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Gore & Associates (makes of GoreTex) operate like this. Whole groups of worker-owned co-ops in Northern Italy (Emilia-Romagna) also operate more or less this wa

Gore & Associates (makes of GoreTex) operate like this. Whole groups of worker-owned co-ops in Northern Italy (Emilia-Romagna) also operate more or less this way, in a loosely-coupled network. The trend in modern employment toward more individual empowerment, less hierarchy, and greater profit share points toward a co-op future for a large band of white collar jobs. Or it would, if they weren't so heavily discriminated against in the US tax code.

walshemj 10y ago
Acess to capital is the real killer
- monodeldiablo 10y ago
  There are ways around that. Cooperatives can raise cash through subordinated capital campaigns (essentially an investor-backed loan at a capped rate of return) and other methods. Even capital-intensive industries like manufacturing have big, successful worker cooperatives operating in them. Honestly, too many people make too big a deal out of the inability for cooperatives to trade ownership for cash. And yet bootstrapping a start-up is somehow still possible, acceptable, and laudable. And I won't even get into all the perverse incentives introduced by stock ownership and the secondary market. The tax issue, though, is the deal killer. Being double taxed by the federal government on your income is a non-starter. Until worker cooperatives get treated the same as producer and consumer cooperatives, I can't see them taking off in the US.
  - walshemj 10y ago
    Poptels experience in the UK shows the potential downside (I say that as an ex member ) http://www.andrewbibby.com/socialenterprise/poptel2.html http://www.andrewbibby.com/socialenterprise/poptel2.html
  - smallnamespace 10y ago
    > too many people make too big a deal out of the inability for cooperatives to trade ownership for cash It doesn't need to be impossible to raise cash, it just needs to add enough incremental difficulty and expense to outweigh the other benefits of being a cooperative.

walshemj 10y ago

Acess to capital is the real killer

monodeldiablo 10y ago
There are ways around that. Cooperatives can raise cash through subordinated capital campaigns (essentially an investor-backed loan at a capped rate of return) and other methods. Even capital-intensive industries like manufacturing have big, successful worker cooperatives operating in them. Honestly, too many people make too big a deal out of the inability for cooperatives to trade ownership for cash. And yet bootstrapping a start-up is somehow still possible, acceptable, and laudable. And I won't even get into all the perverse incentives introduced by stock ownership and the secondary market. The tax issue, though, is the deal killer. Being double taxed by the federal government on your income is a non-starter. Until worker cooperatives get treated the same as producer and consumer cooperatives, I can't see them taking off in the US.
- walshemj 10y ago
  Poptels experience in the UK shows the potential downside (I say that as an ex member ) http://www.andrewbibby.com/socialenterprise/poptel2.html http://www.andrewbibby.com/socialenterprise/poptel2.html
- smallnamespace 10y ago
  > too many people make too big a deal out of the inability for cooperatives to trade ownership for cash It doesn't need to be impossible to raise cash, it just needs to add enough incremental difficulty and expense to outweigh the other benefits of being a cooperative.