers nearing retirement seek for their workers to take over the business to avoid closure and unemployment. The initiative reflects the need for a process of transferring the company to workers for the entire rural community environment
The French painting company of Golbey resumes its activity under the Scop model (associated worker cooperative), managed by its workers, thus preserving employment and local activity
Imagen adjunta: Isopeint is reborn as a worker cooperative in Golbey
Isopeint is reborn as a worker cooperative in Golbey
The LELL grocery store, located in Villeurbanne (Lyon, France), celebrates its tenth anniversary as a Scop, a worker cooperative, betting on a collaboration network to ensure its continuity and sustainability
Imagen adjunta: LELL Grocery: 10 years, a Scop and a network to endure
LELL Grocery: 10 years, a Scop and a network to endure
In France, faced with the closure of their company, workers unite and create cooperatives to resume activity. Some of them will share their experience at the event «Refaire (ensemble)»
Imagen adjunta: "Collective intelligence exists!": when employees organize as a cooperative to take over their company
"Collective intelligence exists!": when employees organize as a cooperative to take over their company
This initiative, promoted by legislators Zwicker and Turner, encourages the purchase of companies by workers through ESOPs and cooperatives, with the aim of preserving jobs and facilitating business succession
An opinion article published in Cincinnati, USA, argues that employees should share in the profits they generate. The column advocates for worker ownership mechanisms, such as ESOPs, to rebuild the American dream and reduce inequality, giving workers a real stake in companies.
Imagen adjunta: Workers create corporate wealth; it's time for them to enjoy it too.
Workers create corporate wealth; it's time for them to enjoy it too.
Governor Sherrill signs legislation expanding employee ownership in New Jersey. The measure, announced in the state of New Jersey (USA), seeks to expand worker equity participation models in the so-called Garden State
Let's make Labor Day 2026 focus on employee ownership. The article, published by Construction Dive in Washington D.C. (United States), advocates that Labor Day 2026 promote ESOPs in construction so that workers own their companies.
A column published in the Marin Independent Journal, in the San Francisco Bay Area, California (USA), supports SB 1174. The bill would leverage a state study on employee ownership to promote its adoption through ESOPs, cooperatives, and worker buyouts, as an economic development tool
Imagen adjunta: California wants to promote worker ownership
The founders of Black Tomato sell 75% to an employee-owned trust but retain control. The luxury travel agency based in London, UK, transfers most of its capital to an EOT, maintaining the founding management
A historic Rapid City hotel joins Ramkota employee ownership. The establishment, with a long history in Rapid City, South Dakota (USA), becomes part of Ramkota's employee ownership program, a hospitality company. The measure expands the participatory model in the sector and ensures the hotel's continuity under worker management
The associated work cooperative Gredos San Diego (GSD), based in Madrid, Spain, has shared its educational and business model with cooperatives from five Ibero-American countries and in an international cooperation initiative that seeks to transfer good practices of participatory management and sustainability
Imagen adjunta: GSD shares its model with Ibero-American co-ops
An opinion article in Kentucky, United States, argues that employees are the most suitable owners for local businesses, highlighting how worker ownership can benefit the economy and preserve business legacy
Imagen adjunta: The best owners of Kentucky businesses are already working there
The best owners of Kentucky businesses are already working there
Norandino connects Peruvian farmers with international markets. The agricultural cooperative Norandino, in Peru, collaborates with Triodos Investment Management to link small local producers with global buyers, strengthening their incomes and rural economic sustainability
Imagen adjunta: Norandino Coop and ethical financing for export
“The United States is under surveillance through an increasingly extensive, technologically advanced, and connected surveillance network.
In some cities, such as Houston, Texas, the true scope of this system is a secret. Law enforcement claims that all of this is for public safety: to prevent crimes and facilitate investigations.
Critics consider it an invasion of privacy, susceptible to misuse, and a covert tool that helps ICE in President Trump's deportation campaign.
One company is bearing the brunt of this backlash: Flock Safety. Its network of AI-powered license plate readers spans more than 6,000 communities, generating 20 billion vehicle scans per month. Some vigilante groups have been disabling Flock devices. Social media is full of tips on how to block or disable the cameras.”
Imagen adjunta: Flock: the eyes of the Trumpist Big Brother
The US has declared a free hosting service for Italian anarchist and dissident groups a "global terrorist organization". Why? What we learn from this, and what it means for Europe, your city council, and your online environment, regardless of your ideology.
Ex-workers on strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette founded a cooperative news organization, creating an employee-owned alternative in the media sector. The initiative reflects an emerging model in response to labor conflicts in the press.
Imagen adjunta: From striking journalists to cooperative journalists
From striking journalists to cooperative journalists
“Senate Bill 1174, introduced by Republican state Senator Suzette Valladares of Santa Clarita, would give contractors with qualifying employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) a modest preference when bidding on state-funded Caltrans construction projects: 2 percent for companies with between 30 and 49 percent ESOP ownership, 3 percent for those with between 50 and 99 percent ownership, and 4 percent for those with 100 percent ownership. Contractors that are signatories to a qualifying collective bargaining agreement or master labor agreement would receive an additional percentage point.”
Imagen adjunta: California discusses giving public procurement advantages to worker-owned companies
California discusses giving public procurement advantages to worker-owned companies
To be born, the Pascual Workers Cooperative Society had to pay, since 1985, a toll of blood and death, survive more than a thousand days of strike, economic hardships for workers and their families, the loss of their original plants, and government indifference. Forty-one years later, the sugary drinks tax, their expulsion from schools, and a market favoring transnational soda companies have it – again – against the ropes.
Its physical location opened its doors on November 15, 2025. "There was a very community atmosphere," Matthew Rivera, a Washington D.C. resident who was there that day, told Inequality.org . "In the end, it was a success for the community."
Today, the bookstore continues to operate both as a place to buy books and as a community space for public education. According to its managers, these differences are intentional and a consequence of its ownership structure.
Imagen adjunta: The first cooperative bookstore in Washington
Diez años después de la victoria de AlphaGo sobre Lee Sedol, herramientas de IA capaces de escribir software, automatizar tareas administrativas y crear nuevos productos digitales están cambiando la organización del trabajo, las expectativas de los mercados y la escala necesaria para emprender. Analizamos cómo la IA cambiará el trabajo y la sociedad a corto plazo, desde el auge del «vibe coding» y la automatización del trabajo de oficina hasta sus efectos sobre el capital, la productividad y los riesgos morales y militares en una sociedad cada vez más mediada por la inteligencia artificial.
Imagen adjunta: Cómo la IA cambiará el trabajo y la sociedad a corto plazo
Cómo la IA cambiará el trabajo y la sociedad a corto plazo
En Francia, Italia, Bélgica o España, las cooperativas funerarias en Europa están transformando los servicios funerarios con un modelo basado en la transparencia, la participación comunitaria, la sostenibilidad y los precios asequibles. Frente a un mercado tradicional marcado por la opacidad y el alto coste de los funerales, estas iniciativas ofrecen funerales más accesibles, personalizados y sostenibles, fortalecen la economía local y devuelven a las personas la soberanía sobre el último adiós. Cada vez más comunidades apuestan por esta alternativa cooperativa que une dignidad, comunidad y democratización del funeral.
Imagen adjunta: Cooperativas funerarias en Europa: la alternativa ética que abarata los funerales y devuelve la muerte a la comunidad
Cooperativas funerarias en Europa: la alternativa ética que abarata los funerales y devuelve la muerte a la comunidad
In a village in the extreme southwest of Europe, we are building a community that combines free knowledge, cooperatives, open technology, and rural repopulation. Around the Juan Urrutia Library—driven by the Center for Maximalist Studies, the Maximalist Company S.Coop., and the Repopulation Foundation—an ecosystem is taking shape where living, working, and learning are all part of the same project. We invite you to get to know us, to become a part of it, and... to contribute.
Imagen adjunta: The 21st century we deserve is being born in rural areas
The 21st century we deserve is being born in rural areas
The Beriso factory in La Plata closed without paying wages, social security contributions, or severance pay. Today, the workers are planning to form a cooperative to restart production.
Imagen adjunta: Workers at an Argentine steel mill are considering forming a cooperative
Workers at an Argentine steel mill are considering forming a cooperative
Six industrial cooperatives in Álava, employing over 1,500 workers, have joined together to form the Batera association. The network includes RPK, i+Med, Udapa, Loramendi, Aurrenak, and Goros. They aim to "combine their capabilities to strengthen the cooperative model as an engine of economic and social development in the region."
“For the CGT, in these companies acquired by cooperatives, it is often the cooperative itself, which has saved jobs, that must be defended. The failure to recognize the divisions that affect wage earners hinders the political subjectivity of subordinate workers and can lead to disengagement from activism. In fact, this devalues certain union practices that were previously valued in the workplace, such as confronting the boss or management, which provided social recognition for workers. Material demands are also devalued in this context, and different wage relationships are imposed based on one's position in the production process. The demand for a wage increase, important for subordinate workers, is less so for union leaders and managers, who prioritize defending the cooperative.”
Imagen adjunta: How are trade unions being redefined in cooperative companies in France?
How are trade unions being redefined in cooperative companies in France?
"As Mondragón has transformed its regional economy, its worker-members have faced real challenges in upholding cooperative principles. This includes the hiring of non-owner wage earners and the establishment of non-cooperative subsidiaries outside of Spain, according to a report by researchers Ignacio Bretos and Anjel Errasti."
"These challenges will affect the United States even more severely, where almost every way people meet their needs (food, energy, health care) depends on extraction from other parts of the world."
Imagen adjunta: The contradictions of Mondragón seen from the perspective of the US "Social Economy"
The contradictions of Mondragón seen from the perspective of the US "Social Economy"
"Worker cooperatives represent around 77% of the new cooperatives created in the last decade, consolidating themselves as the main avenue for collective self-employment in Spain. Cooperatives integrate women, young people and people with lower levels of qualification to a greater extent, and have a greater presence in rural areas and intermediate cities, contributing to territorial cohesion and the fight against depopulation."
Under the EOT structure, the company is now owned by a trust that holds the shares on behalf of all employees. Day-to-day operations will continue to be managed by the current leadership team. CEO Mary Bisset will remain at the helm, having been with the company for over 20 years and serving as CEO for eight years.
She stated, "This is a positive step for Marine Products. We wanted an ownership model that would protect the company's legacy while also providing the best possible platform for the future."
Employee ownership achieves precisely that: it maintains the company's independence, enables long-term decision-making, and recognizes that our people are fundamental to our success. Employees know this company best, and this structure puts them at the heart of protecting its future.
A recent survey of young adults by the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University found that only 30 percent of respondents were actively dating, even though roughly half of them indicated they were interested in finding a relationship. They cited a lack of confidence in what researchers termed "dating efficacy": fewer than 40 percent believed they were attractive to potential partners or felt comfortable discussing their feelings with them. Only about a quarter felt confident approaching a potential partner or in their ability to remain positive after a dating setback—a rejection, a bad date, or a breakup. If trends continue, one in three adults currently in their 20s and 30s will never marry, contributing to an epidemic of loneliness that is already generationally acute.
Studies show that owning a pet is associated with lower blood pressure, a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and lower mortality rates following a heart attack or stroke. Furthermore, a comprehensive review of studies published in 2019 revealed that owning a dog was associated with a 24% lower risk of dying from any cause within 10 years.
“Nearly all of Tehran’s traffic cameras had been hacked for years, their images encrypted and transmitted to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel, according to two people familiar with the matter. One camera had an angle that proved particularly useful, one of the people said, allowing them to determine where the men liked to park their personal cars and providing a window into the workings of a mundane part of the zealously guarded complex. Complex algorithms added details to the files of these security guards, including their addresses, working hours, the routes they took to get to work, and, most importantly, whom they were typically assigned to protect and transport, creating what intelligence officers call a ‘life pattern.’”
Imagen adjunta: AI, cybersecurity, and the assassination of Khamenei
AI, cybersecurity, and the assassination of Khamenei
"We begin with the obvious reality that some sectors of the modern economy no longer generate public benefits. I mentioned the technology monopolies that now dominate communications and information. They depend on our data, our labor, our creativity, and yet they operate outside of any meaningful democratic control. They shape policy, distort markets, and extract rents from society without providing proportionate value."
John's point was that this outcome is not accidental. It stems from the way capitalism has been structured over the last half-century. The modern corporation is designed to maximize shareholder returns. This idea was reinforced by economists like Milton Friedman and Michael Jensen, who insisted that directors have no responsibility beyond profits. Once this doctrine is accepted, everything else follows: wage cuts, investment reductions, the creation of monopolies, and the relentless pursuit of short-term gains.
That's capitalism as we know it now. And it doesn't work.
But what struck me most about our conversation was how quickly we moved from criticism to alternatives. John reminded us that cooperatives and mutual societies are not a fringe curiosity. They have existed for centuries, and modern cooperative movements were born here in Britain. Thinkers like Robert Owen and John Stuart Mill saw them as practical ways to combine efficiency and equity.
Imagen adjunta: Can cooperatives help to turn around a dysfunctional economy? Some economists think so.
Can cooperatives help to turn around a dysfunctional economy? Some economists think so.
Shortly after Trump's announcement, and 13 minutes after the Pentagon's deadline, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company a "supply chain and national security risk." This designation means that no contractor or supplier working with the military can do business with Anthropic. Later on Friday, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announced that it had reached an agreement with the Department of Defense to provide its AI technology for classified systems.
In a statement, Anthropic asserted, “We maintained our exceptions for two reasons. First, we do not believe that current cutting-edge AI models are reliable enough to be used in fully autonomous weapons. Allowing current models to be used in this way would endanger American combatants and civilians. Second, we believe that mass surveillance of Americans at home constitutes a violation of fundamental rights.”
According to a report from the Department of Labor to the US Congress:
Employee ownership is present in every state in the country, with ESOPs being the most widespread form. Worker cooperatives and employee-owned trusts, while few in number, are forming at a faster rate. Over the past half-century, the number of ESOPs has increased from a few hundred in 1975 to 6,525 plans in 2023. (3) Based on Form 5500 data filed for plan years ending in 2023 (the latest available), these plans cover more than 15 million participants and hold an estimated $2 trillion in assets (including company securities and other retirement plan assets). Large ESOPs (those with 100 or more participants) generated $160.6 billion in direct benefit payments in 2023.
The Polish government's new housing cooperative bill mandates that all members of the Social Council hold a university degree. Anyone still expecting a protest, even a formal one from the ICA, can forget it. Official cooperatives are dominated by professionalized bureaucrats who find it perfectly acceptable to restrict the rights of cooperative members in favor of their peers on the path to professionalization.
The group recorded a 50% increase in turnover to £129 million in the year to June 2025 thanks to HS2's jobs, business and energy plans.
A backlog of £300 million (2024: £200 million) now supports the next phase of growth, giving the business strong visibility over the next year as it moves forward in the data center, transport and nuclear energy markets.
The improved performance resulted in £349,000 being distributed among all eligible employees in the fourth and highest profit-sharing payout since the transition to an employee-owned group in March 2021.
Imagen adjunta: The British trade press is beginning to reflect the results of the wave of companies that have become employee-owned in the last two years
The British trade press is beginning to reflect the results of the wave of companies that have become employee-owned in the last two years
Throughout modern economic history, human intelligence has been the scarce input. Capital was abundant (or at least replicable). Natural resources were finite, but replaceable. Technology improved slowly enough for humans to adapt. Intelligence—the capacity to analyze, decide, create, persuade, and coordinate—was what could not be replicated on a large scale.
Human intelligence derived its inherent value from its scarcity. All the institutions of our economy, from the labor market to the mortgage market and the tax code, were designed for a world in which that premise held true.
We are now witnessing the erosion of that premium. Artificial intelligence has become a competent and rapidly improving substitute for human intelligence in an ever-expanding range of tasks. The financial system, optimized for decades for a world with scarce human minds, is being revalued. This revaluation is painful, messy, and far from complete.
But revaluation is not the same as collapse.
The economy can find a new equilibrium. Achieving this is one of the few tasks that only humans can accomplish. We need to do it right.
This is the first time in history that the economy's most productive asset has generated fewer jobs, not more. No framework fits, because none were designed for a world where a scarce input has become abundant. Therefore, we have to create new frameworks. The only question that matters is whether we build them in time.
Imagen adjunta: A scenario about the impact of AI on a "white collar" economy
A scenario about the impact of AI on a "white collar" economy
This Forbes article marks a paradigm shift in the American business press by elevating employee ownership from a niche topic to a central discussion in the business world, questioning why it isn't a more universally adopted option. It signals a break from the perception of employee ownership as a fringe alternative, positioning it instead as a viable strategic solution to various business challenges.
The Italian region of Veneto wants to accelerate the regionalization of laws that facilitate the purchase of companies in economic or succession crisis by their own workers.
Imagen adjunta: Veneto wants more company buyouts by workers
McKinsey & Company, the quintessential global consulting firm, is collaborating with Ownership Works to "scale the worker ownership model, bringing worker ownership to a broader and more strategic implementation across the enterprise." Whenever we hear the name of one of the Big Four, we clutch our wallets... and our hearts.
"Clacton-on-Sea-based printer DS Group has handed the reins back to its staff as the company has become wholly employee-owned. DS Group officially became an employee-owned trust on 1 December 2025, marking a significant milestone in the printing and mailing company's 25-year history."
Imagen adjunta: British printing company becomes worker-owned
"Doncaster, UK, January 15, 2026. Doncaster-based Pacy & Wheatley is one of the UK's oldest family-owned construction groups. The company undertakes large-scale building projects across a range of sectors, including care homes and commercial and residential developments. Its specialist acoustics division works with global brands, while its interiors division executes major interior design contracts for leading retail chains, hospitals, and national storage solution providers."
Imagen adjunta: Another regional construction company becomes worker-owned in Great Britain
Another regional construction company becomes worker-owned in Great Britain
Since Costa passed a cooperative law dictated by the ICA, eliminating worker cooperatives, and imposed the discourse of the "Social Economy" as an alternative to the centrality of worker-owned cooperatives, this prospect was inevitable, and we denounced it as such. Portugal needs its own maximalist cooperative movement.
Imagen adjunta: Following a cooperative law dictated by the ICA, the Portuguese state abandons its support for cooperatives
Following a cooperative law dictated by the ICA, the Portuguese state abandons its support for cooperatives
«The Fever» is, without a doubt, the best series of 2024 and will probably be remembered as one of the three best series about politics of the last 25 years
Cooperatives build the resilience of human communities that are very different from each other and this is because, when needs and commitment to a cause come together, we need to have at our disposal a mechanical element that allows us to respond and scale up a communitarian response as quickly as possible.
The SCICs (Cooperative Societies of Collective Interest) in France, the «Steward Ownership» models in Germany and those based on «Assets in Common» in the USA are the spearhead of a new productive cooperativism in which workers share or cede ownership to other agents.
Imagen adjunta: Collective Interest Cooperatives and Steward Ownership Models
Collective Interest Cooperatives and Steward Ownership Models
The growth of social passivity since the late 1980s has been a consequence of the devaluation of work. The first Internet began to reverse passivity, but through social networks it ended up multiplying it until it became the air of the ultra-individualized world we now live in. But what if communicating not mediated by the pillars of passivity were not as difficult as we think?
Imagen adjunta: A brief history of social passivity and some counter-current ideas on how to communicate to confront it
A brief history of social passivity and some counter-current ideas on how to communicate to confront it
Thirty-six years ago, Bruce Sterling's «Islands in the Net» expressed for the first time the dream of a transnational cooperativism capable of offering its members an alternative that would simultaneously address the erosion of social cohesion that was then emerging under Reagan and Thatcher and the fracture, growing steadily since the post-war period, between the general conditions of life and access to resources and knowledge in the most capitalized countries and the rest of the world.
Imagen adjunta: Bruce Sterling and the dream of transnational cooperativism
Bruce Sterling and the dream of transnational cooperativism
Are you a better person for not eating meat, and does dietary restriction make you more progressive or more ‘sensitive’? There is a long history behind attaching morality to diet. It is a history that should be known because what if, in reality, what is truly immoral is, for example, veganism?
Work and management that is based on tackling challenges sustains the types of incentives and logic that mobilize efforts and encourage workers to take the courageous leap to become a cooperative. Workers thus derive happiness from contributing and from being able to produce the extraordinary.
Imagen adjunta: Managing the worker cooperative through the overcoming of challenges
Managing the worker cooperative through the overcoming of challenges
The term «New Cooperativism» has been used in academia since 2010 to define cooperative initiatives that go beyond the hegemonic model of the ICA and which promote new forms of cooperativism based on commons that prefigure «post-capitalist» relationships.
The foundation of Communalia's cooperative model are laid out in the seven Maximalist Cooperative Principles. We go back to the origins and principles of workers cooperativism and we go forward by embracing the new universal commons and by striving to contribute to the global challenges of Humanity in this day and age.
Manifesto of the Second Maximalist Congress, which we will hold after the summer heat. The manifestos of our congresses are a call to participation and, at the same time, a kind of "framework document," seeking to provide a global and historical context for our tasks and objectives, serving as a basis for coordination between maximalist cooperatives and NGOs.
Imagen adjunta: Manifesto of the Second Maximalist Congress 2025
In the US, worker cooperatives have grown by 34% since 2020 and have more than doubled their number of workers. There are now over 1,300 cooperatives with 16,000 workers.
Puerto Rico now claims to be the root of the American cooperative movement and highlights the value of its legislation compared to the Spanish model.
“We had the first cooperative in America,” he says. “Cooperatives came to Puerto Rico thanks to the Spanish, and Catholics created a cooperative in every municipality. Now, on my way to take my children to school, I pass by about 20 cooperatives. They’re everywhere. Here, you can’t grow up without knowing that cooperatives exist.”
Imagen adjunta: The rise of worker cooperatives in the US
Stanford University shows "How cooperatives, public institutions and social movements can come together to intentionally build a practical and community-based alternative to extractive AI systems."
According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, 76% of Canadian small business owners plan to sell their businesses in the next decade, most to retire. Approximately $2 trillion in business assets could change hands. However, only 10% of these owners have a succession plan. Some businesses will close, others will be sold to management, to a third party, or acquired by private equity. The magnitude of this shift could significantly affect the country's business landscape and have a lasting impact on Canadian workers and communities.
Imagen adjunta: The business succession crisis in Canada and the purchase of companies by their employees
The business succession crisis in Canada and the purchase of companies by their employees
"The company said it has recorded year-over-year growth for nearly 16 consecutive years and now joins approximately 6,300 ESOP companies nationwide, representing around 10.7 million active employee-owners."
Imagen adjunta: Sports field construction company becomes worker-owned in Fort Worth, USA
Sports field construction company becomes worker-owned in Fort Worth, USA
New York City has a "Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative" that assists and funds the transition from capital ownership to labor ownership. Thanks to this, Brooklyn has not lost its bike shop and workshop. The opening of this new cooperative phase was a huge neighborhood celebration with local media and politicians in attendance.
"Eleven years after its creation on the ashes of the former Eléphants tea factory, owned by Unilever, the cooperative company in Gémenos, near Marseille, has found its balance producing for large retailers."
"While widespread ownership is not new, a recent boom led by private equity has transformed it into a powerful economic force. Since 2022, more than $1.3 billion has been distributed to 41,000 non-executive employees, with projections exceeding $20 billion over the next decade."
"The payoff is mutual. Preliminary data from the nonprofit organization Ownership Works shows that operations with ownership programs achieved a return on invested capital (ROIC) 1.6 times higher than the market median. These programs drive operational improvements, from expanding margins to reducing employee turnover, by unlocking the code of the ownership mindset."
Imagen adjunta: Harvard Business Review on why worker ownership is worthwhile for companies and their shareholders
Harvard Business Review on why worker ownership is worthwhile for companies and their shareholders
Not a day goes by without a leading company in a US state being bought by its own workers, who gain not only a voice and a vote, but also control of the results and a retirement plan unaffordable by other means.
The company, founded in 1983, stated that it is now structured as an Employee Social Participation Plan (ESOP), which grants eligible team members a stake in the company in addition to existing retirement benefits. Advanced Roofing indicated that this change is designed to strengthen shared responsibility across the organization, from field teams to project managers and support staff, while maintaining leadership and daily operations.
“This milestone seeks to secure the future of the company and honor those who built it,” said Rob Kornahrens, founder and CEO of the Advanced family of companies. “Employee ownership allows us to stay true to our identity: independent, customer-centric, and committed to long-term relationships.”
Imagen adjunta: Another example of a regional construction company being taken over by its workers
Another example of a regional construction company being taken over by its workers
Throughout 2025, 123 cooperatives were created, 12 percent more than the previous year, and 2,947 new jobs associated with cooperatives, which is equivalent to 17 percent of the total new jobs in the community.
Imagen adjunta: Cooperatives will create more than 2,000 jobs in the Region of Murcia during 2026
Cooperatives will create more than 2,000 jobs in the Region of Murcia during 2026
The worker-led struggle for the ecological re-industrialization project at the GKN factory in Florence is receiving a significant international solidarity campaign. This initiative represents an emerging tension and a potential paradigm shift, as it elevates the workers' struggle from local resistance to a global model of sustainable industrial transformation, uniting worker ownership with ecological imperatives in a pioneering way.
"The left has failed to inspire a practical challenge to the planetary crisis of capitalism that has upended nature and society. This book outlines a new transformative politics that emerges from workers' cooperative systems that promote planetary care from below and have the potential to undermine the capitalist status quo."
“The crisis of capitalism is planetary. It is a system that disrupts nature and society, causing many to live and work in despair. Until now, the left has been unable to pose a practical challenge to it. In ‘Worker Cooperatives and Deep Democracy,’ Vishwas Satgar and Michelle Williams outline a new transformative politics that emerges from inspiring worker cooperative systems that promote planetary care from below and have the potential to undermine the capitalist status quo.”
"Based on extensive research in 15 countries, the authors examine case studies that explore transformative approaches to social reproduction, public power, nature protection, and territorial expansion in opposition to global hegemonic power. They also reveal the power of solidarities to generate emancipatory and utopian imaginaries in the global north and south."
"Satgar and Williams show how, against all odds, people are experimenting with deep democracy and building care systems to live differently and emerge from the planetary crisis."
Imagen adjunta: New discourses on worker cooperatives in South Africa
New discourses on worker cooperatives in South Africa
