Worker Coops and a New Strategy for Labor

A talk delivered at the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, City University of New York, December 3, 2013.

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[markjones]

Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains!

[mrzack]

we've all been brainwashed by television since childhood that it's cool to go to work and to work in an office to make some corporation rich.  

[lejanaran]

Certainly an interesting strategy for workers to overtake business, yet how do they finance the very beginning?

Usually, all the equipment, all the machines, tools and even the buildings are in possession of the original owner, or owners of a company, which either move most of this to a new location of their choice, or, would especially NOT sell it to their former workers who were 'threatening' them to become competitors in form of a newly formed coop.

To 'refurnish' a small business may well be feasible by its 'former' workers if all of them put their savings into it, yet what about medium or large size businesses which may be based on highly specialized and expensive production equipment?

How does a newly formed coop grow this financial momentum needed at its very beginning? How does it secure its initial, yet substantial funding to realize their independence?

I am certain that most local officials would help as best as they could to make a smooth transition, yet I have doubts that they could and/or even would contribute to this initial capital.

Any ideas how this could be realized?   

[TheJamesburgin]

I'm not sure how the process of taking over the buildings and machinery would work out since the corporation still owns it despite the fact that they are relocating. I heard of one story where the workers offered to buy but the company refused to sell. I've also heard about corporations buying out worker coops.

[tjhancock]

Richard Wolff....regarding my last comment... the only thing i have seen suggested is worker coops....Worker coops...are not the answer...I'm thankful for all your videos as they make you think about the problems that need addressed... i went to school for accounting and absolutely love looking in depth into economic systems. Mostly because i wanted to get rich in the market, and you only do that understanding the system...or so i thought....but back to your subject..worker coops...even if every single company in this country or the world for that matter became employee owned....the major problems of capitalism are still present...sure people would be paid more...but as competition and technology continually grow....so do the loss of needs three things to be successful...shortage of labor...new innovation/new industry, and a government that does proper regulation and defines better the term monopoly.... 

[VictoriaForbes]

is this taking the place of an economic update? or will there be one later on?

[Ko-vbmq]

USFWC + IWW + Freelancers Union = real solutions for America.

[IronCandyNotes]

Worker coops can work in some areas but it would be a waste to coop everything...

In fact you cant coop everything because it's against central planing and you would need that.

[writernthesky]

The union had ultimately decided to allow Boeing to take away many union protections. The worst now about the Boeing story is that about two weeks ago (early October, 2014), after the state provided Boeing with a $9B tax break, they just said there will be taking away 2, 000 jobs in Seattle because they are moving part of their production out of state.

[orthodium]

the means of production these days is more than just the machinery and tools, but is largely the patent base, which can not be circumvented simply by the virtue of workers joining forces into a coop. 

[raggledaggle]

You guys should also look up Zizek, trust me. And why not David Harvey: The Crisis Today if you're at it ;)

[rapcase]

Does Mondragon have co-ops in this country?

[johnnybizaro]

One of the most important videos on YouTube.

[notrombones]

Wolff's new strategy is interesting, but the workers would need some capital/ca$h flow to re-open with, and keep the factory going. Also, I assume the corporation would remove all necessary machinery when they close the plant, if for nothing else than to quash the competing enterprise. That retaliatory owner tactic would have to be dealt with and prepared for. Some support from The Law would also be necessary to support this strategy. But overall, a good idea.

Besides manufacturing, municipal management of energy  and water (as in Nebraska), would be one area where workers and communities could take back capital from private interests. Municipal management (with a new level of *total transparency* of all aspects)  of these things needs to be a part of any future economic restructuring. NOT handing it right back to oligarchs, but having true public management, done state-of-the-art, using current means of internet communication, and continuously  monitored by The Public.

[nonchalantd]

I wonder why coops are not more common.  I hope to glean some information in this speech that might help me find the answer.

[benrudolph]

1 - Sanders/Wolff 2016
2 - Would enjoy a debate or discussion with Dr. WOLFF and Dr. VAROFAKIS, Greece's former Finance Minister.

[DJWESG]

For all its worth, Mr Wolff still advocates that mankind live as individuals who are self dependant, unreliant on the state, in a race with its fellow man in the great game of acheivemnt and aspiration. call it a co-op, but itll be a chain or netowrk of co-op competing against eachother in a fudalistc form of localism.

This is Capitalisms way of overcoming the pressures of globalization, a way of mitigating some of the risks if you like.

This imo is the fundamental issue facing laour movements across the world as it comes into conflict with the rapidly growing technological workplace & the automated workforce.

[survivormary]

Make sure to get to the Primaries and vote for SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS. He supports unions, the idea of Co-ops and just US in general not the big corporations!

[tjhancock]

finally! ...love watching Richard Wolff...but all i have ever seen is him make his arguments against capitalism...which i agree with....but untill now i have yet to see him express his opinion on how to change the system....and still have yet to here what he deems appropriate to switch to...sure he compares socialist countries to us....but i have never heard him explain how his  "dream/perfect" government/ economic system would work here in the us. complaining about something without providing solutions only contributes to the problem....if i am wrong please direct me to those videos or literature. 

[HBomb]

The ideal situation is the habitable parts of the globe are divided equally amongst the population with a proportion of the land kept back for industry and food production The zones for food and product production will be largely self perpetuating inperpetuum  by those desiring goods or service (all of course managed by sustainable methods e.g.permaculture/workers coop's).
A self-sufficient individual then decides when they need to opt in or out of work in order to obtain food or material goods.
As a child born to wealthy parents will always have an advantage over a poor child the economic system of the world ultimately needs to be reset. One method might be emptying all bank/wealth accounts including the stocks and bonds of company CEO’s. this wealth would then be equally redistributed among the masses. At this point I hope the reader realises that human labour is the actual commodity, and that capitalism can only exploit workers at the cost of impoverishing workers from different regions, it’s a cyclical process (examine the examples of Detroit & Beijing).
The goal of all systems should be individual sovereignty and personal freedom as long as one individual’s freedom does not encroach upon the freedom of another individual.