Unpacking Platform Cooperativism

he distrust of the dominant extractive economic model is growing, companies in the on-demand economy have been criticized for the “nullification of Federal Law,” the elimination of democratic values like accountability, dignity, and rights for workers. Every Uber has an unter; old command has been replaced with new command. However, trying to reverse the spread of contingent work seems futile; it is hard to imagine a return to the days when most people worked a 40-hour week.

Silicon Valley loves a good disruption, so let’s give them one. At the example of five different types of platforms, Scholz will offer ten principles for platform cooperativism and then aim to join the various pieces that make up this puzzle, ranging from ownership, financing, free software, design, and governance, to scale. It is about structural change, cooperative and municipal ownership models, legal protections, inventive unions, a redefinition of innovation, and collective decision-making. Platform cooperativism is a rectangle of hope. At this event, let’s start to build a politically powerful movement that expresses our ideas.

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