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by louwrentius4 hours ago |
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upvoteby cmeacham984 hours ago|
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What you're describing is called a "worker cooperative" and they are somewhat rare but do exist already in real life.
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upvoteby hellcow4 hours ago|
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Are they rare? Aren’t credit unions worker cooperatives? Insurance is often structured this way, and I’ve heard of farmer collectives too. I have a worker cooperative grocery store nearby. I do photography as a hobby and there’s all kinds of photography cooperatives, including Magnum which is incredibly famous in that world. I’m in an HOA which is another cooperative.

This doesn’t seem rare to me.

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upvoteby OkayPhysicist3 hours ago|
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Most "co-ops" are customer co-ops (Credit Unions, for example, are owned by their members, most grocery co-ops are membership programs, REI is/was the same). Farmer co-ops are owned by a collection of farmers, to pool resources for selling to consumers, but most employees aren't co-owners. Worker's co-ops are rarer, but you find them in the taxi industry pretty often, and in home care.
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upvoteby hellcow3 hours ago|
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Today I learned. Thank you!
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upvoteby hahn-kev3 hours ago|
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I think credit unions are often owned by the customers or members. Not the employees.
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upvoteby shimman3 hours ago|
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No, what they are describing is workplace democracy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_democracy

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upvoteby boringops-dan1 hours ago|
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There's really quite a lack of innovation in corporate structures.

I (still) believe that we're going to see a rejection of this MBA-short-term-fuck-the-long-term thinking, and next-gen companies will form treat their employees like the adults they are.

That employee goodwill and motivation will make them outpeform the current system. Thnk of the opposite of work-to-rule or 'quiet quitting': An actual motivated workforce.

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upvoteby jimbokun3 hours ago|
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In the US democracy we still have a strong central executive with a lot of decision making power.

Parliamentary systems do not always have a President per se, but generally have a similar role of an individual who can quickly make decisions in emergencies and crises.

So in practice I’m not sure democracies are all that different in practice.

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upvoteby louwrentius2 hours ago|
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I think current democracies could also shed the notion that there must be an elected “dictator”, making decisions in crises should also be made with cooperation, especially then.
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upvoteby bshepard4 hours ago|
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It would be worth thinking harder before moralizing.
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