Cooperatives

Finally, there's a no-tech-knowledge-needed alternative to Etsy. I'm really excited about where this will go!

"The Case Against the Employment System," and for Workplace Democracy

https://ellerman.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/case-based-on-ordinary-norms.pdf

@cooperatives

Seems like a lot of potential for scale and impact. Anyone know of similar organizations?

An interview with two folks who recently converted their small business into a worker cooperative.

As the title says, interested in discussing worker cooperatives in Portugal.

Here's information from CASES about cooperatives in PT

I'd prefer something more practical.

In my own mind, I'd like to have a cooperative that combines mutual aid, agriculture, environmental work, crafts, social services ... I guess what I really would like to create is a tiny, better functioning society within the crumbling, unsatisfying existing one, and kind of believe a cooperative might be the way to go about defining this in terms of a public front.

As a foreigner in PT I suspect similar structures exist or have existed, but if anyone knows more I'd be happy to learn.

"The word “commons”, refers to a community-run and owned resource. What we saw during the Pandemic was the role a care commons could play in sustaining individual and community well-being in a crisis. Social Care is in crisis, and just like the Pandemic, this crisis impacts us all. Since conventional home care services have been designed to address individual needs they often overlook the wider networks of care and belonging that those individuals are nested within; systems made up of friendship groups, families, neighbors, and local community networks. In the day-to-day delivery of services, these networks have been sidelined. Friends, family and community members have been placed at the margins of formal systems of care. Until recently these "informal" carers placed their trust in the professionals and their processes and procedures. However, the devastating impact of over a decade of austerity has almost completely eroded this trust. Lacking confidence in these formal systems of support, more people are placing their trust in informal systems of support.

"Our pilot rejects an either/or choice between professional services and the kinship and community networks we belong to, choosing instead to overcome the disconnection between them. Taking a commons-based approach is about engaging the best of these two vital support systems, developing a hybrid service out of the relationships, systems and processes found in both these domains of care."

"The two main credit union associations in the USA, the Credit Union National Association (Cuna) and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (Nafcu), have announced their intent to merge....In May the board of directors and executive committees of both organisations voted unanimously to merge, but the move still needs approval from members – a process that will take place over a 60-day voting period."

I also found this scientific paper on the topic https://edepot.wur.nl/401888

Workers of Anchor Brewing have met, discussed, and decided to launch an effort to purchase the brewery and run it as a worker co-op!

I've always considered the movement for the control and common ownership of companies by their workers to be part of the same struggle as the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) movement.

Both movements share the idea of holding humans over profit. While worker coops still earn money and sell services in a modern capitalist society, they stand against infinite growth of profit and create conditions for eventual degrowth and abolishment of capitalism. FOSS alternatives to popular corporate software and services go a step further by relying on donations only, completely abolishing profit.

I consider these movements natural allies. Since Coops still make money, and often form federations which have some investment capability, I think it would be wise for Coops to recognize the importance of FOSS as a viable alternative to corporate software and a means to decommodify and de-comercialise the Internet. It would be a huge step towards a more humane economy on a global level.

Would you agree?

Article by The TESA Collective

By Daniel Beetham

By SecondThought

Directed by Elizabeth Galian, AIM Creative Studios

Food Co-ops in the 70's were nuts. Some folks made this documentary about the co-op wars that happened in the Twin Cities, where folks were taking over co-ops by force. Just found out today that you can stream it for free through Twin Cities PBS. Worth a watch.

It's an honest and well-thought-out analysis of worker coops, both its flaws and its strengths!