overview for HippoCookie897

1

I want to start an organisation that certifies companies as worker controlled. Your thoughts? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by HippoCookie897@lemmygrad.ml to c/comradeship@lemmygrad.ml

0 comments fedilink

I want create an organisation (or work for an already created one) that provides support to companies that wish to be worker-controlled and certify those companies such that people can choose these companies when making purchasing decisions.

The needs I can immediately see are clear organising agreement templates for the company guaranteeing worker control, worker ownership scheme policy templates (e.g., when a worker leaves), and worker voting policy templates. Perhaps after an organisation has implemented these controls, they may be listed as a certified worker-controlled establishment.

Background: I'm a anarcho-communist and when I need to consume, I would love to give power to worker-controlled institutions instead of capitalists. I have found few databases of worker-controlled businesses and none that were providing any goods/services I would actually need on a usual basis. I'm a corporate lawyer (fuck me) so I understand the governance required to distribute profits within a company. I don't see an organisation providing guidance to new businesses started by workers who want to keep their interests where they should be, returning profits to workers.

Do you have any thoughts on this, comrades? Worth the effort?

General Discussion Thread - Juche 113, Week 35 in c/genzedong@lemmygrad.ml

[–] HippoCookie897@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm

Doesn't advocate for specifically representative organisation; instead I think they argue for groups to formalise their power dynamics consciously and clearly.

My brief notes:

We cannot decide whether to have a structured or structureless group, only whether or not to have a formally structured one.

For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given group and to participate in its activities the structure must be explicit, not implicit. The rules of decision-making must be open and available to everyone, and this can happen only if they are formalized.

"Elites are nothing more, and nothing less, than groups of friends who also happen to participate in the same political activities. They would probably maintain their friendship whether or not they were involved in political activities; they would probably be involved in political activities whether or not they maintained their friendships. It is the coincidence of these two phenomena which creates elites in any group and makes them so difficult to break... Because people are friends, because they usually share the same values and orientations, because they talk to each other socially and consult with each other when common decisions have to be made, the people involved in these networks have more power in the group than those who don't. And it is a rare group that does not establish some informal networks of communication through the friends that are made in it.... In any profession or organization these networks have created the "locker room" mentality and the "old school" ties which have effectively prevented women as a group (as well as some men individually) from having equal access to the sources of power or social reward. "

Can someone be a landlord and a communist at the same time? in c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

[–] HippoCookie897@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I am currently in a slightly similar situation (bought flat 1.5 years ago, was laid off, decided to leave country, if I sell I will incur fines from bank/loss vs purchase price).. I decided to rent the home until I could sell it and 'break even' hopefully in 2 years. I set the rent at as close to what I have to pay the bank+insurance+small amount (<100€) for impending repairs. This was under market (I did not actually research the market) as I received a lot of interest and comments when I posted it. I met about a dozen potential tenants in person. I let them know that I did not want to be a landlord and that I would be selling the place as soon as I could break even but that I would be the best landlord I could be regarding the living situation in the flat. I rent to a woman who seems happy with the arrangement. I hate being a landlord but I also don't want to suffer more financial hardship after being laid off and leaving country. I figure I am at least helping someone to live in a decent place for a 'fair' price that would be hard to come by otherwise.. Further, not making actual cash profit makes me feel a bit better. But I am creating equity in the property as I pay down the principal ever-so-slowly using this woman's rent money.. I don't feel good about it on the whole and will be happy to be rid of it.