The Fair Trade certification system requires that participating farmer
organizations meet demanding, but laudable, criteria: they must work
for the good of all in their community; they must seek to minimize
their impact upon the environment; they must make information freely
available; and most importantly, they must function in a democratic
manner, with the leaders elected by, and accountable to, the
cooperative's farmer members.
 At Equal Exchange we believe that we should expect no less from
ourselves and each other than we demand of our farmer partners. For
that reason we have organized ourselves as a democratic worker
cooperative, now one of the largest in the country.
The concepts are not exotic or strange, in fact they're in every grade school civics book:
- the right to vote (one vote per employee, not per share);
- the right to serve as leader (i.e. board director);
- the right to information;
- the right to speak your mind.
Also, in keeping with the Fair Trade ethic we maintain a top-to-bottom
pay ratio of 4-to-1. For comparision consider that the ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay was 301-to-1 in 2003 (Source: United for a Fair Economy.) The corporate top-to-bottom ratio would necessarily be even higher.
A worker cooperative is an alternative for-profit structure based
upon standard democratic principles. It is not designed to maximize
profits, nor returns to investors, but rather to bring to the workplace
many of the rights and responsibilities that we hold as citizens in our
communities. These principles include one-person/one-vote equality;
open access to information (i.e., open-book management); free speech; and the equitable distribution of resources (such as income.)
A worker co-op is not owned by outside shareholders or a small group of founders or partners but by all the employees in equal portions. Top
level managers and entry-level employees alike own an identical share
and receive an equal share of any profits or losses. These
"worker-owners" both elect the Board of Directors and fill six of the
nine Board seats. The Board in turn is responsible for hiring and
supervising management. Consequently a circle is formed, as in American
civic democracy, of everyone being accountable to someone else.
The delegation of responsibilities is very much like that of conventional firms - which allows for efficiency - except that at Equal Exchange those at the "bottom" of the organizational chart are, as owners, also at the "top" of the same chart.
Worker-Owner Voices
For Equal Exchange's 2004 Annual Report, worker
owners were asked to reflect on the theme "Equal Exchange: What's in a name?"
Click on the photos below to see what they had to say.
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Our Co-op 
