Getting Started With Worker Cooperatives 

These educational resources are suggested materials for learning about worker cooperatives and putting into practice worker ownership and workplace democracy. All materials are approved by USFWC to be accurate and informative.

LEARNING (OR TEACHING) ABOUT WORKER COOPERATIVES 101
About Worker Cooperatives
What is a Worker Cooperative? (USFWC)
What Does Workplace Democracy Look Like? Part 1: Intro to worker cooperatives and democratically-managed cooperatives (Libon, DAWN, 2011)
Worker Cooperative Basics (Babson College Cooperative Curriculum Wiki)
A Short Intro to American Worker Cooperatives: Why and How? (Dawson, Marraffino, DAWN Presented to Sustainable Tompkins, May 2011), includes case studies
Recent Trends in Worker Cooperative Development (Hoover, 2012)

STARTING A WORKER COOPERATIVE
Toolkits for Worker Cooperatives:
"Think Outside the Boss: How to Create a Worker-Owned Cooperative" by East Bay Community Law Center's Green-Collar Clinic and the Sustainable Economies Law Center 
Worker Cooperative Toolbox  by various authors and the Northcountry Cooperative Foundation
"Steps to Starting a Cooperative" by the Toolbox for Education and Social Action
Steps to Starting a Worker Cooperative  by Gary Hansen, E. Kim Coontz, and Audrey Malan

Toolkits for Cooperatives in General:
"Co-op 101: A Guide to Starting a Cooperative" by Cooperative Development Insitute
Cooperative Toolboxes - a larger and more general set of resources for cooperatives, by various authors and the Northcountry Cooperative Development Foundation

Industry-specific tools:
A Technology Freelancer's Guide to Starting a Worker Cooperative - exactly what it says it is

Books:
Putting Democracy to Work by Frank T. Adams and Gary Hansen

Videos:
This Way Out: a DVD series geared toward small startups with little access to capital

SELLING YOUR BUSINESS TO WORKERS/BUYING YOUR BUSINESS FROM OWNERS
Toolkits:
Converting Your Business to a Cooperative  (OEOC)

Case study:
The 1042 Roll-Over Cooperative in Practice: A case study of how Select Machine became a cooperative (Logue, OEOC, 2006)

Background information:
First Response: Save the Jobs Workshop (Hoover, USFWC, presented to California Labor Fed'n 2010)