BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — BIKE PLANT, A NEIGHBORHOOD BIKE SHOP THAT HAS SERVED BEDFORD-STUYVESANT since 2021, on Friday, Jan. 30 marked its transition to worker ownership with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, after a comprehensive conversion process that took more than a year.
Attending the ceremony were city Commissioner of Small Business Services Dynishal Gross, state Senator Jabari Brisport, City Councilmember Chi Ossé, cooperative development partners, and many supportive neighbors and long-time customers.
As a worker cooperative, each full-time mechanic now owns an equal share of the business and is entitled to an equal vote on high-level decisions such as approving budgets, business plans and company policies. Worker-owners who leave the shop are required to sell their share back to the company; new hires can become eligible for co-ownership after two years on the job. The five full-time mechanics will carry forward the shop’s mutual-aid repair fund, which has, since 2022, provided more than $50,000 in donated refurbished bikes.
The ICA Group, one of more than a dozen nonprofits funded through the City Council’s Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative, provided the pro bono technical assistance for the transition. The city’s Small Business Services administers this initiative to help grow NYC’s worker cooperative sector. Brooklyn Legal Services’ Community Economic Development Unit provided the pro bono legal support and drafted the necessary documentation.
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