CABL Forum - Forget Unions! What About Co-ops?

cooperative (also co-operative; often referred to as a co-op):
-a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit;
-jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprises;
-a business owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services or by the people who work there.

Unions are a good idea, but right now they are laboriously complicated and require unrealistically widespread cooperation amongst strangers. I believe an intermediate step between where we are now and where we could one day be with unions is the co-op. Perhaps one day, the different co-ops could organize to create the unions so many of us seek. For now basically, you and a bunch of your scorned installation buddies can band together and get a joint contract from whoever it is you want to work with (Directv, DISH, Comcast, etc.) Responsibilities would be delegated however the collective saw fit, but the profit structure could vary from co-op to co-op.

Some friends of mine attempted a co-op last year, working with an MDU contract, consisting of installation technicians, a warehouse manager, and the possibility of a rover who went wherever needed. At the time we thought it best to have each installation tech keep what he earns, a rate determined after a percentage of the company gross was committed to insurance, warehouse rental; essentially all the overhead while yet another percentage, determined by average technician's earnings for that week, would be paid to whoever was the manager (we discussed a rotating management scheme as well). Our theory was that we could cut out the middle man (the contractor we subbed for) and keep his portion of the pie while assuming his duties collectively. In hindsight I would have tried to devise a way where everybody earned the same, considering the ownership of the company is equal, pay should be no different (chargebacks would be divied in a similar manner where those who created them, say non-responders, would share the penalties imposed by Directv). Perhaps we could have devised a scenario where nobody went home until everybody was finished or all jobs were under control.

We followed through with our plan and started a company called United Tech (y'all out there know who you are). What made our co-op extra unique was that we were all willing to travel. Things were going good until the company representative we trusted turned on us in favor of our former management. Turns out they were good friends. Nonetheless, the company technically still exists and I still have hopes for it. Unted Tech is currently scattered throughout the country but maybe one day we could reunite...or maybe one day me and a whole bunch of other screwed over techs will perfect the process and lead by example for the rest of the industry.

What do you guys think?

INSTALLATION

CONSTRUCTION / TECH

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Forget Unions! What About Co-ops?