81–90 of 472 posts
>Because it can be hard to get everyone in the same room, most votes are held via a Discord server. People respond to proposals with a thumbs-up emoji for yes, a thumbs-down for no, and a monocle to signal they want further discussion — a closer look, if you will I would love a retrospective on the role of Slack and Discord as tools of revolutionary politics in the last decade or so. Seems like no matter where you fa…
One thing that I never understood was, if an employees wages are tied to the success of the company, would that not incentivize better work ethic as a whole? That is how it works in the start-up world. You get equity, you have literally invested in the company, and you know that your work should (in theory) directly benefit you financially. Instead we end up in a system where the employee/employer relationship is inh…
You might enjoy the This American Life episode called NUMMI: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/nummi-2015 It looks at how Toyota took GM's worst plant and made it one of the best using the same workers. And how GM's management refused to learn lessons from that. I think the current antagonism is something that started with management many decades ago. But now it has a lot of momentum, such that people on both side…
I think the current antagonism is something that started with management many decades ago.
I think the pattern goes back, well, as far as you want to go back. There have always been individuals who think that they* should be in charge. There's a continual 'tug-of-war'.
For centuries, only a very few people were able to participate directly - when the world largely consisted of monarchies, empires, "hoards", and all of that**. Ancient Athens, and more recent "Enlightenment" ideas about "natural rights" and "mandate of the masses" etc. have generally been unusual in practice until quite recently.***
The data strongly support much more shared power past a certain level of technological and economic development, but, even if aware of the myriad examples, people with power-lust aren't going to stop. It's directly contradictory to that worldview, ambition, etc. - in multiple ways. And, any given person is likely to tack more towards or away from such notions over time, depending on multiple factors.
Right now, it seems there's much more interest, in multiple realms, on consolidating power, again.
Caveat populus.
* Not consciously intentional play on "the royal we"
** Before that, there's a lot more variation, AFAIK, but also a lot less confidence and evidence - though, ancient Egypt and China (three kingdoms etc.) come to mind as particularly early examples with solid enough information regarding ruling over large numbers of people by individuals (and various attempts &/ smaller "kingdoms" etc.)
*** "Radical", some might say "insolent"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does the landlord know how much money the restaurant is making? All they would know is that the rent is paid on time and the restaurant "looks busy," which really isn't an accurate picture of income at all.
> How does the landlord know how much money the restaurant is making? They don't. But when the local newspaper food reviewer gives you a glowing review and there's lines out the door waiting for a table when you have full covers for the night, and they happen to drive by /their/ building and see this, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you're doing well. The unfortunate reality of restaurant economics m…
Worker-owned anything can work. It's democracy in the workplace.
Worker-owned anything can work. It's democracy in the workplace.
Why doesn't the word "rent" appear in here anywhere? If the landlord becomes aware that the restaurant pays way above industry norms, it will raise the rents at the earliest opportunity to squeeze that money back out of the business. Either they own the building or have an existing long-term lease.
Those evil landlords and their infinite pricing power. If only there was competition among landlords (ie, build more). In all seriousness, businesses can move (easier said than done for a restaurant) and commercial leases are very long, 5-10 years.
Couldn't be a coincidence, just couldn't. /S
* Somehow finances have to work, which is usually a harsh reality for some. Ex: Hey we can't pay workers $250/hr without raises prices to above what customers are willing to pay
* Consumers despite "Least common denominator" which is often the result of "design by committee". Usually consumers are after something niche, unique, artistic, and creative, which is the inspiration or vision of an individual.
> As for making business decisions, it’s done democratically. The entirety of the member-owner group votes on major decisions, and the bylaws outline scenarios where employees are authorized to act independently of a vote
I don't see this working in the long term unfortunately unless a majority of the workers have a lot experience with business, especially something as cashflow-sensitive as a restaurant (which typically operate on razor-thin margins). But I do wish them luck in their experiment.
Ref: Noam Chomsky on Worker Ownership and Markets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RafTFDwImrU