In the US, worker cooperatives have grown by 34% since 2020 and have more than doubled their number of workers. There are now over 1,300 cooperatives with 16,000 workers.

Puerto Rico now claims to be the root of the American cooperative movement and highlights the value of its legislation compared to the Spanish model.

“We had the first cooperative in America,” he says. “Cooperatives came to Puerto Rico thanks to the Spanish, and Catholics created a cooperative in every municipality. Now, on my way to take my children to school, I pass by about 20 cooperatives. They’re everywhere. Here, you can’t grow up without knowing that cooperatives exist.”