I think it's very easy to criticize capitalism and greed and generally what's wrong with the world today.
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I think it's very easy to criticize capitalism and greed and generally what's wrong with the world today. The climate is going to hell while billionaires laugh and pay to destroy democracy (or whatever semblance of democracy we have built). The people who will suffer the most did the least to cause climate change. Meanwhile, billionaires are further squeezing not only those in the Global South, but everyone else too.
The picture is bleak.
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ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)replied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
So what do we do? Obviously (in my book), the long term answer is that we have to destroy capitalism. As long as rich people stay rich, they will pay and lie and cheat and steal in order to preserve their wealth - we have ample evidence of this.
But capitalism isn't getting destroyed overnight, right? Like, even the most die-hard revolutionary can acknowledge that. So the most salient question, for me, is what we can do in the meantime.
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ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)replied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
Well, we can work toward worker empowerment as much as possible within the current system. Unionizing your workplace is working towards socialism. Forming a worker-owned co-op is working towards socialism. Both of these alternatives work towards reducing the influence of billionaires in your workplace. *Yes*, you still have to compete in "the market" (which is often tilted towards the big players), so this isn't a long-term solution.
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ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)replied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
But that's where word-of-mouth, organic growth, building community ties, and so much more comes in, right? Like, we're not just trying to beat the billionaires at their own game - we're trying to craft a different kind of society entirely. A kinder society that cares about everyone, that seeks to lift everyone up, that wants to *empower* everyone.
We can't do that by building something that outwardly looks the same as the status quo.
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ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)replied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
This often means that e.g. worker-owned co-ops grow slower than traditional corporations which take tons of venture capital. But at the same time, the goal of a worker-owned co-op isn't an "exit" (or a buyout) - it's to establish a long-term presence in the community (physical or virtual). The end goal isn't profit per se - that's just the vehicle that gets us to a better society.
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ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)replied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
The same is true for unions as well - often, unionization efforts are met with (illegal) pushback such as firing and worker intimidation. So such efforts often grow slowly and take time. But the end result is something far more durable, something that can withstand the vagaries of management changes and the stock market. Unions build *community* and solidarity, which is what makes them so powerful (and so feared by corporations).
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ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)replied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
Fundamentally, worker-owned co-ops and unionized workplaces have a different culture which prioritizes the worker (worker safety, job security, benefits, etc) over short-term profits. And the point is that that kind of culture is hard to build in a space where it doesn't already exist.
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ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)replied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
The reason I am saying all of this is that one of the arguments I hear against worker-owned co-ops is that there aren't really any big ones. But what if the goal *isn't* to be massive enough to compete with the Sprouts, Krogers, Whole Foods, etc of the world? What if there is a fundamentally different goal? And what if that's a *better* goal for the future of the planet and our societies?
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Shannon Clarkreplied to ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him) last edited by
@chiraag interestingly the biggest worker owned companies in the world are in multiple cases direct competitors to Sprouts, Krogers, Whole Foods etc (but are in fact in multiple cases significantly bigger)
Specifically see this list of worker owned firms (most are 100% worker/former worker owned but some are just more than 50% worker owned. Many aren’t specifically co-ops but ESOPs. https://www.nceo.org/articles/employee-ownership-100
Publix Super Markets and WinCo Foods are top of the list (and very very big)
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@chiraag and not food but health care at number 84 on that list there is a worker owned cooperative see https://www.chcany.org/about
(They have been around since 1985 and claim to be the largest worker owned cooperative in the country)
I’m curious to learn more - and feel stories of companies like them should be more well known. Worker owned cooperatives can indeed also be large, successful long term businesses. But don’t get the same press or academic coverage