![]() ![]() The CCEC coalition has set some priorities. Meanwhile, the coalition itself is maturing. ![]() Now that the group has gotten Cook County to pass the resolution, it is hoped that the city of Chicago will follow suit. Getting legislation passed in a county with 5.2 million people, a population of similar or greater size than more than half of the US states, is a considerable accomplishment.Īmong the more significant provisions was one that encouraged the county’s Bureau of Economic Development to make available community development block grant (CDBG) funding “to support local worker cooperatives and cooperative conversions, strengthen existing organizations that are incubating and training worker cooperatives in Cook County, and help to equip other organizations to provide such services, focusing on services to low‐income residents or in underserved areas.” ![]() The Cook County measure, in which the Cook County Board of Commissioners asserted its support for the development and growth of worker cooperatives, passed unanimously on October 17 th. In September, Lynch notes, “Cook County’s Social Innovation Commission approved a resolution to use community development block grants or other funding sources to support and develop worker co-ops.” “That,” writes Lynch, “triggers certain labor and IRS rules which can exclude immigrant communities from starting worker co-ops and make it cost prohibitive for others.” Hatcher elaborates that the current rules are “certainly a barrier for entrepreneurs that don’t have work authorization or don’t have legal status.” Some states, Lynch adds, such as Wisconsin, Iowa, and Tennessee, already have similar provisions in place. As Lynch details, a standard worker cooperative classifies worker-owners as employees. While most of the policy recommendations are pretty straightforward, the Limited Cooperative Association idea, which combines aspects of a cooperative with aspects of limited liability company, is a little more complicated. “The State of Illinois should pass a Limited Cooperative Association statute.”.“The City of Chicago and Cook County should pass a resolution in support of worker cooperative businesses and development.”.“Institutions and organizations should engage worker cooperative businesses in anchor-based development and capacity building.”.“The City of Chicago and Cook County agencies should support worker cooperatives through public contracting and procurement of goods and services.”.“The City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois should invest in the worker cooperative ecosystem and development infrastructure.”.The five other recommendations were more policy-oriented, namely: The first was to formalize a coalition of co-ops to build greater support for worker cooperatives. Hatcher is a coauthor of a policy paper that seeks to lay out a strategy to support and grow the worker cooperative movement in the Chicago area. ![]() Hatcher notes that in communities of color especially, cooperatives enable people to “collectively create jobs for themselves and decide how they want to set up their working conditions worker exploitation…primarily happens in Black, Latinx and immigrant communities.” One of the most famous is the New Era Windows Cooperative, which was founded in 2012, four years after workers occupied the old Republic Windows and Doors in order to get the company to pay what it legally owed workers when they were laid off en masse. Stacy Sutton, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, tells Lynch that the worker cooperative movement is “growing and picking up momentum because there is a belief that through worker ownership you are creating…a more democratic and a greater equitable distribution of economic resources.” The lack of living wage jobs, even in a low-unemployment economy, is also fueling growth.Īccording to Renee Hatcher, director of the Business Enterprise Law Clinic at John Marshall Law School, there are now 18 worker cooperatives in Cook County, more than half of which are based in or started by communities of color. The idea is that it will provide funding, training, technical assistance, and research and legal services, and raise public awareness about worker cooperatives. As La Risa Lynch explains in the Chicago Reporter, the coalition, envisioned as a three-year pilot, brings together nonprofits, existing worker co-ops, advocacy groups, and co-op developers. Earlier this month, the Chicagoland Cooperative Ecosystem Coalition (CCEC) held its inaugural town hall meeting. ![]()
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