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Written by: Zhang Mengying
2019-11-30 12:00
Last updated: 2019-11-30 12:00Staff-friendly cooperatives have thrived in different countries and regions around the world, but their development in Hong Kong has lagged behind. Hong Kong's supporting legislation is one of the important reasons. In Hong Kong, those who advocate platform co-operativeism, such as Professor Qiu Linchuan, look forward to the use of technology and cooperatives to strengthen cooperatives.
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Different cooperative organizers abroad have different ideas about what role cooperatives play in the capitalist world. Qiu Linchuan said, "Our group of (promoting platform co-operativeism) people will want a" replacement "and a post-capitalist organizational form. If their (foreign cooperative organizer) society is not vicious but relative A virtuous capitalist society, like Northern Europe and Canada, would not want to overthrow the system. "
For example, Qiu Linchuan said that at a conference organized by the Platform Cooperation Alliance, Finnish participants thought that they coexisted with technology giants such as Google, and their emergence made mobile phone software more diverse. "Finland is also a capitalist economy, but its capitalism is more socialist than socialism in many places. It has high welfare and is very equal. He does not think capitalism is so evil." On the contrary, the participants in the United States treated capitalism as such. Much sharper, this is the difference in the lines produced by the interaction between the internal and external economic form of the cooperative organization. Qiu Linchuan emphasized: "Society is the most alive, including the needs of workers, which are constantly changing."
In Hong Kong, the impact of internal organizations and the external environment on cooperatives is a variety of operational difficulties for cooperatives. Hu Meilian said helplessly that cooperatives in Hong Kong may still be at the level of practical experience in organizational life, and its influence is still limited to individual members and the communities in which the cooperatives are located. As reported by the CUHK Grassroots Concern Group, the vast majority of CUHK students are satisfied with the services provided by women workers cooperatives. John, a member of the grassroots Concern Group, believes that the existence of cooperatives as a model unit proves that economic democracy and workplace democracy are feasible Sex is the practice of this concept, which keeps it constantly attracting the attention of students and the public.
John, a member of the grassroots concern group, believes that the cooperative has proved the feasibility of economic democracy and workplace democracy. (Photo by Deng Qianying)
Regarding the future development of cooperatives in Hong Kong, Qiu Linchuan is quite optimistic. He believes that there is a strong tradition of cooperation and mutual assistance in Hong Kong's history, and the socio-economic soil is very fertile. He observed the cooperative movement from the perspective of science and technology. He felt that technology may bring better prospects to the cooperative movement, and the organization of cooperatives does not have to follow the "Cooperatives Regulations" to register. It can be implemented through other forms. Operating under the cooperative model, methods can be modified as long as members' decision-making rights are guaranteed.
As employment becomes more fragmented, as of the second quarter of 2018, the number of scattered workers (including self-employed, part-time, temporary, and fixed-term contract workers) was 770,000, accounting for 21.6% of the workforce. Qiu Linchuan and his team are currently doing research on scattered workers in different industries in Hong Kong. They plan to set up cooperatives for scattered workers within two years, and then operate through the "platform + cooperative" approach. He believes that technology should not serve unicorn companies like Uber, but should be implemented through cooperatives. After landing, the cooperative should also be profitable, "hiring cooperative workers with decent wages."
Qiu Linchuan introduced a successful example in "Platform Cooperation"-American domestic helper cooperative Up & Go. On the surface, Up & Go is Uber's "housekeeping service version", but it is a typical platform that combines traditional cooperative organization principles with Internet technology. After users look for home cleaning services on Up & Go, the platform will match the appropriate home cleaning cooperatives nearby, which accept tasks in a collective form, and collective work allows members to exchange cleaning skills and cooperation with each other, improving work efficiency. The difference between this platform and Uber is that not only are the fees transparent, but also the income given to members is transparent. The platform guarantees that 95% of the amount paid by users belongs to members, and the remaining 5% is used for platform operations. Like the CUHK Women Workers Cooperative, the platform also organizes regular meetings. Workers need to attend the meetings to discuss pricing and other issues.
Transfer knowledge to the next generation
Why emphasize cooperation between technology and cooperatives? Qiu Linchuan lamented that the current cooperative movement in Asia (especially Hong Kong) is a bit out of touch and faces a crisis of cross-border relations. "I'm almost 80 years old." "Our generation is very sensitive. Young people's attention is on mobile phones. They don't (let cooperatives) enter mobile phones. They pass through the door of cooperatives 10,000 times and don't know what cooperatives have." Therefore, the cooperation between the mobile phone platform and the cooperative can realize the knowledge of the cooperative more easily between generations.
Qiu Linchuan lamented that the cooperative movement in Asia is a bit out of touch and facing a crisis of cross-border relations. (Photo by Zhang Mengying)
Although Qiu Linchuan supports the cooperation between cooperatives and platforms, he is also concerned about this: The new concept of the combination of cooperatives and technology platforms can easily get venture capital, but platform cooperatives originally wanted to eliminate the exploitation of workers by platform capitalism. Once the capital is obtained, whether the spirit of cooperative principles can continue to develop remains an unclear question. Under the difficult circumstances of the operation of Hong Kong cooperatives, whether the combination of technology and cooperatives will bring new vitality to the Hong Kong cooperatives movement, let more people know, agree with and support the concept of cooperatives, is even more difficult to predict.
Note: Cooperative Pine is an activity organized by Qiu Linchuan and different supporting cooperative organizations. Different cooperative organizations and "hackers" (ie programmers) in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan will be invited to participate. The programmers and cooperatives will work together to solve the technical problems facing the organization. The result of cooperation can be an App (application) or a resource management system. Qiu Linchuan recalled that the cooperation platform that impressed him most in Songzhong last year was the cooperation between programmers and the Taiwan Simakus tribe. The Simakus tribe is an Atayal tribe in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. Some conflicts broke out among the clan. In order to better develop the tribe, the clan began to establish a joint management structure in 2001, developed tourism in the form of cooperatives, and realized the concept of "land sharing and co-existence."
Qiu Linchuan believes that many indigenous people do not return to the tribe after entering the city, and the return of the Atayal of Simacus may be because they do not have the concept of class cooperatives.
The scenery of the Simakus tribe is very good, but the way to enter the tribe is not convenient. After the tourists come to the tribe, it is not easy to manage. So the Simakus cooperative and the programmer created a human resource management system to help Simacus' tourism industry. Know more precisely how many tourists there are, where they go and what their needs are.
related articles︰
[Platform Cooperation. I] Cooperatives + online platforms resist exploitation in emerging economies
[Gig Economy. A] Rights protection is not self-employed for takeaway riders such as "self-destruction"
[Gig Economy. 2] The nature of the delivery driver's work is flexible and free? Many hidden restrictions
[Gig Economy. Three] The Internet reverses employment relations but government policies still lag
[Gig Economy. Four] Reasonable labor security management and the government should no longer make excuses
[Gig Economy. Five] Capital oppression is also evolving
The above excerpt is from the 190th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly Report (November 26, 2019) "From Traditional Cooperatives to New Economic Platforms: How to Enjoy the Free Bonus in the Internet Age".
More weekly articles: [01 weekly report page]
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