In mid-July, the directors of Everlast Hydro Systems informed Earthworker Cooperative that there was only limited time remaining to either complete the purchase of Everlast’s assets or the factory in Dandenong would have to close its doors.

In a truly amazing effort, Earthworker Cooperative managed to complete the capital raising needed to purchase Everlast’s assets through its debentures offer in the space of a couple of weeks!

Earthworker Cooperative is now on track to turn Everlast Hydro Systems into the Eureka’s Future Worker Cooperative. The final amount raised is just over $300K from this last round of debentures, showing how much support there is in the wider community for worker ownership and control of what remains of our local renewable energy manufacturing.

The process of transferring the ownership of Everlast Hydro Systems to the workers at Eureka’s Future Worker Cooperative is now underway. The mutualisation of the Dandenong based solar hot water manufacturer by Earthworker Cooperative is an Australian first!

It’s a huge achievement, and everyone involved with Earthworker Cooperative is genuinely relieved that they have been able to ensure that Everlast is continuing to operate and that the jobs of the current workforce have been saved.

Looking towards the future, Earthworker hopes to grow its unique social market model for energy saving hot water systems to create more jobs in local renewable energy manufacturing!

TAKE ACTION:

• Find out more about Earthworker Cooperative by visiting their website or emailing contact@earthworkercooperative.com.au
• Follow Earthworker on Facebook and Twitter.