Talking to a journalist tomorrow

CoTech
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Hi all,

I’m talking to a journalist from http://diginomica.com/ tomorrow afternoon at short notice, and I’ll be wearing both worker.coop and CoTech hats. If you have any thoughts or knowledge on the following I would be very grateful for your input!

Even if you don’t have time beforehand, I would like to develop a clear narrative around these questions, as its the sort of thing media and government are asking about, so feel free to add your thoughts anyway. Maybe something to pick up ahead of the March meetup.

Many thanks,
Richard

1 How big is the tech worker cooperative movement in your experience? Is it still the exception rather than the rule or a growing movement? Why? Are there particular countries that are ahead of the curve here, and if so, which?

2 What are the key aims/goals/values of the tech worker cooperative movement? How and why is this different to the rest of the tech sector, and how does this manifest itself in real terms?

3 What are the key drivers/benefits for tech workers in joining the coop movement in your view? What tends to make people move out of the mainstream tech sector and into a coop? Why?

4 Is there a typical profile of a tech worker in the coop movement? Do people tend to have common personality types/values/characteristics, and if so, what are they? What is the most usual entry point to working in a coop and why?

5 What are the key challenges for tech workers in going down this route? What are the biggest barriers to doing so and are there particular approaches/behaviours that can be difficult to get used to after working in the commercial sector? Why?

6 Where do tech worker coops see themselves fitting into the wider tech industry? Do they tend to focus their activities on particular sectors eg NGOs and public sector etc, or types of work? Are they happy providing a niche service? Would they like to take on Big Tech? Or is there a third way? Why?

7 What kind of customers tend to opt for working with tech worker coops and why? What are they looking for in going down this route and what do coops offer them that commercial organisations don’t?

8 How do you expect the tech worker coop movement to develop over the next few years and why? What key trends do you expect to see here and why are they significant?

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Re: question 2. How is the tech coop economy different from the non coop one?

There are two popular terms that describe the reigning paradigm in the non coop tech economy: enshittification (from Cory Doctorow) and the Rot Economy (from Ed Zitron). The tech coop economy is the antidote to these poisons.

The tech coop economy is defined by long term quality and sustainability. We are not in business to make a quick IPO and exit with a trail of disappointed customers in our wake. We treat customers fairly and work with them for a long time.

Why? Because with workers at the helm, we prioritise the work. That’s the foundation of the coop idea and the essence of why a democratic economic unit provides a higher quality service over time.

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Here are some of my thoughts and observations.

  1. The movement doesn’t look big, I only know a few people who are active in technology cooperatives. But I think it’s growing and has potential. I’m not sure about countries, because I know something about English-speaking countries, but others may have their local movements. But even in India, which has a lot of cooperatives, there are very few technology cooperatives.

  2. It should follow the best practices of the wider movement, but focus more on the technological area. We can help more technology professionals to form cooperatives or convert their businesses into cooperatives. We can also build strong links with other cooperatives because it can be mutually beneficial. A cooperative can provide better working conditions and environment, and as owners the workers can get more benefits. It’s not very different from other types of cooperatives. But I’m not sure how it manifests in reality in other cooperatives, I can mostly tell about mine.

  3. As I said in the previous answer. I think that people do not join cooperatives mainly because of lack of education and experience about cooperatives. They may be used to working in regular hierarchical companies and may be too conservative to change. The whole cooperative movement actually has a similar problem: people aren’t informed, aren’t educated about cooperatives, they are stuck in the corporate framework.

  4. Some of them are regular cooperative workers, but in the technical field. And there is a smaller number of active people, like volunteers for different cooperative related projects. I don’t know much about personality traits, but they should share some of them with cooperative workers in other industries. In general, people should be more inclined to cooperate and do something good for others, and less egotistical and selfish. The main entry point is probably some information about cooperatives.

  5. Finding out about cooperatives in general can be the biggest challenge. Then the biggest obstacle is the reluctance to change. Selfishness can also prevent people from joining a cooperative. The benefits of cooperatives are more long term, so people need to understand at least medium term planning, or they can trust someone who can explain it to them.

  6. Tech worker cooperatives can do the same as other types of companies, I think they can work in any field. They have the same weaknesses as other cooperatives, but they also have strengths, for example the possibility of cooperation between cooperatives.

  7. Any customer a cooperative can find. I don’t think there are any restrictions. Cooperatives can at least offer better value for money because they don’t have to pay shareholders and other non-working owners. The cooperative can also work in a network and as a network to offer services from other cooperatives, at least potentially.

  8. Co-operatives should improve their networking as this can be a very attractive feature for customers. We should work on education and awareness. I hope we can work towards building a cooperative think tank, not an academic one, but a more practical one. In this case we can look for solutions to common problems so that many cooperatives can benefit from the results. International cooperation seems important because it helps to look at problems from different points of view and to find like-minded people in different places.

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Thanks, both! That’s helpful!

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