US Federation of Worker Cooperatives

The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) is the national grassroots membership organization for worker cooperatives. Our mission is to build a thriving cooperative movement of stable, empowering jobs through worker-ownership. We advance worker-owned, -managed, and -governed workplaces through cooperative education, advocacy and development.

Our Federation includes more than 350 business and organizational members. We represent the 1,000 estimated worker co-ops and their 10,000 workers across the country. We organize through local cooperative networks while building power with national and international partners to advance an agenda for economic justice rooted in community-based, shared ownership.

From its very inception in 2004, the USFWC has centered the leadership of workers from democratic workplaces and of historically marginalized communities; especially leadership of color and leaders from low-income and immigrant communities. To this day, our membership is comprised of worker co-ops, democratic workplaces (consumer cooperatives, non-profits, and ESOPs with democratic staff management), cooperative developers, and various organizations and individuals that support worker cooperatives. These Federation members range from 2 to 2,000 workers and span dozens of industries with varying management and governance structures.

As a membership and advocacy organization, we connect worker cooperative members to benefits, to each other and to the larger cooperative and economic justice movements. We amplify our members’ voices to advocate for worker cooperatives through policy at the local, state and national level. We provide consulting and technical assistance to cooperatives old and new. And through the education, training and organizing work of our partner organization, the Democracy at Work Institute, we are committed to ensuring cooperative business ownership reaches those who need it the most.

Our Federation is led by a 100% member-elected Board of Directors, member councils, and a remote staff spread across the U.S.