This session was canceled
February 24th
Session Five: Alternative Business, Housing, and Food Ownership Models and Structures
I Alternative Business Ownership Structures: Worker Owned Cooperative Businesses
Worker-owned cooperatives are businesses that are owned and managed by their workers. Although there are variations, typically, each worker owns a share and all shares are owned by the workers. The infrastructure of worker-owned cooperatives differs, as control by worker-owners can be performed through individual, collective, or majority ownership. Research on worker-owned cooperatives shows that they are often more efficient and productive, and that workers have much higher levels of satisfaction and pride in their company and work.
Required Reading
- Worker Owned Cooperatives and Democratic Governance, John Pencavel
- Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies (Chen, 2016)
- Participation and Productivity: A Comparison of Worker Cooperatives and Conventional Firms in the Plywood Industry, John Pencavel
- Worker Owned Coops – https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/worker-cooperatives-economy-business/
Videos
- The Mondragon Cooperatives 3 minutes
- Noam Chomsky on the Mondragon Cooperatives and Worker’s Council – 3 minutes
- Defying the Crisis – The Spanish Collective Mondragón | Made in Germany
- Jackson Rising: Creating the Mondragon of the South – 8 minutes
- The Cleveland Model – How the Evergreen Cooperatives are Building Community Wealth (All of videos on this site)
II Cooperatively Owned Housing and Food: Coop Housing
Required Reading:
- https://www.cccd.coop/sites/default/files/resources/HousingCoopsAccessibleLastingHomeOwnership.pdf
- Housing Coops: Case Study form Denmark
Videos
- Co-op Housing more than a home – 8 minutes
III Food Cooperatives
Required Reading:
- Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, NY – https://www.grubstreet.com/2018/04/history-of-the-park-slope-food-coop.html
- https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/25/the-grocery-store-where-produce-meets-politics – New Yorker Magazine
- https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/nyregion/25coop.html
- Rainbow Grocery in Bay Area – https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/S-F-s-Rainbow-Grocery-a-counterculture-6433041.php#photo-8391702
IV Digital Platform Cooperatives
Required Reading: