21st Century: Workers' Control in the Present

Wed, 22/02/12

Greek hospital now under workers’ control

Health workers in Kilkis, Greece, have occupied their local hospital and have issued a statement saying it is now fully under workers control.

The general hospital of Kilkis in Greece is now under workers control. The workers at the hospital have declared that the long-lasting problems of the National Health System (ESY) cannot be resolved. read more »

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Thu, 26/01/12

A Multiple Socialist Administration Model and Enterprises of Social Property (ESP) in Venezuela - Success, Difficulties, Prospects

For a transition from capitalism to socialism, the multiple socialist administration model is proposed, to avoid the Soviet mode of production, in which there persisted alienation and exploitation.

For a transition from capitalism to socialism the multiple  socialist administration model is proposed in order to avoid what the author calls the Soviet mode of production, in which, despite the elimination of the private property of the means of production, there still persisted social alienation, a hierarchical social division of labor and thus the exploitation of man by man.  Through Direct Social Property Enterprises (the property of popular communities) and Indirect Social Property Enterprises (state property) articulated in hegemonic integral socio-productive chains and networks and with the participation of forms of private property, including cooperatives, it is possible to advance toward integral sustainable human development. read more »

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Tue, 24/01/12

Intersections between worker cooperatives and labour unions

Speech hold the 4th November 2011 at the International Conference: «Den Betrieb übernehmen. Einstieg in Transformation?» / «Occupy, Resist, Produce». Worker Cooperatives – Potential for Transformation?

Panel: Gewerkschaften und Betriebsübernahmen/Genossenschaften

03. - 05.11.2011, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin
http://www.rosalux.de/documentation/44505

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Tue, 24/01/12

The Impact of Mondragon in the US

Solidarity Economy on the move

"I don't think we get the socialism by multiplying cooperatives - like mushrooms after the rain. I think cooperatives are just one tactic, one weapon among many in our arsenal."
Davidson speaks about the Mondragón Corporación Cooperativa (MCC),

Speech hold the 5th November 2011 at the International Conference: «Den Betrieb übernehmen. Einstieg in Transformation?» / «Occupy, Resist, Produce». Worker Cooperatives – Potential for Transformation?
Panel: Solidarity Economy on the move read more »

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Tue, 24/01/12

Cooperatives in Argentina after the crisis

The creation of new social relationships is an important part in the process of cooperative endeavours. Sitrin (City University of New York) has conducted research since 2001 in Argentina with the oral history method, and highlights the importance of cooperative enterprises in the communities.

03. - 05.11.2011, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin
http://www.rosalux.de/documentation/44505

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Tue, 24/01/12

Workers' self-directed enterprises

From handling crises to social transformation

«The idea of workers self directed enterprises is that the workers displace and replace the capitalists with themselves. This has to be the next step in the process of transformation.»  read more »

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Tue, 24/01/12

Solidarity petition: support Jugoremedija workers' struggle in Serbia

Support Jugoremedija workers' struggle

To the head of EU Delegation to Serbia, mister Vincent Degert,
To the European Parliament Special Envoy for the Balkans, mister Jelko Kacin,
To the deputies of the European Parliament,

Dear sirs,
For almost a year and a half, Jugoremedija, pharmaceutical factory from Zrenjanin, and Penpharm, penicillin production plant – which has been being built by „Jugoremedija“ and a group of its worker-shareholders – have been under severe pressure from political structures, financial magnates, and Serbian media. Although in June this year EU ordered Serbia to investigate 24 contestable privatizations, among which was the illegal sale of Jugoremedija’s shares in 2002, Serbian authorities waste no time in taking steps directly opposite to the Brussels’ demands. read more »

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Thu, 12/01/12

Strike Bike: an occupied factory in Germany

The 124 workers of Bike Systems in Nordhausen have occupied the factory since the July 2007. At the end of October 2007 they will start producing solidarity bicycles under self management.

Nordhausen is a small town in Thuringia (former DDR). Of its 43,000 inhabitants 7,500 are unemployed. Bicycles have been produced here since 1986, initially as part of an engine factory with 4,000 workers. After German reunification, only the bicycle production remained, and most recently 135 workers and up to 160 temporary workers were labouring there. read more »

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Tue, 20/12/11

Self-managment and Solidarity Economy: the challenges for worker-recovered companies in Brazil.

This article focuses on the experiences of worker-recovered enterprises in Brazil that became self-managed organizations. By tracing their origins, characteristics and relations to the widest field of Solidarity Economy, we discuss some of their present challenges, including their relationship with the State, the trade unions and others. We start by outlining the major discussions about adequate terminology, which at the same time provides the first insights into the social and economic structure of the sector. read more »

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Thu, 01/12/11

Mondragon revisited

It is impossible not to be impressed by the resilience that has enabled this great complex of worker-owned cooperatives to take their share of economic hits and emerge largely unscathed.

In the face of the global financial crisis that has Spain’s unemployment level standing currently at some 22 per cent, the Mondragón co-operatives offer an astonishingly successful alternative to the way we organise business and economies.

Revisiting recently for the fifth time, since the early nineteen-eighties, the great complex of worker-owned manufacturing, retail, agricultural, civil engineering and service cooperatives centred on Mondragón in the Basque region of Spain, it was impossible not to be impressed by the resilience that has enabled them to take their share of economic hits and emerge largely unscathed. read more »

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