Grassroots Economic Organizing

Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Jose Orbaiceta, President of the Worker Co-op Federation of Argentina, addresses CICOPA North America conference in Quebec

October 17, 2011
Here are some choice quotes and close paraphrases captured by Jim Johnson and Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, GEO Collective members in attendance:
  • "The world is in crisis because it keeps fattening up the owners of capital."
  • "Private ownership has a social mortgage - it's built by the whole society."
  • "We want a society where capital is the fuel of the business, not the owner of businesses. That is another world."
  • "The first task is to build the cooperative person - build capacity, educate, train."
  • "There are 6000 worker co-ops in Argentina: around 4500 public service (social) co-ops, and around 1500 industrial (service) coops. They constitute ten percent of the GDP...but most of Argentine society doesn't know about them."
  • "The recuperated businesses do not own their buildings, land, assets - only the co-op banks are making it possible."
  • "We are working to change the laws so that bankruptcy proceedings will consider workers to be asset holders."
Workplace Democracy Worker Cooperatives

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