"Dan Clore" <clore@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:4225FC5A.3000504@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> ****tland Oregonian
> All for one
> ****tland's do-it-yourself culture fuels the rise of worker-owned
> cooperative businesses
> Wednesday, March 02, 2005
> by SU-JIN YIM
>
> Lots of businesses have them: the neglected employee-comment box tucked
in
> a dusty corner, or the boss' supposed open door that no one ever walks
> through.
>
> But at Citybikes, a bicycle sales and repair shop in Southeast ****tland,
> the issues/proposals clipboard hangs in plain view. And the boss? Well,
> take your pick.
>
> At this worker-owned cooperative, everyone's the boss. All 25 employees
> get a say in how the business is run.
>
> In a country where chain stores decorate every town, ****tland stands
> apart. Not just for its opposition to cor****ate giants from Home Depot
to
> McDonald's, but for its sup****t of a burgeoning crowd of worker-owned
> cooperative businesses.
>
> Worker co-ops tend to be small businesses that are democratically run
and
> emphasize a less profit-driven philosophy, often in favor of higher
wages
> or better hours for its worker-owners. In this post-Enron era, ****tland
is
> "a budding hotbed" for these kinds of co-ops, says Richard Dines,
director
> of member services for the National Cooperative Business Association in
> Wa****ngton, D.C.
>
> In the past few years, new collectives such as Redwing Coffee and Baking
> and the Back to Back Cafe have bubbled up. Armed with the experience of
> previous organizers and the energy of young newcomers, these
organizations
> are helping usher in a new era of worker co-ops in ****tland.
>
> "****tland has a really, really strong (do-it-yourself) culture," says
Mark
> Hedlund, 36, who some call the Johnny Appleseed of ****tland co-ops.
> "There's also just a huge population here of left-leaning twenty- to
> thirtysomethings that are interested in this sort of thing."
>
> Of course, co-ops are nothing new. Best known in the 1970s in the form
of
> food co-ops, this business style actually started in the late 18th
century
> with Benjamin Franklin, who formed a home insurance cooperative, Dines
> says. In ****tland, food co-ops such as People's and Food Front have been
> around for decades.
>
> The most obvious sign of the ****tland co-op community's growth appeared
in
> late 2003 with the founding of the ****tland Alliance of Worker
> Collectives. Like most good ideas, the group started with a simple
> question: Wouldn't it be great if . . .
>
> If co-op workers could turn their social networks into business ones. If
> they could gather together and find a way to form a cooperative bank or
> community development fund. If they could spread the word that co-ops
are
> hot right now, by publi****ng an association pamphlet and offering
bicycle
> tours of participating businesses.
>
> Now little more than a year old, the alliance has stepped into city
> politics, opposing plans for a big-box retailer at the Burnside
Bridgehead
> redevelopment project.
>
> It also participated in last year's first-ever national worker co-op
> conference in Minneapolis and will host its own conference in ****tland,
> called the Cascadia Collective Conference, in April.
>
> "People are turning to (co-ops) because there are fewer and fewer other
> alternatives. You have these new, young people coming (into the work
> force) and they don't want to get on that assembly line or they don't
want
> to get behind that coffee counter," says Tim Calvert, 42, who helped
start
> Citybikes and the Laughing Horse Bookstore and Video Collective.
>
> Worker co-ops in general are no less stable than other types of
> businesses, even though some, like cafes, have high turnover rates,
> Hedlund says.
>
> "They're very tenacious businesses because everybody has a distinct
stake
> in their prosperity," he says.
>
> But running a business by consensus is uniquely challenging, in part
> because most people are more familiar and comfortable with a clear,
> hierarchical structure. After all, if everybody's the boss, who makes
the
> hard decisions? Sometimes nobody.
>
> Kathie Hitchcock, 63, started volunteering at Free Geek, a nonprofit
that
> is not technically a co-op but is run democratically, through a senior
> citizen program. After a career in cor****ate America, getting used to
> co-op-style decision-making was tough.
>
> "In the beginning, it drove me crazy," Hitchcock says with a laugh.
> "Absolutely crazy."
>
> But Hitchcock, who now works as a paid part-time receptionist, accepts
the
> added stress of responsibility and negotiating as a "price you have to
pay
> to have freedom" in the workplace.
>
> The structure also raises sticky questions for tough times. Dines of the
> NCBA says a Wisconsin worker co-op recently voted to reduce its health
> benefits to protect itself against going out of business.
>
> At Citybikes, the co-op offers a health stipend and is confronting an
> aging work force that is now asking about retirement benefits, Calvert
> says.
>
> Here, then, lies the stark rub between realism and idealism.
>
> "Getting rich is not a value in cooperatives," Calvert admits, but
"let's
> not say we're not into making money. We're definitely into making money.
> It's the only way to survive."
>
> That said, to Calvert and other co-op advocates, survival is much more
> than a bottom-line, financial issue.
>
> "It's the long haul," Calvert says. "Meaningful human existence is the
> long haul, where the actual meaning of being human goes beyond how much
> money you made. It seems so obvious when you think about it."
>
> Su-jin Yim: 503-294-7611;
> mailto:suyim@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> A few facts about cooperative businesses
> Wednesday, March 02, 2005
>
> Are all co-ops worker owned?
>
> No, there are many kinds of co-ops, including consumer, producer and
> shared services. They range across all industries, from electric
utilities
> to record shops.
>
> Is everyone in a co-op paid the same wage?
>
> Not necessarily. Each co-op figures this out on its own, though many
make
> sure the gap between the highest and lowest paid worker is less
> significant than in traditional hierarchical companies, says Lori Burge
of
> People's Food Co-op.
>
> How do decisions ever get made in a democratically run workplace?
>
> Large co-ops tend to use committees to handle specific issues while
> smaller co-ops often allow each person to address every issue. In
> consensus-based decision-making, Burge says, "you're seeking the truth
> that everybody has (in order) to create a solution that works, that is
> feasible and that takes into account the biggest or most im****tant
> concerns of the individuals making the decision."
>
> Is it harder to get fired in a co-op?
>
> That's hard to say. No single person in a co-op will likely be able to
> fire someone. Big decisions like this are usually addressed by the co-op
> board.
>
> You can find more information about ****tland area co-ops at
> http://www.pawc.net
>
> --
> Dan Clore
>
> Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
> http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587154838/thedanclorenecro
> Lord We˙rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> As the Government of the United States of America is not, in
> any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in
> itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or
> tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never
> entered into any war, or act of hostility against any
> Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no
> pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce
> an interruption of the harmony existing between the two
> countries.
> -- The Treaty of Tripoli, entered into by the USA under
> George Wa****ngton
>
For a structure which addresses the problems of worker co-operatives
mentioned in this post, please go to the link below.
--
Bruce Howard
Web site "Precedents for Democracy" at http://www.users.bigpond.com/bnh2/
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