Self-Government & Screening Potential Members

Putting Democracy To Work – This book is not actually that good – it is and it isn’t. It is clear to me that the authors have never DONE what they are writing about – and so they seem to repeat the same idea over and over in an attempt to help us, but without any real experience, they aren’t really able to address the actual ideas in an applicable way – so – we will write our own book – but it’s what we have to work with at the moment, so I am going to work with it –Putting Democracy To Work – This book is not actually that good – it is and it isn’t. It is clear to me that the authors have never DONE what they are writing about – and so they seem to repeat the same idea over and over in an attempt to help us, but without any real experience, they aren’t really able to address the actual ideas in an applicable way – so – we will write our own book – but it’s what we have to work with at the moment, so I am going to work with it –P  28 – “Democracy is a method for people to govern themselves, not a method for property owners to govern their property.”Let’s take a look at that sentence. I think we have already come up against this – I think perhaps we don’t understand this idea of “self-government”.Self-government does not mean, in my experience, that we just have a smaller version of a corporation in which we let our friends govern us rather than our state officials or our boss.It means that I govern myself – I have some principles that some of us have agreed to like –Each member of the coop is but a small part of a great whole. The coop must continue to live or most of us may be unemployed/ underemployed. Our common welfare comes first, and personal welfare depends upon the coop’s unity.So, if I adopt this principle as an attitude, and a self-governing principle for myself – then I am going to act differently towards you and think differently about everything than if I was using “I am taking care of myself only and I need to protect myself from harm and I am soley responsible to provide myself with enough money and shelter, and everything else I need.”I am going to trade the latter principle in for the former as I govern myself. As a result of this change – everything in my life might change –I might change my time schedule so that I can get up earlier and have more daylight time available for the coop. I might start eating better and exercising so that I have more energy and calmness in dealing with you all. I might restructure my whole week so that I get out and get fresh air more regularly so that I am better able to deal with the demands of being a better listener or friend or be able to show up on time places to be more dependable so I don’t feel like I am spending too much time on you and not enough time on me –This is just examples of how I might take this principle in – chew it up, swallow it and digest it so that it becomes my self-governing principle – rather than – me just getting together and coming up with some principles, electing a board and sticking the principles in some bylaws and then getting the new board to tell me what to do while I keep on doing what I have always done.They don’t go into detail like this in the book, which is how I know it is just theory to them. The only way I know that is because I have applied this before – and come up against it – even in a small group – there can be a fascist government. It is then impossible to self-govern in a small group when there is a fascist leader who is hidden but feared by the rest of the group and to whom all votes have been given.P. 35 “Nearly every organization screens prospective members by some set of criteria. Worker-owned cooperatives are no exception. It should be recognized that not everyone can or should join a worker-owned cooperative.”Let’s take a look at this idea. When I first started this – I had no criteria except unemployment or underemployment or desire to work in a coop. Now that we have been doing this for almost 2 months, I am starting to see a need for screening criteria.Bill Kirton mentioned to me early on that interviewing people might be a good idea – but at the time I didn’t have any experience to base this idea on. Now I do and am thinking it is a great idea.We still have some new people who are interested in coming in – just today a woman contacted me who is a crafter-seamstress. At this stage of the game, I am going to suggest and orientation followed by a group interview.We could ask prospective new people to show up at the end of our regular meeting or the beginning – for a group interview in which all members of the coop could ask them questions. We can prepare some questions and watch their body language and listen to their answers and then discuss them and decide.Then we could invite them to participate on trial basis – and see how we feel – so that we don’t have the same problems we have currently been encountering.“The group must establish some criteria to insure that the potential entrant is the kind of person who can be integrated into the workplace and into the cooperative….Not only professional qualifications but morals are closely looked at…“Following initial acceptance  a worker undergoes a (x amount of time) period during which the immediate supervisor assesses his or her social acceptability.” We could do that before we form legally.“The importance of a screening process is illustrated by the hard won experience of Space Builders, a worker-owned North Carolina construction firm. Several times in their early years they hired people impulsively, either because of a desperate need for help or personal association. In a few months they were forced to fire them because it became evident that these workers lacked the motivation and did not accept the group’s norms or expectations.”