Editor’s note: Jaisal Noor, a reporter at The Real News Network, just released a twenty-six-minute documentary video titled “Worker cooperatives prove your job doesn’t have to be hell,” that explores how worker-owners at eight cooperative businesses in four different cities have weathered the pandemic. The project was produced with funding from the Solutions Journalism Network a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems. Below is a five-minute excerpt that tells the story of a cooperative of home health care workers:
Homecare is an essential service, yet many workers lacked personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic—emblematic of an industry notorious for low pay and dangerous working conditions. However, the country’s largest worker cooperative proved businesses don’t have to put profit over people.
When the pandemic hit, Cooperative Home Care Associates partnered with cooperatives in the textile industry to ensure its 2,000 employees had the necessary PPE. “They made sure we had PPE, n95 masks, and gloves,” says Pam Armstrong, one of the co-ops’ 1,000 worker-owners. Medicaid reimbursements rates limit the pay of home care workers, but unlike other home care agencies, workers at Cooperative Home Care Associates keep 90 percent of their earnings, and are provided with health care and other benefits.
To see the full video, plus an interview and panel discussion with some of the participants, visit: “How co-ops across the U.S. weathered COVID-19 by prioritizing their workers.”