UN Gives Nod to Worker Co-Ops, as Cleveland Communities Embrace Model

[marmar]

from In These Times:



UN Gives Nod to Worker Co-Ops, as Cleveland Communities Embrace Model

Thursday
December 31
1:11 pm

By Akito Yoshikane


The year might be winding down, but United Nations member states are already looking three years ahead: On Monday, the General Assembly declared 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives.

Fifty-five countries from predominantly Latin, African and southeast Asian countries supported the resolution in an effort to highlight the contribution of cooperatives to socio-economic development.

To most Americans, the image of a worker co-ops conjures up notions of a hippie venture. But collective business models have been embraced all over the world and have recently started gaining traction in U.S. cities like Cleveland, Ohio.

As autonomous voluntary associations, cooperatives are jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprises by a group of individuals with common economic and social goals. Cooperatives have 800 million members across 100 countries and account for about 100 million jobs worldwide, according to the UN.

Worker co-ops have not only been resilient through the economic crisis, they are also profitable. The top 300 cooperatives generate as much as the 10th largest economy in the world with revenues of $1.1 trillion, according to a 2008 report by the Geneva-based International Co-operative Alliance. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5370/un_gives_nod_to_worker_co-ops_as_cleveland_communities_embrace_model/

[StarfarerBill]

1. Damnation! Now who would unrec *this* and call themselves a progressive, or even a Democrat?

[FreakinDJ]

4. The same folk who don't think WTO is so great

but it was not I who hit the button

[StarfarerBill]

5. No mention of the WTO in that article that I can see.

Co-ops are far preferable to the top-down hierarchy of standard capitalist firms.

[leftstreet]

2. K&R

Interesting article!

[prairierose]

3. This is one of those ideas that I wish we would spend more time...

discussing and researching.

[StarfarerBill]

6. I'm with you on that, Prairierose.

[jwirr]

7. Many of us are familiar with the work of cooperatives through such

organizations as KIVA. On this sight you see the poor in many areas of the world starting their own businesses in everything from farming to restaurants. I see this as the hope of those areas.

Having been raised in farm country here in the USA there are three types of cooperatives that come to mind. The electrical coops that FDR started which brought electricity into rural homes and still in many areas provides it. The coops that farmers started which sell seeds, animal foods and farm needs to the area farmers. And the businesses that have been taken over by their workers when the owner bails out. All three are highly respected in the area I lived in.

Areas like Africa where there is overpopulation and poor economies will never make it when all they have is some big corporation that takes the resources and screws the workers. They need to start their economy just like we did - local workers/owners uniting to make their own area self sufficient if possible.