Embracing worker-owned business is part of the movement away from corporate domination and toward workers having more agency in their labor. The Great Resignation, the movement to organize and form unions, the coming mass retirement of the baby boomer generation and the silver tsunami are all components of the growing social movement toward a more humane workplace and a more humane way to organize society. Steel workers in Spain’s Basque country founded Mondragon as a worker-owned, steel production venture. It has since grown to 95 self-governing cooperatives employing 80,000 people with 14 research and development centers. The cooperative operates 141 production plants in 37 countries, commercial business in 53, and sales in more than 150.

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Conventional lenders are reluctant to fund them, and technical assistance providers have traditionally left out worker coops. “It’s nice to know I am part of positive change in the world,” said O’Brien, the company’s founder, general manager and one of its owner-workers. The printing enterprise is a worker-owned union cooperative, and the company’s products can be seen all around Worcester – on the backs of teachers at City Hall rallies, at the recent Earth Day cleanup and at the United Way Day of Caring. With a team of experienced professionals, Worcester Bookkeeping Cooperative assists clients in organizing their finances and maximizing their business potential.

• Worcester Bookkeeping Cooperative, Inc. is an employee-owned company headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.
• Ownership can be purchased over a period of time through a salary deduction or through an outright investment in the company.
• While they are not certified, based third-party data sources, we believe their Employee Ownership Trust meets our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership.
• The printing enterprise is a worker-owned union cooperative, and the company’s products can be seen all around Worcester – on the backs of teachers at City Hall rallies, at the recent Earth Day cleanup and at the United Way Day of Caring.
• And this year, legislators like Sen. Adam Gomez, D-Springfield, are seeking to create a funding pool of $1.7 million in the office for grants and loans for ventures to draw down on.
• Conventional lenders are reluctant to fund them, and technical assistance providers have traditionally left out worker coops.

Worcester Bookkeeping Cooperative, Inc.

The federal agency also has structural barriers that inhibit loans and grants to cooperative enterprises. This post is part of a series written and researched by Alice Dillon, ArtsWorcester Program Staff. And this year, legislators like Sen. Adam Gomez, D-Springfield, are seeking to create a funding pool of $1.7 million in the office for grants and loans for ventures to draw down on.

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While they are not certified, based on Department of Labor 5500 fillings and other third-party data sources, we believe their ESOP meets our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership. Worcester Bookkeeping Cooperative is a professional service provider specializing in financial management for businesses in Worcester, MA. The cooperative offers a range of bookkeeping services to help clients maintain accurate records and make informed financial decisions. Some 85% of employee-owned businesses are founded by people of color, according to Papali, who added that fully 61% are women-owned. He believes that supporting worker-owned businesses can be a factor in racial and economic justice strategies.

The cooperative prides itself on delivering reliable and efficient bookkeeping solutions tailored to each client’s unique needs. “Once I discovered it (worker-owned cooperative business model) was out there, it’s hard to go back, I didn’t want to worcester bookkeeping cooperative go back, to the traditional way of organizing a business,” O’Brien said. “The solidarity felt amongst unions translates to solidarity felt among worker coops,” O’Brien said of his decision to use the bookkeeping cooperative to do their books.

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In addition to Davis Publications, the Printers Building now houses multiple other creative businesses. On the sixth floor, maker space Technocopia offers memberships that include shared creative spaces as well as access to a long list of tools. The Worcester Cleantech Incubator (WCTI) facilitates the startup of local businesses.

While they are not certified, we believe they meet our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership. “It makes good business sense to share in the bottom line,” Litynski said, adding it is more motivating. Salaries are paid to all employees, and at the end of every month, each worker receives a portion of the net profits. Ownership can be purchased over a period of time through a salary deduction or through an outright investment in the company. “It’s a structure of business ownership that is not familiar to the federal government,” Papali said.

Harkening back to Worcester’s early industrial days when small businesses gathered together in shared buildings, a spirit of collaboration is returning to the Printers Building. ArtsWorcester aims to collaborate with organizations in the building just as its original tenants once did. While they are not certified, based third-party data sources, we believe their Employee Ownership Trust meets our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership. While they are not certified, based third-party data sources, we believe their Worker Cooperative meets our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership.

The Worcester Bookkeeping Cooperative provides bookkeeping services to nonprofits, including ArtsWorcester, and small businesses. Davis Publications operates the Davis Art Gallery, another space for local artists to exhibit their work. The tenants of the Printers Building exhibit a commitment to creativity, industry, and education.