In 2012 the United Steelworkers (USW) started pilot cooperative organizing efforts in Pennsylvania and Ohio after union leadership visited Mondragon, the world’s largest conglomerate of worker cooperatives situated in the Basque region of Spain. Mondragón consists of 96 separate, self-governing cooperatives (including banks, a university and co-op incubators) with more than 81,000 people employed.

Union co-ops differ from other worker-owned co-ops in that they allow worker-owners to appoint a management team and then bargain collectively with management.

Example: Sustainergy

Sustainergy is a worker-owned insulation and energy efficiency company committed to sustainability and social justice in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is also a union co-op where worker-owners are members of a union and elect a union committee to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement on their behalf. The union also promotes and instills solidarity between workers in different businesses, industries and countries.

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Sustainergy was incubated by Co-op Cincy, a cooperative development center that uses the Mondragon business model as the foundation for their efforts in creating an economy that works for all.

Sustainergy Website