Royal Mail - a workers cooperative?

[the deliverer]

I think the present state of affairs is pi$$ poor and is now going to drag on through the coming year. The negative outcome is certainly not going to benefit posties. If the government is so keen to get rid of Royal Mail is it not possible that the service could become a worker cooperative. Don't know much about cooperatives, but interesting link gives some insight. Anybody think it could work for Royal Mail?

[jello]

YES

[the deliverer]

Extracts from article:

"Unions are often unnecessary in worker cooperatives as the workers have direct control over the management and ownership of the business - they are negotiating with themselves."

"Economists have modeled the worker cooperative as a firm in which labor hires capital, rather than capital hiring labor as in a conventional firm."

Sounds a better way of running a business.

[NWpostie]

would depend on who is doing the running.

[the deliverer]

Worker self-management (or autogestion) is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices (for issues like customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labour etc.) instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it.

To quote an extract from article below:

"Worker control can be exercised directly or indirectly by worker-owners. If exercised indirectly, members of representative decision-making bodies (e.g. a Board of Directors) must be elected by the worker-owners (who in turn hire the management) and be subject to removal by the worker-owners. This is a hierarchical structure similar to that of a conventional business, with a board of directors and various grades of manager, with the difference being that the board of directors is elected.
If exercised directly, all members meet regularly to make - and vote on - decisions on how the co-operative is run. Direct workers' cooperatives sometimes use consensus decision-making to make decisions.[11] Direct worker control ensures a formally flat management structure instead of a hierarchical one. This structure is influenced by activist collectives and civic organizations, with all members allowed and expected to play a managerial role. Such structures may be associated with more radical political aims such as anarchism, libertarian socialism and participatory economics.[12][13]
Some workers' cooperatives also practice job rotation or balanced job complexes to overcome inequalities of power as well as to give workers a wider range of experiences and exposure to the different jobs in a work place so that they are better able to make decisions about the whole workplace. The Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse is a good example of a workplace that does this."

Would be nice to see our managers involved in job rotating!