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Trump will name more conservative judges. He may even pick a majority of the Supreme Court; Both sides react as Missouri reverses near-total abortion ban Literacy initiative to implement 250 new early-education activations in PA.

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Worker-owned cooperative movement finds footing in MN

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Friday, August 9, 2024   

CLARIFICATION: While worker-owned cooperatives are seen as one of many solutions to the expected wave of small-business owners retiring, organizers with the May Day Cafe initiative note that aging ownership is not related to their transition. (10:00 a.m. CST, August 14th, 2024)

As small-business owners decide to retire or move on, some are helping to fuel the trend of worker-owned cooperatives in Minnesota and elsewhere.

These operations are described as businesses owned equally and self-managed by participating employees. A 2021 report found a 30% increase in worker-owned cooperatives in the United States, with nearly a dozen in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

When staffers at the May Day Cafe in South Minneapolis heard of it being put up for sale, barista Mira Klein said they were energized to launch an effort to buy it themselves and keep this community fixture open.

"It felt really important that the cafe stay in community hands," she said, "and continue existing as a place that people could gather, that they could eat together, access affordable food."

Klein said she's interested in how this affects workers by having a greater say in decision-making. With the help of a new crowdfunding campaign, the workers hope to close on the sale later this year. The same report tracking this movement also touches on some of the challenges these cooperatives run into, and providing health insurance topped the list.

According to the group Project Equity, 49% of businesses across Minnesota are owned by people age 55 and older. As the "silver tsunami" plays out, Klein, who stresses that aging ownership is not a factor in May Day Cafe's planned sale, said they want the chance to demonstrate that this approach can be a viable response to broader transitions in the small-business landscape.

"Showing that a worker cooperative model can be successful in a place like May Day, that could potentially have some pretty far reach," she said, "and that's something that we're really excited about."

The Project Equity report said nationally, one in three business owners age 50 and older are having a hard time finding a buyer. The authors say handing the keys over to willing staff members can lead to increased longevity of the business, better pay for workers, and increased local spending in the community.


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