Elvy del Bianco, program manager for co-operative partnerships at Vancity Credit Union, believes the growth in B.C.’s co-operative business sector is driven in part by a desire for good jobs. The province, he said, is still suffering from the economic shock of the 2008 financial crisis.
“Job security is a thing of the past. Access to good, stable, well paying jobs is being overtaken by the gig economy,” he said. “People are seeing that it’s not a very friendly economy out there.”
A similarly unfriendly economy, he said, was what inspired the original creation of co-operatives in 19th century England. The pressures of industrialization drove skilled workers such as shoemakers, tailors and cabinet-makers to look for alternatives to capitalism. Del Bianco sees a similar thing happening today.
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