>As I understand, you don't really need money to make a co-op, [...] The most plausible route I've heard is freelancers forming a co-op where they pitch in some portion of what they make to a shared pot [...] , but it seems a plausible way for individuals without a bunch of money to start a co-op.
But that type of freelance co-op isn't really what most people are thinking about when the discussion follows the template of "Big company <X> did something bad so why don't workers form a co-op <Y> instead of being screwed over by <X>?!?"
In this thread, the topic is "IBM" laying people who are "too old". In response, some observers think "workers should form co-ops" to avoid being screwed over. In other words, the hypothetical co-op version of an "IBM" wouldn't lay off old workers. The "freelancers co-op" doesn't apply to this story of an IBM middle manager (MaryKathryn Doheny) being laid off.
The issue is that companies like IBM, or Google, or Tesla, etc are by their very nature -- capital intensive -- so there won't be co-op alternatives for those.
Still the same underlying economic factors: the car workers don't have the money to pool together and form a worker-owned car factory -- and the founders/investors who are motivated to start a new car company are not interested in sharing equity with a 100% worker-owned structure.
That's why the employees who don't like Tesla's ownership structure can't quit and go work at a worker-owned co-op electric vehicle manufacturer.
Yes, your realistic scenario of a co-operative is something I already outlined in a previous comment of "consultants co-op office" : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14647223
But that type of freelance co-op isn't really what most people are thinking about when the discussion follows the template of "Big company <X> did something bad so why don't workers form a co-op <Y> instead of being screwed over by <X>?!?"
In this thread, the topic is "IBM" laying people who are "too old". In response, some observers think "workers should form co-ops" to avoid being screwed over. In other words, the hypothetical co-op version of an "IBM" wouldn't lay off old workers. The "freelancers co-op" doesn't apply to this story of an IBM middle manager (MaryKathryn Doheny) being laid off.
The issue is that companies like IBM, or Google, or Tesla, etc are by their very nature -- capital intensive -- so there won't be co-op alternatives for those.
Still the same underlying economic factors: the car workers don't have the money to pool together and form a worker-owned car factory -- and the founders/investors who are motivated to start a new car company are not interested in sharing equity with a 100% worker-owned structure.
That's why the employees who don't like Tesla's ownership structure can't quit and go work at a worker-owned co-op electric vehicle manufacturer.