[p2p-research] In Defense of Worker Ownership

[Michel Bauwens]

hi Patrick,

I'm in favour of governance and ownerhship models that combine stakeholders,

I forget the name of a french author who wrote a big thesis on liberal
communism, which described such as system in which workers owned 51% and
their clients/users 49%

the details matter less than the principle,

Michel
On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 9:34 PM, Patrick Anderson <agnucius at gmail.com> wrote:

> We read about a group of end users investing for Use-Value alone at
> http://P2PFoundation.net/Cooperative_Public_Phone_Booth_Model<http://p2pfoundation.net/Cooperative_Public_Phone_Booth_Model>
>
> They say these Means of Production (the phone booth) has such low
> maintenance that there will be no need to hire anyone to do any work.
>
> But the initial connection of the booth to the phone company's lines
> must certainly have been done by a worker.
>
> And it seems likely there will be a time in the future when some part
> of the phone must be serviced where none of the users has the
> expertise to do so.
>
> And even if a user can be found with those skills, why should he not
> receive some 'extra' ownership for his exertion even if he doesn't
> receive a Wage?
>
> So, in defense of the idea that production cannot be fair unless
> Workers have at least part of the Ownership, shouldn't those workers
> gain some ownership in that phone booth?
>
> What do proponents of Worker Ownership hope to achieve for those who
> labor when they say User Ownership is insufficient to 'protect' those
> workers?
>
> In what way is a worker "disenfranchised" when he does not have extra
> ownership (beyond what he needs as a user) in the Means of Production?
>
> When the users own the Means of Production they might hire workers,
> especially when that labor is highly skilled.
>
> What demands will a worker proclaim and be able to require when he has
> 'sufficient' ownership?
>
> Will this ownership be used to increase his own Wage?  Does that mean
> Worker Ownership is a form of protectionism against market-driven
> Wages?
>
> If so, then why would Users choose to include workers in this way?
>
>
> Sincerely,
> Patrick Anderson
> Social Sufficiency Coalition
> http://SourceFreedom.BlogSpot.com <http://sourcefreedom.blogspot.com/>
>
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