Three Different Worker Co-operatives

This chapter explores three different worker co-operatives: coal mining, taxicab driving, and organic food distribution. All businesses in the chapter met several key criteria: first, the company needed to have a formal system for grievance resolution. Second, it had to be large enough that a formal grievance system was necessary. Third, each business had to be a stable organization with established procedures. Valley Colliery and Coal Co-operative are deep-pit mines, producing high-grade, highly marketable anthracite coal. Deep-pit mining in contrast to strip mining involves going deep underground to remove coal. Co-op Cab was founded in the late 1970s out of a strike and subsequent closing of two other cab companies. The organic food distribution industry attracts a variety of people. Organix Co-op, a major organics wholesaler, was formed in 1976 in a college town in the north of England by a handful of men, most of whom attended the same university.