Crafting a business owned by its workers

As weddings go, the Northern Liberties affair was somewhat atypical, what with the presence of saws and sanders, and the stockpiles of salvaged lumber.

But this union, consecrated on a handmade stage built of railroad ties and bowling alley sections, was nevertheless emotional - no doubt most so for Brendan Isaac Jones.

On that day last month, Jones watched his baby be joined with another - or, rather, with others.

Greensaw Design & Build L.L.C., Jones' small construction business on North Fourth Street, became a worker-owned cooperative. It is believed to be the first formed in Philadelphia this century, and one of an estimated 500 in the country.

Such initiatives were more of a movement in the 1970s and '80s, but are now far outnumbered by employee stock-ownership plans (ESOPs). Those have tax advantages and a leadership structure not as committed as worker co-ops to giving all employees a voice in business decisions. There are more than 11,000 ESOP companies in the United States, employing well over 13 million people, according to the National Center for Employee Ownership, a research nonprofit in Oakland, Calif.

An interest in establishing a more formalized democratic business structure for Greensaw enticed Jones down a path of research and reflection that led to his relinquishing sole control of the business last month.

"I fully expect to throw the tantrum of a 4-year-old when someone tells me I can't have my way," Jones, 32, joked, sort of, during an interview. Greensaw is a five-year-old company with a sustainability mission centered on using salvaged materials for construction.

In the converted garage on Fourth that serves as Greensaw's headquarters and workshop stood lengths of walnut from Bucks County trees struck by lightning, Douglas fir planks from a bowling alley in Brooklyn, N.Y., and shelves of walnut veneer and oak cord from JPMorgan's private library in Manhattan.

On a conference table upstairs sat a copy of Greensaw's two-page governing goals and principles, signed by all 14 employees at the co-op's inauguration last month even though initially, only three others will share the title of owner with Jones. It emphasizes giving every employee a shot at ownership, a vote "regardless of ownership interest or capital contributed," and a share of any profits. As a company in the hard-hit construction industry, where work is limited and contractors eager to do it plentiful, Greensaw made $10,000 in profits last year, Jones said.