Employee Ownership Advocates Make Policy Gains in Massachusetts

What does it take to build robust public support for a solidarity economy? How can workers become owners in the economy? Worker ownership is an important tool for enabling ordinary people to build a nest egg. But the economic playing field favors large corporate players to the exclusion of most workers.

To change this, worker-owners are organizing both nationally and state by state. In Massachusetts, gradual gains are being made through the work of the Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP), a multi-organization coalition supported by the Center for Economic Democracy (CED).

Founded five years ago, the coalition’s gains have been steady. For the fiscal year 2025—in Massachusetts, that means July 2024 through June 2025—policy victories so far include $500,000 in direct support to fund a state office supporting worker ownership and $7.65 million in a technical assistance fund that makes small grants (maximum of $175,000 for joint organization proposals) to nonprofit community-based organizations, community development corporations, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) serving BIPOC businesses.

While the funding is important, the larger solidarity economy movement being built is even more significant. COWOP is part of a broader national network that has made gains in other states, such as Washington, California, and Colorado.

Building the Coalition

The strength of the statewide COWOP in Massachusetts rests largely on the diversity of its stakeholders. The steering committee guiding the coalition includes representatives from a worker co-op, the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), community organizers, interfaith organizers, a capital provider (Cooperative Fund of the Northeast), a technical assistance provider (Cooperative Development Institute), organized labor, a worker center, an individual worker owner, and a COWOP coordinator. All told, more than 40 member organizations participate in the coalition.

“When there are economic times that are tough, we don’t leave. We’re invested here. Our roots are here.”Each year, COWOP members come together to approve the coalition’s legislative agenda. For example, last year members voted to strengthen the newly formalized Massachusetts Center for Employee Ownership (MassCEO) office and to increase the availability of technical assistance funding to help establish more worker co-ops statewide.

Uniting for Policy

Sarah Assefa and Alex Papali, two staff members at CED, lead the coalition’s day-to-day advocacy work, helping to guide the coalition’s agenda forward in the 2024 Massachusetts state legislative session. The asks were specific and targeted:

1. Strengthen MassCEO. COWOP proposed a $685,000 budget for the statewide employee ownership office to support its training, education, and direct assistance work helping existing businesses convert to employee ownership. Other supporters backing COWOP included the New England chapter of the ESOP Association; the Massachusetts chapter of the AFL-CIO, the national labor federation; and the Coalition for an Equitable Economy (CEE), a statewide BIPOC small-business support group. A key goal of the increased funding is to enable the state to hire a statewide office director.
2. Strengthen small-business technical assistance. A key priority for COWOP and CEE was to increase funding for a small-business technical assistance program from $5 million to $7.5 million.

The advocacy included two days at the Massachusetts State House. At one event, one of the original advocates for the decade-long campaign to support MassCEO, former state Senator Dave Magnani (D), said, “What the worker ownership movement does is it stands by the principle of economic justice—and says people who do the work deserve the reward.”

In her public statement, state Senator Lydia Edwards (D) said, “If you truly believe in workers’ rights, if you truly believe in economic democracy, and if you truly believe in a future where all workers, regardless of where they’re from, regardless of their immigration status, can own their own future and profits, you have to support co-ops.”

COWOP member Darnell Adams, a worker-owner with Firebrand worker cooperative and founding Dorchester Food Co-op organizer, also spoke at the event. “We know the goods and services that are needed in the community because we are part of the community,” she said. “And when there are economic times that are tough, we don’t leave. We’re invested here. Our roots are here.”

[The Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power] was also approved to help direct the agency’s agenda—an example of state-level “co-governance” in action.

Policy change takes buy-in. Building awareness via media support was a critical next step. In March, an article in the Bay State Banner made the public case. With input from the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, it discussed the impact on the BIPOC community that worker-owned businesses can have. As Nicole Obi, president and CEO of BECMA, said, “We think that [worker ownership] is a really critical way of doing wealth transfer and also keeping the employment levels in our community high.”

Later, in July, Adams and state Representative Carmine Gentile (D) wrote an op-ed in CommonWealth Beacon. Their appeal to lawmakers to support worker-owned co-ops cited the economic contribution of employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)-owned companies. “ESOPs in the Commonwealth pull in, on average, over $50 million in annual revenue,” the authors noted. All told, Massachusetts is home to an estimated 168 employee-owned businesses, including craft brewer Harpoon which became an ESOP in 2014, garnering national attention.

The Long Struggle to Support Employee Ownership

COWOP’s focus on improving MassCEO comes after decades of work. In 1989, Massachusetts established the Office of Employee Involvement and Ownership, a state office focused on employee ownership and designed to support companies with ESOPs.

In 2008, the office lost funding. It wasn’t restored until 2019. But even then, funding was contingent on a year-to-year contract. In 2022, Governor Charlie Baker (R) signed a bill that, as the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) reported, “made the state center permanent” as a part of the Massachusetts Office of Business Development. The bill also committed the agency to hiring a statewide director.

However, the funding was not enough to support “the office’s broader agenda focused on supporting nonprofits that help start new worker-owned businesses and providing support and training to existing companies,” reported the Banner. In 2024, funding increased to $500,000, less than COWOP sought but greater than ever before.

COWOP was also approved to help to direct the agency’s agenda—an example of state-level “co-governance.” A 19-seat advisory board was added in 2024 to support worker involvement and ownership. Five COWOP members are slated to sit on that board, including one who represents COWOP specifically. ESOP representatives occupy an additional eight seats. So, all told, 13 of the 19 seats on the advisory board represent worker-owners.

Policy change often happens in small, incremental steps.

Expanding the Small Business Technical Assistance (SBTA) grant program was also a priority for COWOP and the CEE. The program is part of the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC). In fiscal year 2024, 65 nonprofit organizations throughout the state benefited from $5 million in grant funding. In fiscal year 2025, the allocation is $7.65 million—$150,000 more than COWOP and its allies initially sought.

Where the Employee Ownership Movement Stands

As highlighted above, advocacy involves many steps. In Massachusetts, this included building coalitions (like the ESOP Association and CEE) and relationships with elected officials and staff, advocacy training, developing an expert testimony team and branded materials, holding lobby days, coordinating a media campaign, and engaging in meetings and negotiations with key legislators.

Moving forward, Papali has ideas about some next steps. But mostly, he emphasizes the importance of maintaining a member-led, democratic process. In August, he wrote to COWOP members: “This is a moment to plan ahead for where we want to go.”

Policy work often involves a predictable cycle. In Massachusetts, it begins with member outreach for an issue platform in September. These ideas are refined in the fall and voted on by coalition members in December. Then, the coalition works with allied legislators to file legislation in mid-January. Hopefully, by July, at least some of the coalition’s goals have been enacted into law. Knowing policy works by cycles allows all advocates, including employee ownership advocates, to plan, organize, and achieve lasting policy gains.

Policy change often happens in small, incremental steps, propelled by support from the public and media, and by sharing lessons learned across states. This understanding helps coalition members continue to march toward permanent systems change.

For Papali, however, the long-term goal is both audacious and clear: to create “a climate conducive to building out worker ownership and cooperation as a coequal component of our economy.”