Because we chose to work for them instead of starting our own shops; and so to exchange complete ownership of our labor for a (often very nice) steady compensation.
Note that this also applies to managers; up to and including the CEO. They might get paid more in Stock and less in cash; but they're usually not the Owners in and meaningful sense.
I personally love the idea of workers cooperatives and do try to patronize such businesses as much as I can. But 1) it doesn't scale up and 2) when you're not in that model; you're not.
Interesting and thank you! Perhaps this is a model which can be expanded in the future indeed... It's sort of a logical extension of startups which pay ISOs. With the obvious difference that the employee equity would be immediately realized; and come with corresponding votes.
Note that this also applies to managers; up to and including the CEO. They might get paid more in Stock and less in cash; but they're usually not the Owners in and meaningful sense.
I personally love the idea of workers cooperatives and do try to patronize such businesses as much as I can. But 1) it doesn't scale up and 2) when you're not in that model; you're not.