Long before the pandemic hit, cooperative workers and their organizations were heroic. In the midst of 40 years of Neoliberalism, the coop movement has dreamed of socialist ways to run its bakeries, health clinics, laundromats and more. But during this capitalist crisis coops are showing ways in which they are superior to capitalist businesses. For one thing, there are fewer job losses because workers take a shared pay cut rather than leave. Secondly, when the same workers stay on the job, it will be easier and faster to resume the enterprise in better times. Thirdly, unlike capitalist institutions, worker-coop lenders take the hit if a business goes under. Lastly the author proposes a “solidarity fund” to support laid off workers.
Read in GEO Coop