When workers take charge

Web developer Jason Mott didn't like the competitive nature of corporate "hierarchy," so he co-founded the Ronin Tech Collective with two other owners in Brattleboro, Vt. early this year. He named the collective after the master-less samurai of feudal Japan.

"The whole idea of a samurai without a master became appropriate for a worker-owned company," he said. Like wandering ronin, the three owners are scattered far and wide, with another in North Hampton, Mass. and the other in Austin, Texas.

Mott said the "remote workers" close the distance with weekly video conferences and have helped him overcome "the shortage of skilled technology talent" in Vermont.

Mott said the recession is "helping the worker-owner movement" because the "model helps towns to rebuild and be self reliant."

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