Worker Cooperatives

Richard Wolff: US Capitalism Has Peaked And Is On The Way Down’

December 27, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast Capitalism, Economic crisis, Pandemic, Worker Cooperatives

For the end of the year, Clearing the FOG speaks with economist Richard Wolff about the current state of United States capitalism. Wolff explains that the United States is experiencing the greatest crisis in its history - a severe economic crisis at the same time as a pandemic, as well as the climate crisis. This is unprecedented. Unlike the great depression in the last century, when the wealth divide shrank, inequality is worsening. On top of that, US empire is in decline. Wolff discusses the current state of inflation and supply chain disruption and the forces behind them. Instead of facing up to these realities and learning from the experiences of other countries, such as China, and even our own past, the ruling class is in denial and continues on the same path that created the current situation. Wolff talks about what we need to focus on going forward.

Take This Job And Love It

October 21, 2021 Jaisal Noor, The Progressive Magazine. Create! Transportation, Uber, Worker Cooperatives, Worker Rights and Jobs

In the six years that Michael Ugwu has worked as an Uber driver in New York City, he’s seen a growing share of his earnings diverted into venture capitalists’ pockets. Uber and Lyft require workers to assume a myriad of expenses that can quickly trap drivers like Ugwu into debt and poverty. “Currently, they’re taking out between 35 to 40 percent, when you add up all the deductions,” Ugwu says. “You end up not having enough to pay rent, maintain the car, pay the car loan, and buy gas. They’re continuously ripping us off.” By 2017, rideshare drivers were earning less than half what they made just four years earlier, a study found. Meanwhile, executives at Lyft and Uber have raked in tens of millions of dollars in compensation.

Worker cooperatives prove your job doesn’t have to be hell

June 2, 2021 Jaisal Noor, The Real News. Resistance Report Worker Cooperatives, Worker Rights and Jobs

We speak with worker-owners at 8 co-ops in 4 states about the unique benefits, struggles, and limitations of of the worker cooperative model. In the words of Kimberly Britt, a worker-owner at ChiFresh Kitchen, “We work at and own this company, and we designed it to work for us, what would make it not feel like a job.”

How To Turn Your Non-Profit Into A Worker Co-op

July 8, 2020 By GEO Collective. Create! New Economy, Nonprofits, Wisconsin, Worker Cooperatives

If people who want to start a worker-owned cooperative are currently working for a government agency — like we were working for a nonprofit that was contracting with a government agency — but even if you are working directly with a government agency and they're going to outsource your jobs to another company, you have the best expertise that anyone could have for doing your job. And if you form a worker cooperative and put in your own bid, there's nothing to stop you from doing that. And your bid will probably be the most attractive because you know the best of how much things cost, and what to expect in the way of expenses. And you can also address how the work will be done better than anyone else could. And so your chances for keeping your jobs that way are, I think, really good, as as we were able to do. And so I think what we did could be a model for any government employees where they're going to get laid off, and the job is going to be outsourced. All government agencies have to put bids out for proposals.

Pandemic Crash Shows Worker Co-ops More Resilient Than Traditional Business

May 11, 2020 By Brian Van Slyke, Truthout. Create! New Economy, Recession, Worker Cooperatives, Worker Ownership

While we have no way to know yet the full extent of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, by all accounts it could be as bad — if not far worse — than the 2008 crash. In fact, in terms of unemployment alone, the numbers are already staggering: more than 33 million jobs have been lost so far in the U.S. during the coronavirus shutdowns, compared to the roughly 8.6 million lost in the Great Recession. Following that crisis, many working people turned to the worker cooperative model as a way to build economic resiliency and stability for themselves. In the decade after 2008, the number of worker-owned cooperatives in the United States nearly doubled, increasing from 350 to 600. I know, because I am a member of one of those cooperatives that formed: The TESA Collective, which creates tools and games for social change.

Major Advances In 2019 Toward A More Democratic Economy

December 25, 2019 Juliana Broad, The Next System Project. Create! Land trusts, New Economy, Public Bank, Worker Cooperatives

This past year, state and municipal lawmakers teamed up with community organizations to fight for—and win—a wide variety of policies and initiatives that will help foster a more democratic economy. New measures supporting public banking, worker co-ops, and community land trusts were launched across the country, continuing to grow a robust, cooperative economic ecosystem that builds community wealth. Here, we’ve highlighted some of the most exciting changes in local and state policy that happened in 2019. Public banks, unlike their private counterparts beholden to the profit demands of Wall Street shareholders, are owned by and accountable to the public. This year saw some important victories in the movement for these democratic financial institutions.

Economic Development Department Directed To Create A Worker Co-op Pilot Program

November 7, 2019 By Annelies Lottmann, Acba.coop Create! New Economy, Texas, Worker Cooperatives

The Austin Cooperative Business Association announces a big win for cooperatives in Central Texas, as the Austin City Council passes an express directive to the Economic Development Department to pilot a worker cooperative development program in fiscal year 2020. This program will create outreach and education materials, and provide direct technical assistance to groups seeking to form worker owned businesses as well as cooperative conversions, in which an existing business is sold to its workers.

Economic Update: Socialism And Worker Co-ops

July 23, 2019 Richard Wolff, Democracy at Work Create! Revisionism, Socialism, Worker Cooperatives

20th century socialism is now behind us. Socialists continued to evaluate both its achievements and failures via extensive self-criticism. A changed socialism has emerged, focused on a transition of workplaces from top-down hierarchical capitalist structures into democratic worker cooperatives. The powerful appeal of worker co-ops as grounding a new 21st century socialism is presented by Professor Wolff in this latest episode of Economic Update.

Marx And The Democratization Of Work

March 24, 2019 Richard D. Wolff, Roarmagazine. Create! Karl Marx, New Economy, Worker Cooperatives, Workers Rights and Jobs

Marx himself said and wrote little about the future beyond capitalism. He didn’t believe in future-gazing; no one could know how the world would evolve. Marx gave us some ideas of what might have to happen if we were going to get beyond capitalism. But he offered no blueprints or road maps. Later Marxists did not always share these hesitations, especially after Marxists came to play leading roles in what they called “socialist” societies. Marx never suggested, contrary to what so many have said, that the state — the government — had to play some sort of ongoing, central role in what this future post-capitalist world would look like.

General Motors’ Factories Should Not Be Closed. They Should Be Turned Over to the Workers

December 16, 2018 By Rich Whitney, Counterpunch Create! Employee Ownership, New Economy, Worker Cooperatives, Workers Rights and Jobs

General Motors’ November 26th announcement that it will be eliminating more than 14,000 jobs and closing seven factories worldwide by the end of next year, including four factories in the U.S. and one in Canada is an opportunity. These facilities should be condemned by government authority and turned over to the workers whose labor created the wealth and profits that General Motors’ shareholders enjoy. They could then, with government assistance, be retooled and placed under the ownership and control of their workers, organized into democratic cooperatives for that purpose.

Why The U.S. Needs More Worker-Owned Companies

August 17, 2018 Peter Walsh, Michael Peck and Ibon Zugasti, Hbr.org Create! Cooperatives, New Economy, Revisionism, Worker Cooperatives

The gap in wealth in the United States between the ultrawealthy and everyone else has reached its widest point in decades. One way to narrow the divide is through the use of worker buyouts, in which ownership of a company transfers from a single person or a small number of people to the workers of the company. Currently, about 10% of Americans hold equity stakes in their workplaces. By providing more workers and employees with opportunities to buy shares, companies can help workers and communities raise their standard of living and simultaneously feel more invested — literally — in the success of the enterprise. In that way, worker buyouts also increase firms’ competitiveness: Research suggests that employee-owned companies are more durable and resilient during economic downturns.

More U.S. Businesses Are Becoming Worker Co-ops: Here’s Why

May 27, 2018 By Eillie Anzilotti, Fast Company Create! New Economy, Worker Cooperatives

Many businesses in the U.S. were founded as worker cooperatives. But a growing portion–as many as 40%–of co-ops in the U.S. are born out of traditional workplaces like A Child’s Place, whose owners decide to sell the business to their employees. As baby boomers, who own around 12 million businesses across the U.S., prepare to retire, around 70% of their companies are expected to change hands. Increasingly, children are not taking over businesses from their parents, so small business owners must look to sell or risk closing down and losing all their assets from years of investment. But instead of selling to a private owner, there’s a real opportunity amid this “silver tsunami” to radically scale the presence of worker-owned cooperatives in the U.S. A study from Rutgers found that converting to employee ownership boosts profits by as much as 14%, and doing so does not come at a detriment to wages. Rather, it’s the reverse. After A Yard & a Half converted to a coop in 2014, average wages have increased from $17.02 per hour to $19.29 per hour despite adding more employees, and revenue has grown to $3.2 million from $2 million. Worker co-ops are still a business, so the employee-owners have to learn the same management and strategy skills that enable companies to grow. The main difference: It’s the workers themselves that reap the benefits of that growth.

What Happened After 17 Employees Took Over A Beloved Maine Business

May 18, 2018 By Lauren Abbate, Bangordailynews.com Create! Maine, New Economy, Worker Cooperatives

ROCKLAND, Maine — For the last two months, patrons of Rock City Coffee might not have noticed any changes when they stopped at the busy downtown cafe for their regular order. That’s exactly what the new owners — the people behind the counter — want. Two months ago, Rock City Coffee, a cafe and coffee roastery, became a worker-owned cooperative, with employees buying the business from its previous owner and founder, Susanne Ward. For Ward, selling the business to her employees was a reward to people who worked for her and a way to ensure that what she and her husband began 26 years ago would live on true to character. For the employees, the opportunity allowed them a path to business ownership and to keep Rock City as the place where they love to work.

Capitalism Got You Down? Try A Worker Cooperative

May 2, 2018 Robert Ramin Raymond, Thebolditalic.com Create! Capitalism, New Economy, Worker Cooperatives

Do you ever have the feeling that your boss is ripping you off? Maybe it’s not your boss; maybe it’s a bit more abstract. Like you get home from work and feel cheated somehow. “They should be paying me more,” you might think. Or maybe you’re getting paid enough, but you still feel a bit empty. A bit hollowed out. Purposeless. If someone were to ask you, “Do you think your job needs to exist?” you think you know how you might answer, and it doesn’t make you feel any better. I posed this question to myself not too long ago, and my answer was a resounding no. After a bit of existential turmoil (which is still definitely lurking), my answer led me on a path to explore why it is that so many of us feel this way and what we could do about it.

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