Springfield's Wellspring Upholstery Cooperative is the first of a network of worker-owned companies developed by the Wellspring Collaborative.

The collaborative is a partnership of 23 institutions, community organizations and economic development agencies formed to create employment for low-income residents.

Founded in 1965 in the Basque Region of Spain, the first such collaborative is the Mondragon Corporation, which has 83,000 employees in 265 worker-owned businesses.

Offering skills to its workers and a service to its customers, this business model has plenty of built-in buy-in to develop pride and, more importantly, craftsmanship and ownership among those who work there.

The upholstery business has quarters in the former Monkey Wrench Building at 141-143 Main St. in Springfield’s South End.

Employees at the upholstery cooperative may become worker-owners after a year on the job, said Fred Rose, a visiting faculty member at the Center for Public Policy and

Administration at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. That means they have a stake to claim in their own workmanship and in the future of the cooperative business.

It may be true that no one works harder than the chef at a chef-owned restaurant. In the cooperative model, the dishwashers, wait staff and maitre’d would have the same incentive to care about the quality and service of a restaurant.

Wellspring will supply large Springfield employers, companies that now spend less than 10 percent of their purchasing dollars for goods and services in Springfield.

Starting with just three employees, the business is expected to grow to six by the end of the year and a dozen in 2015.

Wellspring Upholstery Collaborative is also partnering with York Street Industries of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, which has more than 25 years of experience in the furniture repair and reupholstery industry.

The next new cooperative business will be Wellspring Greenhouse Cooperative, which will provide local, fresh produce to hospitals, schools and residents. That might make a dent in the food desert that plagues much of Springfield.

The cooperative business model is taking hold across the country.

Springfield institutions are smart to take part in this trend.