There are many different kinds of cooperatives - worker coops, producer coops, consumer coops, social coops, housing coops, etc.
Though this group is called Drupal Worker Cooperative - it seems that the intent is not just around worker co-ops themselves, but also around fostering something like a producer (in our case, service provider) cooperative for drupal workers (say - freelancers and existing businesses/worker co-ops).
These (producer or service provider cooperative) have a different legal and operational organization, and can be used for reducing costs for a lot of different things. Agricultural Cooperatives are the most common examples of producer cooperatives, which provide an (ideally) democratically organized array of services, supplies, marketing, distribution, etc. all at a discounted cost because a collective economy of scale is created, and the meta-organization that is this co-op (ideally) operates as a not-for-profit entity (it exists for the benefit of member organizations/businesses).
The model for this usually consists of a staff of workers who work for said entity, coordinating the collective needs of the member businesses and providing services. It is owned by all the member organizations - who have equal voting power. However, there are usually no distributions of draws, as excess revenue beyond payroll is re-invested in the producer co-op to expand services, capacity, and to hire more help. The staff themselves can be organized somewhat like a cooperative as well - though the ownership model can in some ways be different than a standard worker co-op (there are several ways to address this).
Thus, a 'Drupal Service Providers Cooperative' could provide:
IT-related services
- LAMP hosting (imagine - our own democratically managed hosting provider!)
- High performance LAMP deployment/development platform services (like Pantheon)
- Acquia-Gardens type services
- Training (for member businesses/freelancers and clients)
- Email, Video-conference, Group collaboration, and other services (for both member businesses and for clients)
Operational/Etc.
- Accounting
- Legal Consulting/support
- Training/Support for cooperative culture, democratic processes and operations
- Shared facilities for freelancers
- Group Benefits (insurance, 401(k), etc.)
- Even a credit union!
It could also serve the role of fostering the development of other drupal worker co-ops and freelance collectives. The sky is the limit!
Comments
worker cooperatives vs producer cooperatives
hi
really useful contrib above and I would say, yes, yes, YES. lets do it... but how to start and where ?
second, the usual problem with producer cooperatives (which include non-natural persons i.e. corporations) is that the corporations usually dominate the cooperative due to the fact that they have more business with the cooperatives and get greater revenue
having said that, I think thats ok if we perhaps either capped membership size i.e. less than 10 people in a business or 100 in a cooperative/democratic formation
in my view there is a real danger that Acquia/Phase2 and other big Drupal factories will destroy the craft culture and labor republicanism of the Drupal ecosystem (community and market)
in a way, anything we do to counter those centralizing and corporatizing trends, now, the better.. .producer coops, worker coops, associations, guilds, etc... lets get organized.. for sure the big end are busy productizing Drupal and selling it to the corporate sector...
http://groups.drupal.org/node/128429#comment-422589
Let us regroup on FB
Yes, Let us form a strong consortium that taps on global skillset and works truely for promoting Drupal and not someone who throws money and marketing dollars to muscle to top.
Here is a FB group for Service Providers : http://www.facebook.com/groups/218347111542481
FB? You serious?
It seems an awful idea to move from the NPO-run drupal.org to the privateer-run facebook.com. Amongst other things, it lets anyone buy ads and "throws money and marketing dollars to muscle to top".
Can we keep the discussion here, please?
FB and NPO
At least when you are on FB you know that FB is privately run but on drupal.org most of people's contributions are indirectly benefiting a single entity. And that is why there is a need for co-operative.
Whatever form or shape it evolves down the line, it is required if Drupal has to survive.
Solidarity Co-op
In Quebec there is a form of co-op, called "Coopérative de solidarité", that allows the co-op to have two or more categories of members: producers, consumers, workers, and sponsors. But, in order to qualify for the 125% tax deduction on revenues, we would have to be preponderantly workers. IOW, most of us should be in the Workers category; we could network with producers (that run their own businesses); and we can include some of our key sponsors, but only a minority, to prevent them from biasing the co-op's democratic decision-making processes. It's the best form of co-op because it leverages them all!
Difference between Workers co-op vs Producers co-op
The main difference between Workers co-op (A) vs Producers co-op (B) is that A is one unified enterprise (that hires workers) versus B is a coalition of independent entreprises (that share ressources). In A we collectively find and accomplish shared work; while in B, each enterprise networks with other enterprises in order to lighten the burden of certain costs, but each enterprise manages its own clients, etc. That's a BIG difference! But as I pointed out in my last post, we don't have to chose one-or-the-other; we can have BOTH by being a Solidarity Co-op ("Coopérative de solidarité"). In this last case (C), the workers coaslesce into ONE entreprise AND share ressources (network) with other producers. All categories of coop other than C only allow ONE type of member.
Workers co-ops need not hire
I agree that the key distinction is that worker co-ops collectively find and accomplish shared work, but I disagree with the idea that it must hire workers. For example, software.coop is a worker co-operative partnership: we work as one, but each worker is sovereign, not an employee. Please take care not to misclassify or exclude us.
Worker co-op is about hiring
I am president of a workers' co-op, have been for three years, and i'm fluent with laws & such regarding co-ops, because we have to be. Worker co-ops are about hiring. Not immediately, when there is not enough revenue to sustain salaries, but in time they are expected to hire their members. As their employer, the worker co-op does all the paperwork normally associated with a salaried job. That's why this type of co-op qualifies for the 125% tax deduction on revenues earned: because real people (persons) are members; whereas a Producer co-op is group of sovereign companies (including solo outfits) that handles its own taxes and so-on. The latter Producer co-ops, which is what you are describing, do NOT qualify for this very-interesting tax deduction (125%).
Not the case everywhere
Fluent with whose laws? What you write may be true in your jurisdiction, but I believe it's not true in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. We don't get a tax deduction, but we also don't get employment imposed upon us.
I am not describing a producer co-op. We are a worker co-op, working together to make things.
Does not apply to all jurisdictions
My knowledge and experience with co-op laws covers the province of Quebec and Canada. And, apparently, it is only here (in Quebec/Canada) that the 125% tax-deduction is offered to workers' co-ops that hire their members. For those of us, in this jurisdiction, it could quite interesting. Btw: there is a BIG difference between self-imposed vs imposed by someone else. Members of a workers' coop are in-fact creating their own jobs ; and they are not powerless because every employee (coop member) also participates in collective decision-making... Democracy in the workplace! :-)
No self-employment there?
OK, thanks for clarifying.
I agree about the democratic benefits of being in a worker co-op, but I still feel that employment would be imposed by your earlier definition. Here, in my worker co-operative partnership, workers are classed as self-employed: we do not fill out employee paperwork and the co-op does not fill out employer paperwork. The workers filed partnership papers, which created the co-operative's incorporation as an LLP in England and Wales.
Benefits of employment in a co-op
Benefits of employment (versus self-employment) in a co-op :
* declaring revenue for taxes is very easy (form filled by employer) ;
* already-mentionned 125% deduction on revenues earned ;
* out-of-work co-op workers can benefit from unemployment insurance ;
* our members have ALL the same benefits as normal employees have ;
* etc ... it's a sweet deal! :-)
Insufficient benefits
I'm glad it works for you, but in England, worker-directors have to fill in almost the same tax forms as partners, employers don't get a deduction, self-employed workers also benefit from National Insurance and there are far more regulations on employment. So, sometime having a worker co-op as a partnership rather than employer makes sense.
Solidarity Co-op is inclusive
As I have pointed out in this thread, in Quebec there is a form of co-op, the solidarity co-op (fr: "coopérative de solidarité"), that allows the co-op to have more-than-one type of member, chosen among these types: workers, producers, sponsors, even consumers! Those who want to work as a team, without the hassles of running their own enterprise, can harmoniously co-exist with entrepreneurs wishing to network with this collective of workers; for mutual benefit, to be sure! :-) With Solidarity [form of co-op], everyone is welcome to join forces with us! :-)