[SSC] Worker Co-operatives: Something to think about before tomorrow's SSC meeting

[Joss Winn]

Hello everyone,

In our original statement of intent we referring to the SSC as being a
'workers' co-operative'. When Mike and I were writing this, we had a
pretty good idea of what that meant, but it's necessary to be clear on
how it is generally understood and is something we can discuss at
tomorrow's meeting:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Worker_cooperative

That's a very interesting article and you might be interested in
following the link to the Rochdale Principles and learning about the
Rochdale Pioneers, among many other threads.

One thing that stood out for me was the distinction made in one thread
between producer and consumer co-operatives, where worker co-operatives
are thought to fall into the producer class of co-operatives or even
constitute a third-way of co-operative organisation. It will be
interesting to consider this model in light of teaching and learning,
academic and student, and the co-production of our curricula. Given that
we're keen to get away from the student-consumer model, it seems fitting
to align the SSC with producer or worker co-ops. I am interested to know
what you think.

Charles Cooke from the Lincolnshire Co-operative Development Agency will
be attending tomorrow's meeting and able to answer any questions you
have about the co-operative structure. Mike and I have also asked
Charles and the CDA to offer support in setting up the co-operative and
forming an outline Business Plan.  Here's a document Charles sent us
today which might be of interest to you:
http://www.uk.coop/resources/documents/starting-co-operative

If any of you have experience in setting up a co-op and want to pitch in
on this topic, please do.

Cheers
Joss