Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
world's developed and developing economies already create considerable anxiety and
tension among many people. For radical economist Richard D. Wolff (2012), co-
operative enterprises are the decisive alternatives to this form of undemocratic
economic and stressful workplace organization. One relatively small-scale example
of a successful co-operative is the Arizmendi Bakery in San Rafael, California. It is
made up of seven member businesses who share ongoing accounting, legal, educational
and other support services. The Arizmendi website (
http://arizmendi.coop/about)
offers support and information to other groups in the Bay Area who wish to establish
a co-operative and on it can be read the Association mission:
•
assure opportunities for workers' control of their livelihood with fairness and
equality for all;
•
develop as many dignified, decently paid (living 'wage' or better) work oppor-
tunities as possible through the development of new cooperatives;
•
promote cooperative economic democracy as a sustainable and humane option
for our society;
•
create work environments that foster profound personal as well as professional
growth;
•
exhibit excellence in production and serving our local communities;
•
provide continuing technical, educational and organizational support and services
to member cooperatives;
•
seek to link with other cooperatives for mutual support; and
•
provide information and education to the larger community about cooperatives.
Another example is Suma, founded in 1975, and today the UK's largest independent
wholefood wholesale/distributor specializing in vegetarian, organic, fairly traded,
natural and ethical products. As a workers' co-operative, it is jointly owned and
managed by all who work at Suma. Everyone is paid the same wage and collectively
everyone does all the jobs that need to be done. This form of participation entails
what Michael Albert (2004) refers to as a 'job complex' which, if scaled up to
encompass the whole of a national economy, would constitute a system of participatory
economics whose oversight would be provided by a network of participatory councils.
However, co-operatives are a relative rarity in today's globalized market economy
but there are also examples of large corporations adopting and adapting some lessons
from the co-operative movement, believing these will help ensure their future own
success in an increasingly harsh and competitive environment. The computer technology
giant Cisco's CEO John Chambers, for example, announced in 2008 a reorganization
that would spread the company's leadership and management decision capacity to
working groups that at the time involved around 500 executives. Instead of the
company's major decisions being made by about ten people at the top, a network of
boards and councils were empowered to launch new systems, new financial incentives
and new modes of employee, especially executive, co-operation. Business units that
formerly competed against each other would now share responsibility for each other's
success or failure. A
Fast Company
headline ironically noted that Cisco was turning
into a 'socialist enterprise', with Ellen McGirt (2008) writing 'power to the people' -
and profits to the company. Cisco of course, is not a socialist enterprise. It is still
privately owned and still a very major player in the globally significant technology
sector, but there are nonetheless some interesting lessons to draw from this.
