Cooperatives
- Artisans Cooperative: An Etsy alternative, owned and run by artists and makerswww.shareable.net Artisans Cooperative: An Etsy alternative, owned and run by artists and makers
We have all experienced it: Some organization or service starts out good — or great, even — and then as time goes on, either costs and fees go up, or
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
"The Case Against the Employment System," and for Workplace Democracy
https://ellerman.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/case-based-on-ordinary-norms.pdf
- I'm very interested in Obran, which is a worker cooperative that converts and holds privately held businesses into coops.
Seems like a lot of potential for scale and impact. Anyone know of similar organizations?
- Turning Up the Cooperation with Louder Than Ten
An interview with two folks who recently converted their small business into a worker cooperative.
- Cooperatives in Portugal - anyone knowledgeable or interested?
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.
- Activating the unrealised potential of care networks [Equal Care Coop blog]blog.equalcare.coop Activating the unrealised potential of care networks
Equal Care's pilot in Commons-based care in Hackney builds on five years of work developing and delivering a ‘teams model’ of home care in Calderdale, Yorkshire. Taken together, our current teams and new commons approach seek to resolve two fundamental problems with the traditional service model, a ...
"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."
- US credit union apexes Cuna and Nafcu announce merger intent - Co-operative Newswww.thenews.coop US credit union apexes Cuna and Nafcu announce merger intent - Co-operative News
'This merger will provide the opportunity to innovate and strengthen the industry as we respond to the banking challenges of the future'
"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."
- 2400 cooperatives in the Netherlands consolidated in 200. The turnover jumped to EUR 50 billion.www.ypaithros.gr Agricultural Cooperatives in The Netherlands
Agricultural Cooperatives are key players in the agricultural sector of The Netherlands. In Netherlands 2400 cooperatives were merged into 200
I also found this scientific paper on the topic https://edepot.wur.nl/401888
- Workers offer to buy their brewery instead of see it closed.vinepair.com Anchor Employees Launch Bid to Rescue Iconic Brewery from Liquidation
On Wednesday evening, Anchor Brewing Union advised Sapporo USA that workers want to purchase the brewery and run it as a worker co-op.
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!
- FOSS and Cooperatives - allies?
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?
- The Co-op Warswww.tpt.org The Co-Op Wars - Twin Cities PBS
THE CO-OP WARS tells the story of the idealistic youth who tried to build an alternative to corporate capitalism, the violent struggle that almost tore them apart, and their eventual success in ways they never foresaw.
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.
- Worker Democracy video by Unlearning Economics channel
It's an honest and well-thought-out analysis of worker coops, both its flaws and its strengths!
