A union is a membership organization of workers coming together in a workplace or industry to fight for better wages and working conditions. A co-op is a business that is owned and controlled by its members (which can be workers, consumers, producers, etc.). A union co-op is a co-op business whose workers are represented by a union!

As worker co-ops grow as businesses and lead in their industries, organizing a union can help. Worker co-ops can still have a traditional management structure, and a union can help formalize power dynamics between members or non-members around decisions on wages and working conditions. As unions organize across an industry, having a worker co-op in their membership as a model workplace can help educate and inspire their members about what's possible in their own contract fights.

REI Union & Co-ops Solidarity Campaign

Since 2022, workers at REI -- the largest consumer co-op in the US -- have won unions at 11 stores, but their management has refused to bargain a first contract and retaliated intensely, including firing dozens of workers. We're organizing co-op members to stand in solidarity with the union and not let REI "coopwash".

A union-led worker co-op could follow the path of either a "startup" (members coming together to start a business in their industry) or a "conversion" (union workers collectively buying an existing company).

Check out our Resources for Startups and Becoming Employee Owned's toolkit for conversions for more info.

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is a fantastic distributed organizing project of dedicated volunteers helping workers organize and take action. If you need support and don't know where to start, fill out their support form.

Join the Union Co-ops Council's email list to share news, talk shop, and get info about upcoming meetings.

Move your union or co-op to join the U.S. Federation of Worker Co-operatives (USFWC) to build our movement together.

Questions? Email the staff coordinator for the Union Co-ops Council, Michael Brennan, at ucc@usworker.coop.

Worker cooperatives achieve the goal of the labor movement: returning the means of production to worker ownership creating workplace and economic democracy for all workers.

As member council of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the Union Co-ops Council is building bridges between worker cooperatives and organized labor, promoting sovereignty of labor and subordination of capital, by harnessing the power of collective action to democratize enterprise.