- 1. NERD Summit 2014CooperativesandCollectivesThink Outside the
BossPresentation by: Michele (Micky) Metts
2. CooperativesandCollectivesThink Outside the BossPresentation
by: Michele (Micky) MettsYes!CooperativesAndCollectives! 3. About
UsMy name is Michele Metts, people call me Micky and Iam known as
FreeScholar in the Drupal Community.I am a member of Agaric, a tech
cooperative andLibreBoston a sub group of Boston Linux User Group.I
speak to groups about the realities of using FREEsoftware, and I
facilitate discussion on buildingcooperatives and collectives. I am
a Drupal Hacker.I joined the Drupal community in 2006. 4. What is a
Worker Cooperative:Worker cooperatives are businessesowned and
controlled by the people whowork in them, the cooperative
members.They are a time-tested way to createquality jobs, and are
gaining momentumas a strategy to build and anchor wealthin
communities. . . 5. 1) Freelancer: You do everythingyourself. You
make all the decisions.2) Corporate job: You get to share workand
skills with other people. Someoneelse is ultimately in charge.3)
Cooperative: Work and decision-makingare shared with your
co-workers.Choices 6. MembersI am a member of Agaric, a
growingcooperative of Drupal Developers.One great benefit of being
part of acooperative is being able to devote time tointernal
projects.We all enjoy bringing projects to the groupthat are
beneficial to humanity. 7. The Agaric Collective ModelAgaricAs a
worker cooperative, Agaric's members are allworkers and owners, or
worker-owners, and we workon projects collectively. Although we are
technicallyinternational, we are members of the USFWC (USFederation
of Worker Cooperatives) to support othersin self-determination in
their work.As a collective, we each get a monthly salary (thesame
amount for each of us) and we vote on what todo with the rest of
the profits. 8. ProjectsAs a cooperative, Agaric is using Free
andOpen Source software to develop aplatform to be used as a
service -http://powertoconnect.org - supportspeople connecting on
events and topicalissues that are deeper than a tweet, suchas
meetings or events that may havemember voting, shared documents
ormedia attached that needs to beaccessible on multiple devices. 9.
OptionsWhat are the optionsfor cooperatives and collectiveswithin
technology?Developers cooperatives arean interesting and rewarding
challenge!Agaric also works with larger collectives orfreelance
agencies, as a group. 10. What is Freelancing:Sometimes I use the
term "Freelancing"because this is the beginning of the path forsome
people. Some may fear the word'collective' and feel it has no
foundationalsupport for a consistent revenue stream...In reality, a
Freelancing Company could alsobe a larger or different type of
'collective' -say a collective that does marketing, clientaccounts,
billing, paperwork etc. 11. My focus is on social justice,equality
and equityin the worksphereFocusSupport cooperatives that offer
services like legal, politicallobbyists and activism that will
ensure that laws do not change toimpede your cooperative
efforts.Social Justice and activism is a big part of a cooperative
andwelcoming society. Fairness and openness is a value standard
thatmust be in place for cooperative efforts to survive and
flourish.So, search out the socially conscious activists in your
area and talkwith them about your cooperative and what you will be
doing. 12. MondragonMondragon is one of the leading Spanish
businessgroups, integrated by autonomous and
independentcooperatives with production subsidiaries andcorporate
offices in41 countries andsales in more than150
countries.mondragon-corporation.comhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-obHJfTaQvw
13. Drupal?How does FREE Software likeDrupal work for cooperatives?
14. Define a PathGet familiar with people speaking from
experience:http://commonbound.org/speakershttp://conference.coop/speakers/Get
familiar with what they are speaking
about:http://commonbound.org/sessions 15. 0. Define the
Parameters0. Define the parameters of your
cooperativeenvironment.It could be in Articles of
Organization,ByLaws or a simple contractual agreementbetween
members...or just a handshake.A cooperative or collective is
defined by themembers.Must Have Nice to Have Want to Have 16.
Finding Co-WorkersIn your field 17. 1. Find co-workers1. You need
to find co-workers in your industrythat value one worker one
vote.Talk to people in your personal network aboutyour goal.Let
former co-workers know you are formingor seeking to work with a
cooperative.Must Have Nice to Have Want to Have 18. 1a.
Hackerspaces and MakerspacesSome people are creating co-working
hacker/maker spaces where people cancongregate and work together on
projects. Think of these spaces as incubatorsfor future teams and
projects.There is FabLab A fab lab (fabrication laboratory) is a
small-scale workshopoffering (personal) digital
fabrication.http://www.fabfoundation.org/fab-labs/and DropLabs.net
a HackerspaceAaron E-J is working on creating a Makerspace in
cooperation with AmherstMedia. Aaron's site is -
http://otherrealm.orgHere are some links for you to get involved:
http://amherstmedia.org/makersA Preliminary Proposal for a
Town-Gown Makerspace at Amherst Media:http://bit.ly/1nSQybv 19. 2.
Go to Events2. Go to events where you will meet membersof
cooperatives and ask them how they arestructured internally.There
are meetups (meetup.com) or youcould start one in your area.Reach
out to mailing lists you are on and askif people are interested in
working collectively.Must Have Nice to Have Want to Have 20. 3.
Search and Research3. Search for cooperatives that are listed
inseveral online directories and research theirstrategies.Open
Directory search for all types of
coops:http://find.coop/http://ica.coop/enFood
coops:http://www.coopdirectory.org/Worker
coops:http://www.usworker.coop/member-directoryand of course
Twitter - https://twitter.com/hashtag/cooperatives 21. 4. Options
to Buy4. Discuss options of the workers buying thecompanyIf you are
in a great working situation and thecompany is structured in a
hierarchy - talk tothe owner about the possibility of selling it
tothe workers.The converted cooperative will continue itsbusiness
operations, albeit with a new board,new governance structure, and
new system ofdistributing
profits.http://www.co-oplaw.org/conversion 22. 5. Join a Network5.
Join a cooperative network or 2 or 3...a) http://usfwc.orgb)
http://techworker.coopc) http://bostoncoop.netd) http://worcn.org/
23. 6. Invest in Others6. Invest in other cooperatives.Encourage
pooled funds from successfulcooperatives to help bootstrap new
proposedcooperatives.Seek out people and organizations that
areproviding services that your cooperative mayneed and introduce
them to information thatwill help them get started. 24. Who does
not like good Science Fiction?Turn Covert OperationsintoOvert
Cooperations 25. 7. Use Free Software7. Join in the Free Software
movementso we are not building a cooperative societyon a
proprietary foundation.http://fsf.orgCory Doctorow sheds some
lighthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbYXBJOFgeIAnd if you know
nothing at all about FREE software and what it
means.http://doctormo.deviantart.com/art/Free-and-Open-Source-2-323411054
26. Why Free Software?What does it mean to be dependent onthe
proprietary tools of a competitivesociety vs. the FREE tools of a
cooperativesociety?We are already the owners of high
end,professional, FREE software, yet many ofus are unaware while
others refuse totake possession. 27. We Own Free SoftwareSome of
the FREE software wecollectively own, is the very samesoftware that
most of the Internetruns on.Why are we so willing to pay for
aclosed version of a software thatgives us limited access and
demandscostly upgrading? 28. Benefits1) Pooling contacts (partners
to contract work to,potential clients, mentors).2) Sharing skills
(eg learning from one another).3)Sharing work (time to be sick, to
take a break, towork on non-paying fulfilling or professional
growthprojects).4) Shared responsibility... In theory, it's you and
one ortwo or a dozen or even hundreds of other people,making
decisions in your own best interest, not that ofstockholders,
executives, or owners or imposed bossesof any kind. 29. Jobs are no
longer the goal.Ownership is the future. 30. Legal ResourcesLegal
Links:http://www.theselc.org/legal-guidesThink Outside the
Boss:http://bit.ly/1puPpcN 31. Summary1) Cooperation2) Definition3)
Co-Workers4) FREE Software5) Focus6) Networking7) Research8)
Invest9) Succeed 32. News and ResourcesArticles about
cooperativeshttp://www.thenews.coop/The Guardian -
http://bit.ly/1s83iyEThe ecologist -
http://bit.ly/1oaxYythttp://shareable.net/blog/how-to-start-a-worker-co-opWorth
a listen: "Tech Cooperatives: A Better Way to Make a
Living"http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP9313 with Jack
Aponte of http://palantetech.comStarting a
cooperativehttp://banyanproject.coop/[email protected]
-the best tech-worker-coop-related mailing list that i know
ofhttp://npogroups.org/lists/info/tech-coophttp://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/workercoop/infohttp://www.techworker.coop/My
Projects and
Interests:LibreBoston.orgAgaric.comPowerToConnect.orgVoipDrupal.org
33. Other Links of InterestSome related links below that are not
specific to cooperatives, butare very relevant to change in a
society where coops can
flourishhttp://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries
- Open salary model at Bruce Bufferhttp://building.gittip.com - An
Open company
blueprinthttp://satifice.com/octofice/2013/07/02/tyranny-of-open -
Tyranny of Open - critique of free software's worsening of many
inequalities (particularly gender and
race)http://www.ashedryden.com/blog/the-ethics-of-unpaid-labor-and-the-oss-community
- The Ethics of Unpaid Labor and the OSS Community - by Ashe
Dryden.Thank you for participating in the discussion
