Benefits
Some benefits of worker cooperatives and a worker cooperative credit union:
Quality Jobs - Worker cooperative members enjoy empowering work, higher wages, better benefits, self management, and training for the democratic skills necessary to actively participate in joint decisions in a collaborative environment. Labor unions frequently request participation in corporate management decisions and are often denied. The right to democratic participation is inherently protected by the structure of worker cooperatives.
Towards Full Employment - The Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU) is the level of unemployment thought necessary to maintain a constant rate of inflation. This structural unemployment is believed to be in the range of 4-6% of the workforce meaning 6-9 million Americans are to remain without jobs for the sake of ’stable’ money. The concept confuses the purpose of money, a tool to serve the needs of the people, with ’stable’ money becoming an end serviced by permanent unemployment. This unemployment burden falls disproportionately on the weaker segments of society who can be denied adequate compensation based on institutional discrimination relating to race, gender, education, economic class, sexual orientation, etc. Their input into economic decisions addressing structural unemployment is neither solicited nor acknowledged with policy changes. This credit union will help address this issues by striving to create full employment and provide jobs where they are most needed.
Reduced Financial Speculation - The global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $60 trillion, while notional value of outstanding derivatives is $600 trillion. These derivatives are used mostly for speculation, not managing the risks of real economic activity as they are usually justified. This speculation is disproportionately concentrated in the US. Financial speculation produces negative effects on the real economy while consolidating wealth in the richest segment of the population. The sub-prime and credit crisis is a direct result of speculative finance collapsing. Rampant speculation threatens the entire economic system while speculators are bailed out at taxpayer expense with the excuse that the action is necessary for public benefit. Increased worker ownership will refocus the emphasis on real, productive economic activity.
Reduced Concentration of Wealth - Wealth is highly concentrated. About 80% of stock ownership is concentrated in the top 10% of the population. About 40% of stock is owned by the top 1%. The bottom 40% of the population have negative net worth (excluding their primary residence) and the bottom 50% have essentially no equity investments. Corporate profits go mostly to the equity owners through dividends or increased share prices. The stock price of a company will correlate well with a 5 fold increase in profit, but wages won’t. Worker ownership will ensure profits are retained by the workers.
Self Reliance - The main goal of the credit union is to build the infrastructure to necessary to increase worker cooperative employment by generating new worker cooperatives. This would give the worker cooperative community an enhanced ability to create and protect jobs and share the benefits of cooperative employment more widely. If would also enable worker cooperatives to provide themselves with additional financing options.
Economic Alternatives - This project will produce improved jobs, consumption options, and enhance capital deployment. This credit union will provide an alternative to recycling money back into the capitalist system through banks by instead using it to support worker cooperative growth. This capital will be used by labor for production, instead of capital employing labor for profit. New worker cooperatives will also produce goods and services whose consumption would directly benefit workers. Increased cooperative employment will provide jobs that benefit the members and the community instead of further concentrating profit.
Human Rights and Social Justice - Many of these extremely important problems are difficult to address because of dominant big business and elite interests. These are catered to in government through a capital intensive lobbying system supplanting democracy on a wide range of issues. It is hoped that more democratic participation at work will translate to improved democracy in society.
