Democratizing Work after the Pandemic Speaker Series
The Economic Democracy Initiative (EDI), led by Bard College, is the Open Society University Network's collaborative program focusing on the structural determinants of economic insecurity. Its projects examine the connections between inequality, unemployment and poverty and the policy space and financing capacities of governments to address these challenges.
EDI Lecture Series, Working Paper Series, and Data Resource Tools
Our inaugural projects focus on building data resources for research on labor markets and the connections between unemployment, precarious employment, and broader socioeconomic deprivations.
Organized and hosted by the OSUN Economic Democracy Initiative, this five-day workshop is for undergraduate students interested in public policy to tackle economic instability and insecurity, and in understanding the financing capacity and policy space available to governments to pursue these aims.
Cooperatives Between Worker Activism and Normalization: A Comparative Perspective
Online Event8:00 am – 9:30 am EDT/GMT-4 The Economic Democracy and Democratizing Work Initiatives present Cooperatives Between Worker Activism and Normalization: A Comparative Perspective.
Speakers: Sonia Maria Dias (WIEGO), Suroto Ph (AKSES, INKUR Federation), Morshed Mannan (the New School, European University Institute), with Lisa Herzog (University of Groningen, Netherlands) and Flavia Maximo (University of Ouro Preto, Brazil) as chairs
Cooperatives are often seen as the democratic form of work, with workers not only sharing in governance structures, but actually owning the company. And yet, the form that cooperatives take in different countries is very distinct. In some parts of the world, they result from forms of worker activism, often in response to crisis, and are embedded in broader social struggles for social justice and the emancipation of workers. In other countries, they occupy a small but stable niche and struggle not to become normalized with regard to business practices and work relations. And in the digital sphere, the principle of cooperatives has been rediscovered in the “platform cooperativism” movement, which sees growing interest in industries such as delivery or household services.
How much promise lies in the form of cooperatives for organizing work? Do they live up to their promise to give workers real voice in the workplace? How do the experiences in different countries compare, and what can they learn from each other? How could we ensure that more capitalist firms can turn to the cooperative form? This webinar brings together three speakers, from three continents, with ample expertise about the cooperative sector and its specific challenges. Together with them, and in dialogue with the audience, we want to explore how cooperatives can contribute to the democratization, decommodification, and decarbonization of work, and what kind of structural changes would allow more cooperatives to be successful.
