Co-Ops, DIY, and Worker Owned Collectives?

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Short of a revolution, the solution to many workplace ills is to join a co-op or worker-owned collective. We see simple forms of these that don't shock the bourgeoisie like farmers markets and credit unions yet real workplace democracy is not yet a reality for most of us including myself. Within IT we do not have these things. Instead we have libertarian visions of businessmen changing the world through well-placed technology and IT workers doing their bidding. Free software as a movement was sidelined by Tim O'Reilly's push for a more business-friendly free-as-in-beer software. Steve Klabnik has smashed the notion that open source software is anything but, "a mega-capitalist conspiracy to reduce programmer wages."

What coops and worker collectives exist near you? Are there in your trade?

Starting a new business, any kind of new business, is just really hard. I think the baseline statistic is that 80% of new businesses fail (yes, 8 of 10), typically because the fixed expenses eat you alive. The lesson I draw from this is to try and start a service-oriented business economically, which I can run out of either my car or my home.

I jokingly say I want the expense of the business cards to 20% of the entire start-up costs, which means I can start it up really, really cheaply.