How to use this guide
Start with worker-cooperative identity, then move from member authority to board and management roles, decision practice, and governing documents. The international and UK materials clarify principles and possibilities; the document resources are U.S.-oriented starting points that still require state-specific legal review.
What you should understand
By the end, you should be able to sketch how member authority, board oversight, management delegation, meetings, and governing documents fit together—and identify which choices need facilitation or legal support.
Start here
Define the model and its commitments
These readings distinguish worker-cooperative identity from generic employee participation and provide global and UK reference points for democratic member ownership.
- 1FrameworkIntroCICOPA / CECOP
World Declaration on Worker Cooperatives
CICOPA’s international declaration defining worker cooperatives and the core characteristics of democratic worker ownership.
Why this is here: Start with the global declaration to establish the distinctive relationship among worker membership, ownership, and control. It is a normative reference, not an operating manual. - 2GuideIntroworkers.coop
The Worker Co-operative Code
A worker-co-op-specific code explaining how cooperative principles apply to worker-owned businesses, including governance, membership, work, capital, and participation.
Why this is here: Add this UK code for a more operational account of worker-cooperative practice. Treat its legal and institutional context as a reference point rather than importing it unchanged into another jurisdiction. - 3FrameworkIntroInternational Cooperative Alliance
Cooperative Identity, Values & Principles
The International Cooperative Alliance’s official statement of cooperative identity, values, and seven principles, including democratic member control and member economic participation.
Why this is here: Use this optional ICA reference when the team needs the broader cooperative values behind the worker-specific materials. It is intentionally general and does not resolve a governance design question by itself.
Then clarify roles
Connect member power, board oversight, and management
Governance becomes workable when the organization names which decisions belong to members, directors, and managers—and how accountability travels among them.
- 4GuideIntroU.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives
Building Your Worker Co-op Board
A USFWC Co-op Clinic mini guide on the role, composition, and accountability of worker co-op boards.
Why this is here: Read the board resource before management practice so the oversight role is visible first. Use it to ask what directors decide, what they delegate, and how members hold the board accountable. - 5GuideIntermediateDemocracy at Work Institute
Democratic Management: A Practical Guide for Managers and Others
A DAWI guide to democratic management practices organized around power, information, people, and money, with tools and examples for worker co-ops and democratic workplaces.
Why this is here: This adds the operating layer: managers can hold real delegated authority without displacing democratic member control. Compare its practices with the board-and-member structure you just mapped.
Put it into practice
Design meetings and decision habits
A sound authority map still needs practical ways to prepare, make, record, and revisit decisions.
- 6GuideIntroDemocracy at Work Institute / South Mountain Company
Meetings and Consensus
A practical resource from South Mountain Company with tips for effective meetings and consensus decision-making in worker cooperatives.
Why this is here: Use this for meeting and consensus techniques after authority is clear. A decision method cannot compensate for ambiguity about who is entitled to make which decision.
Use with professional support
Translate choices into governing documents
The guide explains the decisions to encode; the older editable sample shows document form. Neither is a ready-to-adopt legal instrument for every entity or jurisdiction.
- 7GuideIntermediateDemocracy at Work Institute
Guide to Worker Cooperative Bylaws and Operating Agreements
A DAWI guide explaining how governing documents can codify democratic ownership, governance structure, growth, and conflict-resolution pathways.
Why this is here: Use this 2015 DAWI guide to identify membership, voting, board, growth, and conflict questions that governing documents must answer. It explicitly recommends working with qualified professionals. - 8TemplateIntermediateDemocracy at Work Institute
Sample Worker Cooperative Bylaws
An editable sample bylaws document for worker cooperatives that can help groups avoid starting their governance documents from scratch.
Why this is here: Open this 2013 editable sample only after identifying your choices. It is a drafting reference, not language to copy without adapting the entity type, state law, and actual governance practice.