Survey for Cooperators on Participatory Budgeting
GEO contributor Alexander Kolokotronis has asked us to pass along this survey for cooperators about Participatory Budgeting. Please take a few minutes and fill in the questionaire here:
Worker Code is given Japanese makeover
What do Spain, Croatia, Finland and now Japan have in common? The less than obvious answer is an official translation of the Worker Co-operative Code of Governance.
Cooperative Housing for Rural Seniors
Read more reports from the Cooperative Development Foundation at their Senior Resource Center
Two Home Care Cooperatives
The Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) recently funded the development of reports about two home care worker-cooperatives [see below]. The case studies provide information on the genesis, start-up phase, financing and opportunities of home care worker cooperatives in Bellingham, WA and the Hilo,Hawaii. Produced by the Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC), these case studies add to the limited body of knowledge around home
Taxicab drivers rally for worker-owned co-op
As Austin’s ground transportation service industry faces upheaval due to new competition, taxi drivers are using a looming expiration of the city’s taxicab franchises as an opportunity to push for, among other requests, a cooperative, driver-owned franchise.
Newly elected Alder Rebecca Kemble on cooperation: “We get to be the protagonist of our own story”
Rebecca Kemble wants to govern the city of Madison like a co-op.
“I’m thinking of the city as one big co-op,” she says. “We’re all members of this community and, ideally, we’re ‘one person, one vote’ with the same level of influence in policy decisions. Practically, that’s not happening, but it’s something I’m going to be quite outspoken about.”
EcoMundo Cleaning Co-op: Winning for Workers
They are cleaning up.
An uptown company is sprucing up local homes and businesses, while helping its workers excel with reliable wages and steady employment with room to grow.
What sets Ecomundo Cleaning apart is that the individuals doing the scrubbing and polishing are also owners.
7 Urban Farmers You Should Know
What began with community gardens has grown into a movement.
TU Lankide Special English Edition
[Editor's note: this special edition of the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation magazine, TU Lankide, is dedicated to exploring the thought and practice of founder Don Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, who was born a century ago, in 1915. GEO and Level Translation will soon be releasing a series of ebooks looking
More young leaders in worker and social cooperatives than in conventional enterprises in France
Cooperative values and participative management are assets that appeal to new generations willing to give a meaning to their working lives. According to a study by CG Scop, the French Confederation of cooperatives in production and services, cooperatives in these sectors are managed by 420 young leaders under 35 years, 15.5% against 11.3% for traditional businesses.
Read the full article at CECOP
Augusta conference tracks conversion of business to worker-owned cooperative
Last June, 42 employees of four businesses on tiny Deer Isle in Hancock County took ownership into their own hands.
They formed Island Employee Cooperative Inc., and bought the two grocery stores, a variety/hardware store and a pharmacy that made up a business that had been owned by the Seile family for 42 years, a $5.6 million acquisition.
Workers of the World – Buy Your Own Company!
Somerset Waters has the passion of a convert. You can hear it in his voice when he outlines why he set up the only worker-owned cooperative business in Los Angeles.
Kazova: the Turkish factory under workers’ control
When in January 2013 the 94 workers of the Kazova Textile factory in Istanbul's central Sisli neighborhood were collectively fired under false pretenses after their bosses had neglected to pay their salaries for four consecutive months, a small group of workers decided to resist. They organized regular protest marches and set up of a tent in front of the factory to prevent their former bosses from stripping the factory of anything of value.
The Co-operative University College of Kenya
The Co-operative University College of Kenya (CUCK), on the outskirts of Nairobi, looks like any other college. Students walk along its manicured paths and drab hallways with their books and phones—alone, absorbed in thought, or in groups, gabbing with each other. Visiting, I felt like I'd been on campuses like this a million times.