1. Cooperatives and Collectives Think Outside the Boss Presentation by: Michele (Micky) Metts Design4Drupal 2014

2. Cooperatives and Collectives Think Outside the Boss Presentation by: Michele (Micky) Metts Yes! Cooperatives And Collectives! 3. My name is Michele Metts, people call me Micky and I am known as FreeScholar in the Drupal Community. I am a member of Agaric, a tech cooperative and LibreBoston a sub group of Boston Linux User Group. I speak to groups about the realities of using FREE software, and I facilitate discussion on building cooperatives and collectives. I am a Drupal Hacker. I joined the Drupal community in 2006. About Us 4. Worker cooperatives are businesses owned and controlled by the people who work in them, the cooperative members. They are a time-tested way to create quality jobs, and are gaining momentum as a strategy to build and anchor wealth in communities. . . What is a Worker Cooperative: 5. 1) Freelancer: You do everything yourself. You make all the decisions. 2) Corporate job: You get to share work and skills with other people. Someone else is ultimately in charge. 3) Cooperative: Work and decision- making are shared with your co-workers. Choices 6. I am a member of Agaric, a growing cooperative of Drupal Developers. One great benefit of being part of a cooperative is being able to devote time to internal projects. We all enjoy bringing projects to the group that are beneficial to humanity. Members 7. The Agaric Collective Model As a worker cooperative, Agaric's members are all workers and owners, or worker-owners, and we work on projects collectively. Although we are technically international, we are members of the USFWC (US Federation of Worker Cooperatives) to support others in self-determination in their work. As a collective, we each get a monthly salary (the same amount for each of us) and we vote on what to do with the rest of the profits. Agaric 8. As a cooperative, Agaric is using Free and Open Source software to develop a platform to be used as a service - http://powertoconnect.org - supports people connecting on events and topical issues that are deeper than a tweet, such as meetings or events that may have member voting, shared documents or media attached that needs to be accessible on multiple devices. Projects 9. Options What are the options for cooperatives and collectives within technology? Developers cooperatives are an interesting and rewarding challenge! Agaric also works with larger collectives or freelance agencies, as a group. 10. Sometimes I use the term "Freelancing" because this is the beginning of the path for some people. Some may fear the word 'collective' and feel it has no foundational support for a consistent revenue stream... In reality, a Freelancing Company could also be a larger or different type of 'collective' - say a collective that does marketing, client accounts, billing, paperwork etc. What is Freelancing: 11. My focus is on social justice, equality and equity in the worksphere Focus Support cooperatives that offer services like legal, political lobbyists and activism that will ensure that laws do not change to impede your cooperative efforts. Social Justice and activism is a big part of a cooperative and welcoming society. Fairness and openness is a value standard that must be in place for cooperative efforts to survive and flourish. So, search out the socially conscious activists in your area and talk with them about your cooperative and what you will be doing. 12. Mondragon Mondragon is one of the leading Spanish business groups, integrated by autonomous and independent cooperatives with production subsidiaries and corporate offices in 41 countries and sales in more than 150 countries. mondragon-corporation.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-obHJfTaQvw 13. Drupal? How does Drupal work for cooperatives? 14. Define a Path Get familiar with people speaking from experience: http://commonbound.org/speakers http://conference.coop/speakers/ Get familiar with what they are speaking about: http://commonbound.org/sessions 15. Must Have Nice to Have Want to Have 0. Define the parameters of your cooperative environment. It could be in Articles of Organization, ByLaws or a simple contractual agreement between members... or just a handshake. A cooperative or collective is defined by the members. 0. Define the Parameters 16. Finding Co-Workers In your field 17. Must Have Nice to Have Want to Have 1. You need to find co-workers in your industry that value one worker one vote. Talk to people in your personal network about your goal. Let former co-workers know you are forming or seeking to work with a cooperative. 1. Find co-workers 18. Must Have Nice to Have Want to Have 2. Go to events where you will meet members of cooperatives and ask them how they are structured internally. There are meetups (meetup.com) or you could start one in your area. Reach out to mailing lists you are on and ask if people are interested in working collectively. 2. Go to Events 19. 3. Search for cooperatives that are listed in several online directories and research their strategies. Open Directory search for all types of coops: http://find.coop/ http://ica.coop/en Food coops: http://www.coopdirectory.org/ Worker coops: http://www.usworker.coop/member-directory and of course Twitter - https://twitter.com/hashtag/cooperatives 3. Search and Research 20. 4. Discuss options of the workers buying the company If you are in a great working situation and the company is structured in a hierarchy - talk to the owner about the possibility of selling it to the workers. The converted cooperative will continue its business operations, albeit with a new board, new governance structure, and new system of distributing profits. 4. Options to Buy http://www.co-oplaw.org/conversion 21. 5. Join a cooperative network or 2 or 3... a) http://usfwc.org b) http://techworker.coop c) http://bostoncoop.net d) http://worcn.org/ 5. Join a Network 22. 6. Invest in other cooperatives. Encourage pooled funds from successful cooperatives to help bootstrap new proposed cooperatives. Seek out people and organizations that are providing services that your cooperative may need and introduce them to information that will help them get started. 6. Invest in Others 23. Who does not like good Science Fiction? Turn Covert Operations into Overt Cooperations 24. 7. Use Free Software 7. Join in the Free Software movement so we are not building a cooperative society on a proprietary foundation. http://fsf.org Cory Doctorow sheds some light https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbYXBJOFgeI And if you know nothing at all about FREE software and what it means. http://doctormo.deviantart.com/art/Free-and-Open-Source-2-323411054 25. What does it mean to be dependent on the proprietary tools of a competitive society vs. the FREE tools of a cooperative society? We are already the owners of high end, professional, FREE software, yet many of us are unaware while others refuse to take possession. Why Free Software? 26. Some of the FREE software we collectively own, is the very same software that most of the Internet runs on. Why are we so willing to pay for a closed version of a software that gives us limited access and demands costly upgrading? Why Free Software? 27. 1) 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, to work on non-paying fulfilling or professional growth projects). 4) Shared responsibility... In theory, it's you and one or two or a dozen or even hundreds of other people, making decisions in your own best interest, not that of stockholders, executives, or owners or imposed bosses of any kind. Benefits 28. Let's explore the potential that both cooperatives and Free Software have to more equitably distribute power. Explore 29. Jobs are no longer the goal. Ownership is the future. 30. Legal Links: http://www.theselc.org/legal-guides Think Outside the Boss: http://bit.ly/1puPpcN Legal Resources 31. We all are equal owners of Free Software, and combined with worker cooperatives we could all be equal owners of the productive resources of the world... Cooperate 32. 1) Cooperation 2) Definition 3) Co-Workers 4) FREE Software 5) Focus 6) Networking 7) Research 8) Invest 9) Succeed Summary 33. News and Resources Articles about cooperatives http://www.thenews.coop/ The Guardian - http://bit.ly/1s83iyE The ecologist - http://bit.ly/1oaxYyt http://shareable.net/blog/how-to-start-a-worker-co-op Worth 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.com Starting a cooperative http://banyanproject.coop/starting-a-news-co-op tech-coop@npogroups.org -the best tech-worker-coop-related mailing list that i know of http://npogroups.org/lists/info/tech-coop http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/workercoop/info http://www.techworker.coop/ My Projects and Interests: LibreBoston.org Agaric.com PowerToConnect.org VoipDrupal.org 34. Some related links below that are not specific to cooperatives, but are very relevant to change in a society where coops can flourish http://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries - Open salary model at Bruce Buffer http://building.gittip.com - An Open company blueprint http://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. Other Links of Interest Thank you for participating in the discussion