10 Reasons Worker Cooperatives are Awesome

by ellis, The Academic Activist: http://theacademicactivist.org/10_Reasons_Worker_Cooperatives_Are_Awesome

A worker cooperative is a business owned and managed democratically by those who work for the business. 

 

This means janitors, designers, the sales team, etc. all have equal power when it comes to making decisions about how the business will operate. 

 

This model for businesses gives power to all the workers instead of few people who own the business. Imagine that tomorrow you and your boss were equals with equal amount of power. 

 

There are many worker cooperatives around the world and probably some in your city. One of the most famous worker cooperatives is the Mondragon Corporation is Spain which is a federation of worker cooperatives that consists of 257 businesses. 

 

There are many practical and philosophical benefits of worker cooperatives. The worker cooperative model is a subversive idea that challenges the status quo and doesn’t get much attention in the mainstream media. Here are ten reasons on why they’re awesome.

1. While we work towards a better future, worker co-ops can alleviate low wages that burden most workers. If a McDonald's store or gas station were owned by workers, their wages would be significantly higher. Cameron Keng argued in a Forbes article that if Apple were a worker cooperative, each employee would earn at least $403k a year. www.forbes.com/sites/cameronkeng/2014/12/18/if-apple-was-a-worker-cooper...

2. Through increasing worker’s wages worker co-ops can generate cash flow in poor neighborhoods which could be used to improve health and education.

3. By giving democratic control to marginalized groups we can begin to experience an alternative way of relating to others (workers, members of the community, family, friends) that is the foundation for a society free of exploitation and oppression.

4. A service worker wouldn't need to take shit from a customer in fear that they will be fired for standing up for themselves.

5. Worker co-ops give workers more flexibility and freedom to explore other skills, cleaning, marketing, management, design, technical work, that allows them to grow in various areas and explore their creative side.

6. Giving workers control over their work reduces daily repetition of monotony by allowing them to choose what they want to do everyday.

7. Tolerating sexual harassment in order to keep one's job or move up the company will be significantly reduced since no worker has more power than another.

8. Workers have the power to stop things that bosses would typically not put an end to. For example if everyone thought a project was a waste of time except the boss, a worker owned and worker managed cooperative would allow the workers to spend their energy on meaningful tasks.

9. Families can work less and spend more time together if their wages go up.

10. Less money going to capitalists perpetuating the normal top down control that people are used to.