Support Organizations

We need our national and international organizations to join us. I call on others to participate in building the movement while reframing and redirecting the Federation to become a member-controlled and -focused organization once again.

Unions and co-ops go together. This session outlines the practice of labor neutrality — when an employer commits to taking no position for or against their workers organizing and to voluntary recognize a labor union without requiring an election facilitated by a third party (commonly through a "card check" process) — and how workers in cooperatives can benefit from their employer proactively supporting their rights.

This session will explore the power of cooperatives working across three very different contexts: Seikatsu Club Consumers’ Cooperative, Cecosesola and Ventures. It will explore how the cooperative economic model provides benefits both for employees and the communities they serve. 

On March 2^nd, 2026, cooperative educator and “recovering farmer” Emi Do and I visited Heather Pritchard at her home on Fraser Common Cooperative Farm, near Aldergrove, British Columbia. After a brief tour of the farm, twenty acres on the foothills above the Fraser River Valley, and a conversation with fellow farm co-op member David Catzell, we sat down for lunch at Heather’s kitchen table and spoke for over an hour. The following is a lightly edited version of her reflections.

Uruguayan Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM), founded in May 1970, embodies the spirit of community and support. Serving 35,000 families through 760 cooperatives in a nation of approximately 3.5 million inhabitants, they are a beacon of collaboration. With a cooperative school for children and numerous consumer, distribution, and worker cooperatives linked to their vision, they are shaping a brighter future.

Two presentations on how to teach about co-operatives to non-coop audiences and the beneficial results of doing so.

Within the framework of the Universidad Popular by Poder Emma, an industrial sewing workshop is underway. For now, they offer free classes in Spanish to the local Latino community. In the future, they plan to turn the space into a worker-owned textile cooperative that elevates the sewing trade and creates dignified jobs for the community.

A workshop of best practices for effective governance, by and for worker co-ops.

Rupay is an employment lawyer in Germany, fighting for workers’ rights. Frustrated, working in a system rigged against workers, he sought out more empowering alternatives and discovered worker cooperatives. Rupay is an employment lawyer in Germany, fighting for workers’ rights. Frustrated, working in a system rigged against workers, he sought out more empowering alternatives and discovered worker cooperatives.

Come join Baltimore Roundtable for economic Democracy for a fun filled hour full of conversations about legal structures and capital! We will be discussing the pro's and con's, the differences between these flexible forms of doing business, and how you can put what you learn to work.