Membership/admission decisions
Harry "Outlandish" Robbins Mon 25 Sep 2017 2:08PMPublicSeen by 106A place to discuss individual applications from potential CoTech members (co-ops).
Discussions about changing/defining/refining policies should be had on Discourse and then brought here for ratification
Harry "Outlandish" RobbinsMon 25 Sep 2017 4:03PM
Thought it would be good to collect this stuff together.
My understanding of the current situation is thus (see also https://coops.tech/join):
- self-identifies as a worker co-op that sells technology and conforms to Worker Co-op Code = automatically accepted
- multi-stakeholder co-ops where workers make up at least 50% controlling interest = proposal via Loomio
- not worker-controlled, not a co-op, not based in UK or not selling tech = can't join
Harry "Outlandish" RobbinsMon 25 Sep 2017 4:03PM
Organisations that have not been allowed to join so far include:
- Brighton Digital Exchange - not a worker co-op (made up of privately owned companies)
- GreenNet - currently owned by a charity and therefore not technically autonomous. Asked to reapply once conversion to worker co-op complete
- Protozoa - based in New Zealand (an Enspiral venture) - we'll notify them if we go international
- Digital Life Collective - not a worker co-op - instead a meta-co-op-network-network which CoTech could join
- Buy Smart - consumer rather than worker co-op
Harry "Outlandish" RobbinsMon 25 Sep 2017 4:10PM
Organisations that have been allowed to join that are not strictly worker co-ops include:
* Outlandish - constitutionally a consortium co-op, though only has worker members and no plans to change this
* Web Architects technically a multi-stakeholder co-op split 50/50 between employees and clients
* We Are Open - technically some sort of consortium/freelance co-op
* The Dot Project, Go Free Range, FolkLabs and others - proto-co-ops with articles that are compatible with worker co-ops, that work as co-ops and meet all the guidelines from the Worker Co-op Code but which are not formally/legally constituted as worker co-ops
Shaun FensomMon 25 Sep 2017 4:39PM
Also CBN, a freelancer coop, is a member
Allow Developer Society to join CoTech
proposal by Harry "Outlandish" Robbins Closed Fri 13 Oct 2017 4:34PM
Developer Society are eligible to join CoTech. Yay!
https://www.dev.ngo/ is a successful Birmingham-based multi-stakeholder tech co-operative. It was started last year after the owners of Blanc Ltd deciding to mutualise. It currently has three stakeholder groups - employees, clients and (controversially?) founders. I believe this last category was created as a way to safeguard the company culture and direction during the transition, and am waiting for some more details.
Results
| Results | Option | Votes | % of votes cast | % of eligible voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agree | 9 | 90 | 9 |        | |
| Abstain | 1 | 10 | 1 |  | |
| Disagree | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Block | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 89 | 90 |               |
10 of 99 votes cast (10% participation)
Chris Croome (Webarchitects Co-operative)
Mon 25 Sep 2017 6:43PM
Their site looks great, hope someone from their co-op is able to make it to Wortley Hall.
Harry "Outlandish" RobbinsTue 26 Sep 2017 9:47AM
They seem that they would be a good addition to the network and seem to be a worker co-op in practice
Simon GrantWed 27 Sep 2017 3:06PM
Looks like they are in line with many of our core values.
Graham
Sun 8 Oct 2017 3:37PM
Abstaining because I don't have the information that I asked for, and therefore can't make a sound decision.
Sion Whellens (Principle Six) ·Mon 25 Sep 2017 2:56PM
Good initiative. Would it be better to keep applications here, but have the discussion about membership policy over at CoTech Community, then bring it here for decision once drafted?