1. Cooperatives: a strategy for CED 1

2. 1. The Cooperative Model  10 million Canadians and 1 billion people worldwide are members of coops 2

3.  Traditional coops used social methods to provide goods and services at reasonable prices  Today, many coops are economic structures to achieve social goals 3

4. What makes a coop CED?  Local ownership  Democratic decision-making  A response to community needs 4

5. An alternative  Somewhere between: Government programming, and Free (market-based) enterprise 5

6. Northern Italy  Social coops provide: Health care Home care Social services Education Recreation Job training Employment 6

7. Solidarity Coops in Quebec  Multi-stakeholder  Health care cooperative jointly owned by medical professionals and health care consumers 7

8.  For more examples and applications, see the posted pdf: “New Synergies: The Cooperative Movement, CED, & the Social Economy” 8

9. 2. Worker Ownership as a CED Strategy  Chapter 11 in text  In 1991, the employees of Algoma Steel Corporation in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, led by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) bought out Algoma Steel, the third largest steel company in Canada. 9

10. Arguments for worker ownership:  Local decision-making  Generating local investment  Builds community capacity  Builds social capital 10

11. Argument against  High risk 11

12. Benefits  Continued employment  Worker-owners developed skills and knowledge  Survival of the company and therefore the city 12

13. Benefits continued  Maintenance of wages and benefits at former rates  Productivity improved due to worker participation  Workplace democratization 13

14. Benefits continued  Spillover effects into the community  Inclusion of more working class people on community boards 14

15. Benefits continued  Greater confidence among employees  Relationship building in their family lives 15

16. Conditions for Success  union played a major role  such initiatives usually involve a few hundred employees, not a few thousand  more suitable for industries requiring smaller amounts of capital than steelmaking 16

17. Appropriateness of strategy for CED  viable strategy when a plant is about to close due to insufficient profit margins  more likely to succeed under leadership from a union or a successful community organization 17

18. Appropriateness of strategy for CED  small to medium sized enterprises are preferred  most appropriate for situations where financial requirements are smaller 18