Shareable -The United States currently has an infinitesimally small sector of worker-owned cooperative businesses, accounting for only 6,800 workers out of a labor force of over 160 million. Although US data on worker-owned co-ops is scarce, evidence from other countries indicates that worker-owned co-ops are more resilient than other businesses and lead to far smaller wage disparities in the same organization. Recently, an organization in New York, working with domestic workers who face poor working conditions, unpredictable schedules and low wages pioneered a licensing model for cooperatives that could rapidly multiply the number of new worker-owned co-ops in the country.
In partnership with two existing cleaning co-ops in Brooklyn and Staten Island, this model was introduced by the Center for Family Life a Brooklyn-based social services organization. CFL has been in operation since 1978 and has functioned as an incubator for worker-owned businesses. Recently, by tweaking the franchising model by removing barriers to entry and providing a new legal framework, CFL created a model that better suited worker-owned cooperatives. On June 27, these businesses were re-launched as the first co-ops in the Brightly franchise.
No comments:
Post a Comment