Worker Owned Coops have a long and successful history around the world, but only about 400 exist in the entire United States. This is not because Worker Coops are themselves unproductive or inefficient (they are the opposite); it is because the vast majority of Americans don't know what they are.

Given the option, tens of millions of working Americans would likely choose to work in a place where they could vote on issues that impact them in the workplace, including who their managers are and what gets done with profits (ie, pay workers bonuses in the form of dividend checks). With democracy built into Worker Coops at their core, the national scale of ignorance and silence we have about such enterprises makes it extraordinarily difficult for workers to start up such businesses or convert existing workplaces into more democratically governed ones.

We need national attention on Worker Coops, but not just in the form of soundbites. We need our fellow Americans to actually understand the difference between a traditional business and a worker owned business, and decide which they prefer if given the choice. Working Americans deserve to know and to choose.


There needs to be widespread education for American workers to understand that workplace democracy is possible, right now. With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez having gained so much popularity so quickly, we think she would be the perfect person to attract unprecedented attention to Worker Owned Cooperatives by teaching an online class called "Worker Coops 101." If she herself is not well versed enough on the startup process, financing, internal governance structures, and other important aspects of Worker Coops, she could collaborate with groups such as Democracy At Work Institute or the US Federation Of Worker Coops, so they could coach her on how to teach such a class.

Such a class could be a simple 1 hour webinar with slides that AOC reads, that covers the most important aspects of Worker Coops. Not only would this attract millions of viewers due to her rising popularity, it would generate attention from journalists who would then report on her having done this followed by a potential spur in interest in Worker Coops themselves. The movement would at this point be self-generating.