The Economy: Under New Ownership by Marjorie Kelly. How cooperatives are leading the way to empowered workers and healthy communities. posted Feb 19, 2013 Employees at Equal Exchange, the oldest and largest fair-trade coffee company in the nation. It is also a worker-owned cooperative. Photo by Paul Dunn. Pushing my grocery cart down the aisle, I spot on the fruit counter a dozen plastic bags of bananas labeled “Organic, Equal Exchange.” My heart leaps a little. I’d been thrilled, months earlier, when I found my local grocer carrying bananas—a new product from Equal Exchange—because this employee-owned cooperativeme outside Boston is one of my favorite companies. I happen to know a bit more than the average shopper about Equal Exchange, because I count myself lucky to be one of its few investors who are not worker-owners. Maneuvering my cart toward the dairy case, I search out butter made by Cabot Creamery, and pick up some Cabot cheddar cheese. Something is dying in our time.
Like what you’re reading? Interested? Economic Prosperity and Economic Democracy: The Worker Co-Op Solution. Published on January 12, 2014 This article originally appeared at www.truth-out.org (Image: Workers building via Shutterstock) Workers' self-directed enterprises (WSDEs) are a response to capitalism's failure to deliver economic prosperity and socialism's failure to deliver economic democracy.
Among factors impeding formation of an organized, politically effective new left in the United States are deep frustrations among activists interested in doing that. Leftists are further frustrated because the traditional socialist alternatives fail to inspire the public or even mobilize leftists themselves. Traditional socialist programs of major government economic intervention (via varying mixtures of regulation of enterprises and markets, state ownership and operation of enterprises, central planning, etc.) no longer rally much support.
Audiences offered traditional socialist visions have increasingly responded with skeptical indifference translatable as "been there, done that. " Casa Nueva | Proudly serving local food, drink, music and art in Appalachian Ohio. About Us Archives - Center Point CounselingCenter Point Counseling. Center Point Counseling - Mental Health ProfessionalsCenter Point Counseling - A Cooperative of Mental Health Professionals. Learn about WSDEs. Democracy At Work | A social movement for economic democracy. The Argument For Worker-Owned Tech Collectives ⚙ Co. For all the tales of gilded startup parties and billion-dollar valuations, tech workers are often the most overworked, misunderstood and undervalued employees. Others struggle as freelancers or attempt to launch their own businesses. In the face of all that hardship, developers like me are turning more and more to collectives. I’ve been a part of the cooperative movement for eight years.
During that time, I’ve visited conferences and cities all over the country to promote the worker-owned co-op I founded, The Toolbox for Education and Social Action, or TESA. (You might recognize the game I created there, Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives.) While traveling the country, I’ve watched as the number of people launching co-ops has exploded, especially in tech world. Here’s how technology co-ops work, and why you might want to join one. The Cooperative Difference Tech worker co-ops come in all shapes and sizes and operate across a wide variety of industries. How Tech Co-ops Are Changing The Game. Cooperatives: A Counterpoint to Corporatism - Pt.1: Professor Stefano Zamagni.
Home | Tech Co-op Network. How Worker-Owned Companies Work | Q&A. Economist Richard Wolff is a proponent of democracy at work: an alternative capitalism that thrives on workers directing their own workplaces. In the documentary film Shift Change, producers Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young tell the stories of successful cooperative businesses from Spain to San Francisco. We caught up with Dworkin and Young to find out what makes cooperative businesses work. Theresa Riley: What drew you to this topic as filmmakers? Why did you want to make this film? Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young: As filmmakers we don’t just expose problems. We want to help people find solutions. Riley: How many businesses in America are worker-owned?
Dworkin and Young: Employee ownership in the U.S. is much more widespread than usually understood, with at least 11,000 such businesses in operation. Riley: Most of the businesses you visited in the film seemed to have weathered the economic downturn of recent years. Watch the Shift Change trailer. Casa Nueva | Proudly serving local food, drink, music and art in Appalachian Ohio. How Worker-Owned Companies Work | Q&A.