Starting in October 2013, the Institute will publish a piece monthly from a cooperative developer, exploring a question, model or challenge in developing worker cooperatives. This is our first step towards creating a compendium of “effective practices” in worker cooperative development. In doing so, we aim to foster spirited and collegial, critical and respectful, conversation on how best to develop cooperatives that work for workers and their communities over the long term. Our aim is to address the deeper issues both animating and challenging worker cooperative development right now. Readers will emerge with a richer understanding of the landscape of worker cooperative development and a critical analysis of some worker cooperative development models and practices.
Rather than focusing on “best practices,” an approach that we believe oversimplifies the many complexities of worker cooperatives and their development and implies a standard that does not actually exist, we take an “effective practices” approach. What models are most effective for what purposes? Asking this question forces a clarification of the purposes up front. And it asks: what tools advance a particular model most effectively? This inquiry asks the writer to consider the alignment of a purpose-driven model with the practical tools that support it. Finally, what practices and approaches have proven ineffective for what purposes and why?
This pluralistic approach should not be mistaken for neutrality. The Institute has a clear perspective and framework for this project. In keeping with our mission to build a thriving worker cooperative movement, we believe that effective, sustainable cooperative development should:
(1) be connected to and supportive of movement-building initiatives that are led by worker cooperatives themselves and
(2) take a systems approach that builds in ongoing, networked support for worker cooperatives.
Within this framework, we are eager to showcase and debate a multiplicity of opinions on the role of outside investors, barriers to growth, supports for working with low-income and asset-poor communities, the place of grant money in the work, the need for a strategic sectoral focus, and lots of other questions.