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In a worker-owned cooperative, employees govern their business as a democracy. Each worker-owner has an equal stake and equal vote in the co-op. From a brewery to a home care agency, any business can adopt a cooperative structure for the benefit of its employees.
Worker co-ops view employees not as a commodity, but as citizens with the same rights and responsibilities. Recently hired employees and veteran managers alike receive an equal share of the co-op’s profits and losses. Worker cooperatives create stable, empowering jobs that benefit the workers and surrounding communities.
Worker co-ops view employees not as a commodity, but as citizens with the same rights and responsibilities. Recently hired employees and veteran managers alike receive an equal share of the co-op’s profits and losses. Worker cooperatives create stable, empowering jobs that benefit the workers and surrounding communities.
Cooperatives around the world generally operate according to the same core principles and values, adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance in 1995. Cooperatives trace the roots of these principles to the first modern cooperative founded in Rochdale, England in 1844.
Not to be outdone by their federal counterparts, state and municipal policymakers are harnessing co-ops to solve the needs of their communities. One important example is the growing recognition by states that access to swift, reliable broadband is crucial for continued economic development and growth in the 21st century. According to the Federal Communications Commission, approximately 34 million Americans currently lack access to high-speed internet.15 Most of them live in rural areas and are usually served by rural electric co-ops.16
Feb 19: Doug O’Brien
We are in a Cooperative Moment – one in which people find that they are excluded from their economy or society. In the past, people have looked to the cooperative business model to ensure workers, consumers, or producers have a greater say in the market – whether in commodity markets (agriculture co-ops with two million farmers), consumer finance (credit unions with over 100 million consumers), or basic utilities (rural electric cooperatives with nearly 50 million rural citizens). This talk will focus on how one in three people in the United States have used cooperatives to solve heretofore unsolvable problems and capture more economic opportunity: through greater public awareness, political organization, and advocating for a supportive public policy environment.
We are in a Cooperative Moment – one in which people find that they are excluded from their economy or society. In the past, people have looked to the cooperative business model to ensure workers, consumers, or producers have a greater say in the market – whether in commodity markets (agriculture co-ops with two million farmers), consumer finance (credit unions with over 100 million consumers), or basic utilities (rural electric cooperatives with nearly 50 million rural citizens). This talk will focus on how one in three people in the United States have used cooperatives to solve heretofore unsolvable problems and capture more economic opportunity: through greater public awareness, political organization, and advocating for a supportive public policy environment.
In the Spring 2020 semester the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy at The New School presented “Who Owns the World? Cooperative Alternatives to Surveillance Capitalism Now!” to introduce students at The New School, and members of the public, to the cooperative digital economy as a global movement that is building a concrete and near-term alternative to crony capitalism and the burning problem of economic inequality.
Students engaged with a range of guest speakers working on varying aspects of an alternative digital economy, from resistance against data colonialism, to cooperative ownership, democratic governance of digital platforms, to cryptocurrencies, distributed ledgers like Blockchain, and a slew of other topics. These guest lectures were livestreamed via a partnership with the Internet Society New York Chapter. The series was cut short after 8 sessions, due to COVID-19.
Students engaged with a range of guest speakers working on varying aspects of an alternative digital economy, from resistance against data colonialism, to cooperative ownership, democratic governance of digital platforms, to cryptocurrencies, distributed ledgers like Blockchain, and a slew of other topics. These guest lectures were livestreamed via a partnership with the Internet Society New York Chapter. The series was cut short after 8 sessions, due to COVID-19.
"We make the rules of the economy – and we have the power to change those rules." – Robert Reich
We need to approach the problem of widening income inequality from 6 different directions. The trick is to understand how they all fit together while choosing manageable actions that make sense to who you are. We may not be able to do everything at once but think of each action you take as an incremental step towards the structural change our economy needs. To get started, tell us who you are or select an issue that matters to you below.
We need to approach the problem of widening income inequality from 6 different directions. The trick is to understand how they all fit together while choosing manageable actions that make sense to who you are. We may not be able to do everything at once but think of each action you take as an incremental step towards the structural change our economy needs. To get started, tell us who you are or select an issue that matters to you below.
The Cleveland Model brings community economic development and the purchasing power of anchor institutions like hospitals and universities together into a single coordinated strategy to build democratized wealth and cooperative business ownership in low-income neighborhoods. Find out more about the model here.
Something important is happening in Cleveland. The Democracy Collaborative, in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation, the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, the City of Cleveland , and the city's major hospitals and universities—is helping to implement a new model of large-scale worker-owned and community-benefiting businesses. The Evergreen Cooperative Initiative is beginning to build serious momentum in one of the cities most dramatically impacted by the nation's decaying economy.
Inheriting a legacy of deindustrialization and faced with mounting socio-economic challenges, municipal officials in Preston in the UK – one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution – have been exploring new ways to create a more inclusive and democratic local economy as the foundation for systemic transformation. They have been able to draw upon long-standing regional traditions dating back to the founding of the modern cooperative movement in nearby Rochdale in 1844, but have also looked to promising examples overseas – including the ‘Cleveland Model’ in Ohio – for inspiration. We are pleased to publish this article on their progress and ambitions.
–The Next System Project
–The Next System Project
Silicon Valley technology is transforming the way we work, and Uber is leading the charge. Drawing on her new book 'Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work', Technology Ethnographer Alex Rosenblat explores how American technology ideology underwrites a future where any of us might be managed by a faceless boss.
Cooperative development in specific economic sectors sometimes followed divergent paths, influenced by the social and market conditions of a given time and place. Periods of significant cross-pollination between sectors also occurred, especially when broader socio-economic forces were at work. It is in the agricultural sector, however, that cooperatives have had the most significant economic impact in the U.S.
With the coronavirus pandemic taking an increasing toll on the economy, some of the most concerning indicators show that widespread business shutdowns with weekly jobless claims reaching a record 3.28 million last week; meanwhile, leading economists say the unemployment rate could reach 30% as a result of the ongoing health crisis.
Cooperatives around the world operate according to the same set of core principles and values, adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance. Cooperatives trace the roots of these principles to the first modern cooperative founded in Rochdale, England in 1844. These principles are a key reason that America’s electric cooperatives operate differently from other electric utilities, putting the needs of their members first.
When we learn about the Industrial Revolution in school, we hear a lot about factories, steam engines, maybe the power loom. We are taught that technological innovation drove social change and radically reshaped the world of work.
Likewise, when we talk about today’s economy, we focus on smartphones, artificial intelligence, apps. Here, too, the inexorable march of technology is thought to be responsible for disrupting traditional work, phasing out the employee with a regular wage or salary and phasing in independent contractors, consultants, temps and freelancers — the so-called gig economy.
But this narrative is wrong. The history of labor shows that technology does not usually drive social change. On the contrary, social change is typically driven by decisions we make about how to organize our world. Only later does technology swoop in, accelerating and consolidating those changes.
This insight is crucial for anyone concerned about the insecurity and other shortcomings of the gig economy. For it reminds us that far from being an unavoidable consequence of technological progress, the nature of work always remains a matter of social choice. It is not a result of an algorithm; it is a collection of decisions by corporations and policymakers.
Likewise, when we talk about today’s economy, we focus on smartphones, artificial intelligence, apps. Here, too, the inexorable march of technology is thought to be responsible for disrupting traditional work, phasing out the employee with a regular wage or salary and phasing in independent contractors, consultants, temps and freelancers — the so-called gig economy.
But this narrative is wrong. The history of labor shows that technology does not usually drive social change. On the contrary, social change is typically driven by decisions we make about how to organize our world. Only later does technology swoop in, accelerating and consolidating those changes.
This insight is crucial for anyone concerned about the insecurity and other shortcomings of the gig economy. For it reminds us that far from being an unavoidable consequence of technological progress, the nature of work always remains a matter of social choice. It is not a result of an algorithm; it is a collection of decisions by corporations and policymakers.
Cycle courier cooperatives are turning technology on the gig economy giants.
A place where you can learn and share knowledge about co-ops, platform co-ops, the digital economy, and more.
A ideia de uma nova economia, mais inteligente e dinâmica, em que liberdade e facilidade valem mais do que posse absoluta e exclusiva de objetos, ganha força. Por que ter um carro se eu posso conseguir um com motorista em dois cliques no celular, a um preço razoável? Ou, invertendo a lógica, por que manter aquele quarto vazio nos fundos da casa quando alguém poderia aproveitar esse espaço? Para que deixar a bicicleta encostada ou um livro mofando? Por que não aproveitar melhor as coisas?
A quarta BaixaCharla tratou de um pequeno livro e uma ideia poderosa: cooperativismo de plataforma. Publicado em março de 2017 pelas Editora Elefante e Autonomia Literária, em parceria com a Fundação Rosa Luxemburgo, com tradução e comentários de Rafael Zanatta, o livro é fruto de uma conferência do autor – Trebor Scholz, professor associado da The New School, em Nova York, nos Estados Unidos – em que mais de mil participantes discutiram ideias para a criação de um novo tipo de economia online em contraponto à chamada economia do compartilhamento.
Nathan Schneider, jornalista e professor de novas mídias da Universidade de Boulder Colorado, nos Estados Unidos, é uma das pessoas que mais vem estudando e promovendo a ideia do “cooperativismo de plataforma” mundo afora. No final de outubro ele esteve no Brasil para um evento privado organizado pela KES, onde falou da ideia de “user ownership” (em tradução livre, compartilhar a posse da empresa) para uma plateia de empresários, COs e CTOs de startups e empresas como Coca-Cola e Bradesco
Por Bianca Tavolari* A ideia original era bastante simples, até mesmo modesta. Com dificuldades para pagar o aluguel, três jovens...