Summary
This report is based on a study conducted during 2023 and 2024 as part of the POWER (Promote Ownership by Workers for Economic Recovery) Act. The study mandate was to consider how an Association of Cooperative Labor Contractors (ACLC), a federated worker co-op system, might “promote equitable economic development, reduce inequality, and increase access to living-wage Jobs,” and advance California’s Future of Work Commission goals.In June 2023, the POWER Act Advisory Panel retained Professor David I. Levine at the University of California, Berkeley to form a study team. In December 2023, the Panel and team agreed to a scope focusing on worker ownership in labor contracting but including both co-ops and other democratic, worker-owned firms.