Free Geek, a Computer Recycler: Testing the Limits of Reproducing Worker-Managed Enterprises

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:43:20 -0400

By Jim Johnson, GEO Collective

Since its founding in 2000, worker-managed non-profit Free Geek of Portland, Oregon, has supplied over 15,000 refurbished computers to individuals and community organizations, and has also ethically recycled 2,000 tons of non-reusable computer components (known as "e-waste"). Along the way, they've also successfully reproduced their organizational model, with nine similar organizations having taken root in the US and Canada. But they've also encountered some special challenges in propagating their model, and their experience offers some important cautionary tales for co-ops and collectives seeking to do the same.

A Snapshot & A Challenge: The Worker Co-op Movement

admin — Sat, 19 May 2007 22:39:06 -0400

By Melissa Hoover

Worker co-ops, community organizing, asset-building, economic development, environmental sustainability. These connections came up again and again at the recent national worker cooperative conference, a co-op conference that was exciting to me in part for the number of people attending who weren't --as yet--in co-ops.

Democratic Nonprofits

Free Geek, a Computer Recycler: Testing the Limits of Reproducing Worker-Managed Enterprises

A Snapshot & A Challenge: The Worker Co-op Movement