Building the Chicagoland Ecosystem: Advocating for the Policy Changes that We Need

photo of panelists

Owning our workplace is key to building  a healthy cooperative ecosystem. Let’s identify, build worker cooperatives, from service organizations to producers and support organizations that support each other.

Notes

  • Most of the panel will be on worker cooperatives — how to identify and build organizations that transform the economy?
  • How to reform laws & policies to create & sustain these institutions?
  • E.g. Main Street Worker Employee Ownership Act
    • Passed by Congress ~2 weeks ago
    • Allow Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide technical assistance + access to capital to convert traditional businesses to worker co-ops (big barrier to cooperatives)
    • Example of engaging / leveraging local & state policy to transform the economy

Presentations

Stacey Sutton

  • We’re talking about an ecosystem
    • Any business needs support (technical, institutional, financial, expertise)
    • Worker cooperatives are particularly challenging from a governance perspective, and need support
  • Why worker cooperatives?
    • Worker cooperatives are autonomous businesses collectively owned & controlled by workers
    • Typically, capital owns labor in a capitalist system
    • Instead, labor should own capital — means of production are controlled by workers
  • Other municipalities — creating & enabling environments for worker cooperatives
    • Looked at 12 cities that are “cooperative cities” — municipal leaders investing in different ways in worker cooperatives
    • Lots of attention in municipal government to support cooperatives
    • 3 models / types:
      • Top-down model relies on anchor institutions (e.g. hospital, educational institutions) for contracts, not the community, e.g. Cleveland, Richmond, VA; Rochester, NY
      • Bottom-up cities, with history of community-driven expansion; Legislation, resolutions, support –> expansion in worker cooperatives; e.g. Philly, Oakland
      • Cultivator cities — both top-down and bottom-up attention to worker cooperatives; building public awareness of cooperatives + putting capital into cities; e.g. NYC, Madison
  • What are cities doing?
    • Building blocks for scale
    • Accelerate growth
    • Legitimize & popularize
  • What is Chicago doing???
    • Cities are very competitive, and will do things if you show them a list of other cities doing cool things
  • ==> CCEC = Chicagoland Cooperative Ecosystem Coalition
    • Emerging (not fully formed yet)
      • Bring in stakeholders that can provide important elements (e.g. tech assistance, cooperatives, etc.)
      • Will formalize this coalition
      • Received very very very small grant to host meetings of the coalition
    • Presented resolution & policies to Cook County to support cooperatives
      • Vision for next 3 years (pilot program)
      • 7 things!
      • Resources are siloed & not connected right now
  • Different elements:
    • Technical assistance
    • Building public awareness & worker / institutional awareness
    • Research & policy
    • Finance
    • Education & training
  • Commissioners on Social Innovation Committee are excited — right now, e.g. Chuy is supportive!
  • Next step: two hall meeting on 10/17 @ 6pm-8:30pm; again, focus is on worker-owned cooperatives (not consumer cooperatives)

Eric Rodriguez

  • Cooperation Chicago: Building Chicago’s Worker Cooperative Ecosystem (report)
    • Same presentation given to county commissioners previously
    • Turnout was decent, by the commissioner’s estimate / perception
  • Worker centers = similar to unions in late 1800s, improving conditions, etc.
    • Now applied to the “new economy” — temporary worker economy, not regulated (“the Wild West”)
    • Legacy of slavery, E.g. domestic worker bill of rights — include these workers in labor rights, recognize them as workers!
    • Sprung up around 2001 out of pure necessity, temp workers facing harassment, wage theft, etc.
      • No one knew how to handle these situations, since who is the employer? staff agency? warehouses?
      • Also, immigration intersection — undocumented workers
    • Sectors: street vendors, temp agency, day laborers, domestic workers, restaurant workers, warehouse workers, taxi drivers
    • How to sustain organizing work? needed to learn nonprofit game (foundations, grants, etc.). Talking in nonprofit industrial complex language to explain work to funders
    • Many worker centers are successful, but hitting a limit
      • Especially current climate questioning 501(c)(3) status of worker centers, maybe they should be unions
      • But theory of change / tactic are different, e.g. using popular education
      • Is this sustainable as a future? Worker centers don’t have dues like unions, and depend on grants — when you follow the trail, sometimes the funders are actually parties creating labor issues in America
    • Domestic Worker & Day Laborer Center felt desire to be more self-sustained, independent; Explored worker cooperatives (e.g. Cafe Chicago, coffee cooperative housed by Dark Matter)
  • White paper — building off work of others, putting the pieces together — partnership between Illinois Worker Cooperative Alliance + John Marshall Law School IWCA = lots of worker centers (including Eric’s)
  • Worker cooperative definition = broadly defined (look in report for details)
  • Scale:
    • 350 cooperatives in the US
    • 7K workforce
    • $365M revenue
    • Majority POC, women; These are often based in communities of color! Those communities are most affected by worker exploitation
  • Recommendations — details in report
    • Stakes = survival for these workers — 66% chance that day laborers aren’t paid what they originally negotiate