This week, Kosta Jui and Tej Gonza consider how the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) and Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) models can be adapted for use by democratic businesses, creating worker co-ops that can take advantage of the benefits of the EOTs and ESOPs.
Then, David Bollier talks with Stefan Gruber about the city as a site of commoning, and his traveling exibit called An Atlas of Commoning: Spaces of Collective Production, now in the tenth year of its international tour.
Adapting employee ownership for truly democratic businesses
by Kosta Juri & Ted Gonza
The governance structure of the EOT is not inherently democratic. In an EOT, employees are often passive beneficiaries, receiving distributed profits without having a meaningful say in strategic decisions such as the use of surpluses, employment, business planning, or market positioning. Nor do they hold delegation rights over managerial authority. While the EOT model has been highly impressive in terms of the scale it has achieved, it fails to grant employees the democratic right to self-determination, leaving the significant potential of participatory governance unrealised.
An Atlas for Urban Commons of the World
by David Bollier
Gruber said he's "long been intrigued by this this notion that we shape our buildings and they in turn shape us. There's a general understanding that our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities are expressions our of our values. But at the same time, these spaces themselves affect our well-being and our social relations, and also, obviously, the planetary well-being."
[...]
"How do we begin to democratize planning and design," he asks, "and how do we bring in citizens who, as [the late commons scholar] Elinor Ostrom often said, are best at solving problems on the ground, because they understand them?"
Mutual Aid as a Strategic Response
All People are People — It is important to be clear that neither Spade nor Hayes and Kaba conceive of mutual aid as the sole relevant element of leftist struggle. Spade insists that “mutual aid is only one tactic in the social movement ecosystem,” and that “it operates alongside direct action, political education, and many other tactics” (34). In both Mutual Aid and Let This Radicalize You, the authors describe various forms of collective action like strikes, protests, and sabotage that are not considered mutual aid by the modern activist conception. Hayes and Kaba even include an example of institutional state support, in which the Chicago Alliance for Waterfront Safety (CAWS) leveraged the support of a local councillor to get a law passed to install lifeboats on Chicago waterfronts. ...
Call for Contributions - Weaving Solidarity with North and East Syria/Rojava
Universities of DAANES — Call for contributions for the online symposium "Decolonizing Knowledge and Sceince. Breaking Isolation and Weaving Solidarity with the Universities of North and East Syria/Rojava. Get involved in one of the working groups starting of November 13, 5 pm CET...
Expanded Work Exchange Program a Success
Expanded Work Exchange Program a Success — Work exchangers, or “wexers” as they are affectionately referred to, come from all walks of life to experience Dancing Rabbit in a truly unique way. Wexers might work in the Dairy Co-op, making cheese or handling the milking and caring for the animals, which includes tasks like moving fences and helping shepherd the herd to new grazing spots. They may also help with natural building or maintenance projects around the farm, spend their days weeding or processing fresh produce in the BBB garden, or just assisting with random needs that pop up throughout the village. For instance, a few wexers and Rabbits helped me raise my woodshed that had fallen over in a past storm—something I needed upright before winter. Whatever needs doing on the farm, the wexers are there to help...
Inside Australia's Hidden Ecovillage
The Postmodern Journalist (YouTube) — Spend a few days with us at Sirius Community, a 46 year old intentional community in the wilderness of Western Massachusetts. This peaceful and spiritually focused Eco-village has remained active since 1978 and is currently home to 35 residents who share their lives...
USFWC: Meet Your New Board Members
US Federation of Worker Cooperatives — USFWC members reelected two board members, Kimberly Britt of ChiFresh Kitchen and Dominique Pearson of L.A. Co-op Lab, and elected two new board members, Adrian Roman of Colmenar Consulting and Evelyn Torres or Radiate Consulting NYC. Welcome Adrian and Evelyn and welcome back Kimberly and Dominique. New board members will take their seats at the conclusion of our November board meeting...
New on our YouTube Channel
Sharing Co-op Capital with Shared Capital
Like what you find on GEO?
Make a Donation Today!
Your tax-deductible contribution ensures that GEO can continue to provide independent grassroots content about the cooperative and solidarity economy movements.
Got something to say?
Let us know. Send your comments, suggestions, rants and article submissions to editors@geo.coop.
Follow us on Social Media
Mastodon: social.coop/@GEO_Collective
FB: facebook.com/GEOCollective
Twitter: twitter.com/@GEO_Collective
Instagram: instagram.com/grassrootsecon
Â
Our mailing address is:
Grassroots Economic Organizing
P.O. Box 115
Riverdale MD 20738-0115
