We are buying and building some of Spokane’s most iconic businesses, and turning them over to employee ownership and control. We fundamentally believe everyone deserves economic freedom and self-determination, and we’re using worker-owned cooperatives to make it happen.
Productivity is higher than ever, but worker’s salaries have barely budged in 40 years. When wage growth does happen, it’s 15 times higher for the top .1% than the bottom 90%.
The Spokane Workers Cooperative pays a living wage as a minimum for all workers. Our lowest wages are 22% higher than the national median wage.
Wealth inequality in the United States is higher today than it was during the Gilded Age, with three men owning more wealth than the bottom 50% of Americans.
All SWC workers are also owners, equitably sharing company profits. As the company grows and thrives, its worker-owners build meaningful wealth not accessible in traditional ownership structures.
Most American workers have very minimal control over their daily work life. Union representation is half what it was in 1983, and roles traditionally held by employees are being increasingly outsourced to contractors, who have virtually no power in these labor relations.
Democracy is built in at SWC, top to bottom: day-to-day decision-making is kept as close to immediately affected teams as possible, and our governing board of directors always has a super-majority of worker representation.
We are interested in all types of businesses within the Spokane Region. We’re just getting started, but our first acquisitions will be based on helping local business owners interested in worker ownership make that transition. As we grow, our focus will be:
The Spokane Worker’s Cooperative is an ambitious project. It’s also the brainchild of a team with a track record of developing successful and equitable community organizations.
Becoming a worker-owner isn’t for everyone, but it is for those who are interested in owning the fruits of their labor and sharing in the difficult decisions required to keep a business alive and thriving. While our vision is pretty fleshed out, doing things differently is always an adventure. For those who love adventure, help us build this.
We are incredibly grateful to have amazing community partners and investors already involved in what we’re doing:
A worker cooperative (Co-op) is a business that is entirely owned and operated by the employees. Each worker-owner has an equal ownership share in the company. Profits generated by the business are then distributed to worker-owners in proportion to their annual labor contribution.
A holding company is a business that is primarily engaged in the ownership and operation of other companies. The holding company is the umbrella corporate structure that owns the underlying portfolio of businesses and in some models helps to improve each of them thus increasing the profitability of the whole group.
In a traditional holding company there are outside shareholders or owners that benefit from the profits generated by the portfolio of businesses. In this cooperative holding company model, the workers of the businesses actually own and govern the entire portfolio, benefiting directly from the profits they generate through their labor.
Everyone that is hired for a role at one of the companies owned by Spokane Workers Cooperative will become a fully vested owner after 90 days of employment. Becoming an owner means that a worker is eligible to run for election on the board of directors where the biggest decisions are made, and they will receive profit sharing proportionate to the hours they work in each profitable year.
One way in which Spokane Workers Cooperative grows is through the acquisition of small businesses in the community. SWC helps small business owners that are looking to retire or exit their business receive compensation for what they have built while keeping that business alive and providing an ownership opportunity for their employees.
SWC also grows by incubating businesses from within the portfolio when an opportunity meets a passionate worker-owner-entrepreneur.
We are organized as a Limited Cooperative Association in Washington State which allows us to also accept external investment and create a class of owners separate from the Workers (Investor-Owners). Investor-Owners can also run for election on the board of directors, however as a class they only make up ⅓ of the board members. This structure makes investor ownership available to a wide range of folks while keeping workers at the helm. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Joel Williamson.
We are here to help! Get in touch with our team to see what is possible and how SWC can help you transfer the ownership of your business to your employees.
Contact us to learn more about investing, joining, or anything else. We look forward to hearing from you.
To email our team directly, click here.
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