Worker Coops Bring Undocumented Workers into the Labor Movement

How can immigrants without work authorization avoid being hyper-exploited, and instead find work where they have some autonomy and collective power to raise standards? A movement that has been incubating in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, might offer some answers.

Sunset Park boasts one of the highest concentrations of worker cooperatives in the United States.

This business model, brought to the neighborhood by the Center for Family Life, guarantees all members standard and legal wages, a voice in their company’s governance, and control over their schedules. Since members are business owners, not employees, they also do not need work authorization.

“We don’t ask anything about your legal status nor your religion. We want members who want to work,” said Margarita Vasquez, of Mexico, founding member and elected president of Beyond Care Childcare Cooperative.

As New York City struggles to accommodate an influx of people prohibited from employment, worker coops present a way to earn a livable income and build wealth.

“I was previously making $40 a day for 12 hours of work,” said Marjuri Aburto Peralta, now a member of the Brightly Coop, which does housekeeping services. “I feel stable in this country because of the cooperative.”

HIGHER WAGES, LESS ABUSE

Peralta was living in a domestic violence shelter when she learned about worker cooperatives. She had been barely scraping by with her husband and son since arriving from Nicaragua 20 years before, and was no longer willing to tolerate any form of abuse.

“They told me I could be my own boss, that I wouldn’t have to work every day,” Peralta said. She liked the idea of spending more time with her son—not to mention the idea that she could make about as much per hour as she used to make per day. Undocumented domestic workers commonly face abusive conditions and subminimum wages.

The process of founding the coop was arduous—it took a full year of training and preparation—but Peralta says the higher wages, control of her schedule, and community she enjoys through the coop made the effort worthwhile.

“I would say I feel more respect in terms of my relationships with my co-workers,” she said. “If I experience abusive working conditions, the coop will support me. They can help with lawyers, for example.”

“This could be a solution for the recently arrived migrants,” she said. “They will have to be 100 percent involved, though.”

450 JOBS SO FAR

A worker cooperative is a business structure in which every worker is an owner and has an equal say in the company’s decision-making. There are about 1,000 worker coops in the U.S.

SUPPORT LABOR NOTES

BECOME A MONTHLY DONOR

Give $10 a month or more and get our "Fight the Boss, Build the Union" T-shirt.

Typically in a coop that provides a service like housecleaning or childcare, workers are paid directly by clients. Members find clients through the coops, which mandate ethical labor standards and agree on reasonable wages. In exchange for coop membership, workers pay a percent back. Since the worker is an independent contractor, the client is not required to verify work authorization or collect tax forms.

The Center for Family Life assists workers with forming cooperatives—providing training on management, conflict resolution, and marketing, and consulting on topics like legal structure, taxes, and branding. Since 2006 it has incubated 22 cooperatives—through which 450 people, most of them immigrant women, have gained reliable work and labor protections.

Almost half of Sunset Park residents are immigrants, the majority of them not citizens, according to American Community Survey 5-year Estimates.

“It’s probably, for 99 percent of people in a coop, the only pathway to asset development,” said Julia Jean-Francois, co-executive director of the Center for Family Life. “That’s how people become economically secure in the United States because of the type of economy we live in with no social safety net.”

BUILD IT YOURSELF

Worker coops usually require more than a year of preparation to open, and once opened, need the members to manage the operations, often without additional pay—requiring a dedication that hourly work would not.

Coops host regular meetings and elections for the administrative positions. Decision-making structures vary; Brightly Coop operates on a majority-rules system, while some others run by consensus. To make certain decisions more efficiently, members at Brightly and Beyond Care elect committees or positions with authority over specific aspects of operations.

A report from New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found that turnover rates are low and workers are generally satisfied once invested in the business. Similar to union jobs, which also have lower turnover rates than non-union jobs, members stay for the living wages and solidarity.

DOWNSIDES

The U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives found that 60 percent of its members said delivering health insurance is the most difficult logistical challenge. None of the coops referenced thus far provide health insurance or any form of paid leave, although some have funds for emergencies and health insurance stipends.

Worker coops also cannot offer the same guarantees as one would enjoy working for a big, financially stable company. Members are susceptible to economic downturns, since their wages are tied to how much work they receive. And worker-owners don’t get the same support in resolving workplace issues or engaging in politics that they would in a major union.

But for many undocumented people, these are compromises worth taking. Studies consistently show that undocumented people face workplace abuse and labor violations at significantly higher rates. Worker coops provide support where none would exist.

“I live a life that is less stressful. As an immigrant in other jobs, there was lots of humiliation,” said Concepcion Policao, an immigrant from Mexico who is part of Brightly Coop. “I like [working in coops] because they pay us justly, how it should be.”

Tareq Saghie is a freelance journalist, an organizer at the Restaurant Opportunities Center-New York, and a student at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, based in Brooklyn.