@cooperatives
Advocating for a democratic, equitable, and inclusive world through cooperatives, worker ownership, unions, mutual aid, and workplace democracy. ๐ People Above Profit โ๐ฝ #EconomicDemocracy ๐ฒ๐ฒ usworker.coop | ncbaclusa.coop | workers.coop | ica.coop
Solidarity economics is disadvantaged in that it is not mainstream. Sharing things like studies, successes, and the experiences of working people contributes to greater awareness, translating to more benefits for working people and helping to address issues such as inequality and affordability.
It's about spreading awareness and addressing widely held misconceptions. These misconceptions can have a significant impact in the real world. For example, many banks are less likely to provide capital to these alternative models because of misconceptions about viability and resilience.
Regarding the claim about how they have not grown, the number of EOBs in the United Kingdom has increased by upwards of 15% or more per year, contrasting with the ~2-4% annual growth for traditional companies in recent years. EOBs have grown in number in other countries as well.
It's entirely reasonable to be skeptical of single studies. Though within this realm of economics, there are many studies over decades that generally corroborate that worker ownership tends to improve productivity and that the resulting alignment of incentives is a boon towards innovation.
Studies show that worker-owned enterprises align incentives in a way that improves productivity and fosters innovation.
Data from the United Kingdom reports on how worker-owned businesses are more likely to invest in research and development compared to traditional companies.
Included in the umbrella of worker exploitation in the same manner that conventional nonprofits operate.
Canadians consistently see co-operatives as a stable path forward. Co-operatives help make communities more stable during economic ups and downs: 83% agree. Co-operatives are more likely to survive tough times because their members have a stake in their success: 83% agree. Co-operatives are part of the solution to Canada's biggest challenges, like affordability and inequality: 81% agree. Co-operatives are better equipped to adapt to change and new technologies than other kinds of businesses: 71% agree. https://abacusdata.ca/canadians-want-stability-co-ops-deliver-it/
Canadians find a number of co-operative attributes are appealing, namely the focus on building community. The business provides education to their customers, managers and employees to help grow the business: appeals to 89%. The business works to ensure sustainable development in their community, through things like community support and environmental awareness: appeals to 88%. Anyone can be involved in the business regardless of gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination: appeals to 86%. Customers and employees are also the owners, and can benefit financially when the business does well: appeals to 86%. Decisions are democratic, meaning that customers and/or employees have a say in its strategy and direction: appeals to 83%. The business gives customers or employees a real voice in adapting to new technologies like Al: appeals to 78%. Depending on the type of enterprise, the business is always controlled by employees, customers, producers etc, no matter what: appeals to 76%. https://abacusdata.ca/canadians-want-stability-co-ops-deliver-it/
Cooperatives are widely supported in the United States. New data shows the same is true in Canada. People value the ability of co-ops to weather economic recessions better than other types of businesses, as well as their democratic and inclusive nature.
abacusdata.ca/canadians-wa...
External ownership by customers and other stakeholder groups would be acceptable. This structure is possible through the multistakeholder cooperative structure. It grants a voice to more than one group affected by what the organization does, creating a more genuine form of democracy.
Worker self-directed nonprofits wouldn't be included, correct?
This bike shop reopened as a worker-owned cooperative in Brooklyn, New York City. Now its workers own the store and have direct control over their schedule, compensation, and working conditions.
This kind of freedom is possible for every working person. It's called economic democracy, and it works.
๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ด, ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Community ownership over housing, business, and banking is the pathway towards a society where everyone can earn a thriving wage and live with dignity.
You used the words "true socialism." There is no such thing as true socialism. This is like saying something is "true art."
There are different socialisms that promote different things. Worker co-ops are compatible with several socialist philosophies.
Take your own advice.
Socialism is an umbrella term. There are different kinds. There are socialisms where the state is not at all involved. There are socialisms where workers collectively own their workplaces directly. Worker co-ops are compatible with several socialist philosophies, including cooperative socialism.
They also have a lot of social, worker, and community ownership. It seems like you're unable to address the fact that these things have been studied and are empirically viable.
In conclusion, it is inaccurate to claim that these things "never work." Make more informed statements in the future.
All of the things listed earlier exist in countries like Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, and Italy. These countries are not under single party rule.
These things have been studied and are viable.
Do you challenge the empirical evidence contained in the thousands of studies in this realm of economics?
if so, please provide empirical evidence that shows that all of these researchers and universities are wrong.
Awaiting your response!
Community land trusts and multistakeholder cooperatives are also ways to socialize/democratize the economic system and include workers and communities in economic decisions, which is the goal of the movement for economic democracy.
These things have been extensively studied and are viable.
If we define social ownership as state ownership (on behalf of the people), this exists in many countries. If we define it as public or community ownership, this also exists in many countries. A significant portion of the planet's land is under social and community ownership.
Books + Workplace Democracy = A Good Society ๐
If you're interested in structures that reduce inequalities in wealth/power, you can look into cooperatives and worker-owned firms. Studies empirically show they are better at addressing inequality. Inequalities might always exist, but certain systems are better at addressing them than others.
*We must continue the fight to get big money out of existence.
This is an individual case of a worker-owned cooperative that has actively provided better outcomes for its workers.
This is a meta-study (aggregation of individual studies) that covers worker-owned firms and productivity.
Here is a study that covers firm survival and bankruptcy rates in France and Italy.
It's important that we consider microeconomic data as well, as that will give us a clearer picture, especially when it comes to research that directly compares different economic models.
Here is a U.K. report on cooperatives.
This report details the importance of democracy at work and its associations to better outcomes across European nations.
This study found strong associations between cooperative employment and resilience of employment by region.
East Germany did not have worker/community ownership.
Countries with larger cooperative economies tend to perform better in human development, equality, and social progress. One study found that the top ten most cooperative economies make up 8 out of the top 12 spots on the social progress index.
Empirically, worker-owned (and community-owned) means of production deliver better outcomes for working people. There are many studies covering cooperatives, community-owned enterprises, and worker-owned firms that show this to be true.