Cooperatives

Worker Coop Credit Union

Some folks associated with the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives are starting a national credit union explicitly targeting worker cooperatives for business startup and expansion loans. This is fantastic- numerous studies have shown that worker cooperatives beat conventional firms in terms of productivity hands-down, but they have extremely limited access to financing. A credit union that funds worker cooperatives is a major necessary step towards building a genuinely democratic economy.

How can you help? The National Credit Union Administration (which insures credit union deposits) requires 3000 pledges* of future membership for the credit union chartering process. Fill out the survey linked above and email it back to help make this thing become a reality.

*Pledges are non-binding.

The new directory of worker cooperatives from the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives is out.

You can download it here as a pdf.

A co-operative business based in Austin, TX working to open world’s first cooperatively-owned and worker self-managed brewpub.

Collectively owned and operated thrift store.

Austin's collectively-managed recycling center.

From the publisher: After carving up the once lovingly cared-for downtowns of Small Town America, Wal-Mart launched a frontal assault on mom-and-pop businesses all over the globe. With 1.5 million employees operating more than 3, 500 stores, Wal-Mart is now the world’s largest private employer. In this third edition of How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America (and the World), intrepid Texas newspaperman Bill Quinn continues the fight. Featuring detailed accounts of Wal-Mart’s questionable business practices and the latest information on Wal-Mart lawsuits, vendor issues, and efforts to stop expansion, Quinn shows why Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., is arguably the most feared and despised corporation in the world.

From the publisher: National drug chains squeeze local pharmacies out of business, while corporate downsizing ships jobs overseas. All across America, communities large and small are losing control of their economies to outside interests. Going Local shows how some cities and towns are fighting back. Refusing to be overcome by Wal-Marts and layoffs, they are taking over abandoned factories, switching to local produce and manufactured goods, and pushing banks to loan money to local citizens. Shuman details how dozens of communities are recapturing their own economies with these new strategies, investing not in outsiders but in locally owned businesses.

If you happen to go up Guadalupe right now, on the outside wall of a bike shop on the Drag near MLK there's a big sign for Orbea bikes.

I was a little startled to see this. I've heard that they're good bikes, but I'm surprised to see a big banner for them in a major part of Austin. Why? Orbea isn't just a bike maker. It's a company in the Mondragon cooperative chain from the Basque country of Spain. This means it's a worker cooperative, owned by its workers and managed through democratic assembly. Mondragon is one of the greatest living experiments that testifies to the strength of the cooperative model. Tens of thousands of workers in hundreds of companies confederated together produce an array of products and services, have their own bank and technical school, etc.

Authors: Frank T. Adams and Gary B. Hansen

Thorough guide to starting and maintaining worker cooperatives, with clear discussion of all the steps. We keep an in-store only copy behind the front desk for patrons and community members to use as a resource. We also try and keep a copy on the shelves for purchase, but this book is out of print so we can't always acquire a used copy to sell. Despite this, it's a great resource, and anyone is welcome to peruse the store copy.

From the publisher: Integrating some of the best of New Left thought with more contemporary populist and Green perspectives, Benello’s essays—and the commentaries of Harry Boyte, Steve Chase, Walda Katz-Fishman, Jane Mansbridge, Dmitri Roussopoulos and Chuck Turner—offer important insights for today’s new generation of practical utopians.