Worker Co-ops Can Lead The Way To A Healthier And More Just Economy
Co-ops operate in the spirit of laulima, or many hands working together with aloha.
By Mike Gabbard
February 2, 2021 · 4 min read
About the Author
Mike Gabbard is a state senator representing District 20 (West Oahu) and is chair of the Agriculture and Environment Committee.
The Hawaii Ulu Cooperative is revitalizing Hawaii’s indigenous food systems as a farmer-owned, competitive supply chain and market for local breadfruit and other regenerative crops. The HUC is owned by nearly 100 small, diversified family farms on Hawaii Island and Maui.
Formed in 2016, the HUC improves community access to ulu by working together. The cooperative members are able to offer consistent, high-quality ulu products that are delicious, local, healthy and sustainable.
When I visited the HUC in September 2018, as chair of the Senate’s Agriculture and Environment Committee, they twisted my arm and forced me to eat some ulu hummus and ulu chocolate mousse. It was beyond onolicious!
Cooperatives like the HUC help develop resilient local economies in the spirit of laulima, or many hands working together with aloha. Officially, cooperatives are autonomous associations of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, cultural needs, and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.
Employees at the Hawaii Ulu Cooperative in Honalo. Co-ops have long been recognized for building resilience in times of global uncertainty. ronitphoto
The cooperative business model provides a proven pathway for individual businesses to work together to address shared goals.
I introduced SB 498 this legislative session to increase the flexibility of Hawaii’s cooperative statutes which will encourage the formation of more beneficial community partnerships. If passed, my bill will allow for different types of co-ops (such as consumer, producer and worker co-ops) in a variety of business sectors and also allow for diverse stakeholders to be members of a single co-op.
Unlike Hawaii’s current agricultural-specific co-op statute, which requires members to be producers of agricultural products, multi-stakeholder cooperatives allow for different types of stakeholders within the same organization. Legal recognition of a variety of types of co-ops would result in greater access to financing through traditional banking institutions.
Many types of businesses, such as those pertaining to sustainable food systems, renewable energy, health care, child care and social services, can benefit from being formed as multi-stakeholder cooperatives. For example, co-ops dedicated to building a local food system may have both producer and consumer members with the shared goal of farmers being able to make a living off the food that they sell and consumers being able to afford it.
Worker-owned cooperatives — companies owned and managed by their workers, with workers sharing responsibility and profits with their peers — are one answer to building a more equitable and resilient economy. Worker co-ops create dignified jobs with living wages, with the average entry wage at a worker co-op being $19.67/ hour.
Worker co-ops in the U.S. produce more than $505 million dollars in estimated revenue each year.
Processing ulu at the HUC. SB 498 seeks to expand the number of co-ops like HUC in the islands.
Co-ops have long been recognized for building resilience in times of global uncertainty because they place communities before profits and keep dollars and jobs in the local economy. Rather than encouraging competition, co-ops collaborate and network with each other to set goals and standards that build sustainable societies.
A 2020 survey of worker co-ops aimed at gauging how well co-ops were handling the COVID-19 crisis showed that co-ops were more likely to redistribute business funds to pay workers, and reduce wages or temporarily furlough rather than lay off workers.
Hawaii’s agricultural co-ops, like the HUC, are leaders in the growth of our local food system, which results in less reliance on imported food.
As we emerge from the worst of the pandemic, rebuilding a healthy economy is at the forefront of our collective minds. SB 498 will encourage co-op development as a necessary tool — rooted in democracy, equality and self-responsibility — for our recovery.
