Re: [tlug] Introduction to (Tech) Worker Cooperatives, 09:00AM on Sunday, July 12th JST

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 9:53 AM Kevin Sullivan <kts@example.com> wrote:

Another solution could be found in the story of FedEx… The heart of the system is all planes coming together at one airport and in the middle of the night to sort & chuck packages going East, West, to one city, etc. They had all sorts of trouble trying to get it done timely, trying different things/rules/pay structures. Finally the solution was “everybody gets paid the same for each shift and nobody goes home until the job gets done.” Rather magically everybody pitched in worked fast to get it finished because everybody wanted to get home quicker. Get the incentives right and people will sort it out how best to respond.

Reminds me of a job I used to have in a previous life :-) .  We had to do night shifts in Japan and the very Japanese solution (IMHO) is that everyone had to do night shifts.  So we flipped from day shift to night shift every week or so.  It was terrible on the body and it helped me gain respect for anyone who ever has to do night shifts -- police, hospitals, convenience store staff, etc.  It's rough...  Anyway, the company was American and in the USA, their solution was to ask staff to choose between night and day shift and the night shift received a higher salary.  Something like 10%?  Perhaps a very western/American solution?

However, I think hospitals world-wide probably choose the first approach, with younger people stuck with night shifts more.  It is fairer.

Anyway, interesting discussion about worker co-operatives, but I think we're forgetting the most important thing which is the customers.  If you have no customers coming, then it doesn't matter which model you operate under.  I don't think many customers care too much about the model under which a business operates.  Some care but most probably want the best price for the product or service being offered.  Your business needs to survive in order to see the next day.  Capitalism might exist because businesses that operate under it are the ones that end up surviving...

Ray