Stories of breaking convention. Practitioner stories from worker co-operatives and other businesses run on democratic, egalitarian lines — how the model works, and the challenges they face.
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Unicorn is a wholefood supermarket in Manchester, UK, owned by the roughly 50 people who work there. Every member is a director, and every member is paid the same hourly wage, whatever job they do. Two-thirds of what it sells is organic, including all the fresh fruit and veg, and it chalks its own prices up on the shop wall next to Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons’ and Asda’s so customers can check the gap for themselves. Thirty years on, it’s still trading. My guests are Debbie and Kellie, two of Unicorn’s worker-owners. We get into how they hold those prices where they are; the money the shop
Outlandish is a digital agency in Finsbury Park, London with no boss and no shareholders — a worker co-operative, owned and run by the people who do the work, that puts its profits into social projects like the community workspace Space4. In this episode Chris spoke with two of its member-owners, Natasha Natarajan and Maddy Neghabian, about running a business by consent rather than hierarchy, and about a strange new problem: now that “it’s almost become mainstream to be good,” how do you explain why a genuinely democratic model is different? We get into surviving a shrinking market and the arr
This week on How (Not) To Do Business, Chris King sits down with Cherry Haynes and Siôn Whellens of Calverts, the East London design and print co-operative founded in 1977. Calverts has no managers and complete pay parity — everyone earns the same — and it has outlasted almost every other printer in London. Cherry and Siôn explain why the co-op is happy to hire people who are sceptical of co-ops rather than true believers, how it survived the collapse of London’s print industry by refusing to compete on price, and why they care more about who controls a business than who owns it. Along the way
Discover how Suma, the Europe’s largest equal pay worker-owned co-operative, challenges conventional business paradigms and proves that ethical, egalitarian practices can sustain a thriving enterprise. This deep dive explores their innovative approach to ownership, pay equity, decision-making, and resilience in a capitalist world. This episode offers practical insights into building sustainable, ethical workplaces that defy traditional hierarchies. Whether you’re a business leader, entrepreneur, or activist, understanding Suma’s approach can spark ideas about reimagining work for fairness, res
