How CEA works

The Cooperative Economy Act would reduce barriers to entry for new worker co-ops and promote long-term, sustainable growth. Worker co-ops are an employment paradigm where workers not only receive employment protections, but also own and govern their workplaces. CEA is a worker-centered response that offers both a sustainable long-term arrangement for workers and accelerates their economic recovery during this difficult time.

Workers deserve better

During the pandemic, workers have struggled to access benefits and protections of employment laws. Denial of these rights has intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic as many workers are finding unemployment and emergency relief benefits difficult to access, and companies have not paid into the safety net systems.

Contract workers’ precarious employment conditions have intensified with the COVID-19 public health crisis and the unprecedented unemployment rates the pandemic has caused. At the same time, some industries are struggling to fill open positions, with many workers citing fears of contracting COVID-19, loss of child care options, and low wages as reasons for not accepting job offers. The CEA will accelerate economic recovery for these and other workers. The worker co-ops established under the Act will provide workers full employment security and protections, enhance their control of their own labor, and allow them to share in the profits their labor creates.

Worker cooperatives have been shown to be more resilient and stable than other forms of business, with lower failure rates, an ability to better survive political and economic crises, and increased access to meaningful paths for workers to build assets.

Creating a supportive network

The CEA creates a Federation of California Worker Cooperatives (the “Federation”). The Federation is a membership organization for worker co-ops, organized as a private, nonprofit mutual benefit corporation. The Federation’s purpose is to establish new worker co-ops, to oversee worker co-op compliance with democratic governance standards, and establish the labor policy of worker co-ops.