Earthworker Co-op secures solar hot water manufacturer

25 August 2015

In mid-July, the directors of Everlast Hydro Systems informed Earthworker Cooperative that there was only limited time remaining until either the buyout of Everlast was to be completed or the factory in Dandenong would have to close its doors.

Since then, Earthworker Cooperative managed to complete the capital raising needed to buyout Everlast through its debentures offer in the space of  only a couple of weeks. Earthworker Cooperative is now on track to turn Everlast Hydro Systems into the Eureka’s Future Worker Cooperative with the final amount raised just over $570,000. This highlights 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 and ensures 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!