Igalia Chats
Tech Unions and Co-Ops
Nov 6, 2023
Valerie Young joins Brian Kardell and Eric Meyer to discuss the concept of tech unions and co-ops. They explore the organizational structure and decision-making in a cooperative, thresholds and transparency in cooperatively managed companies, and the essential ingredients for starting and running a cooperative. They also discuss the possibility of organizing a co-op track at a conference and the experiences and contrasts of co-ops, standards, and free software projects.
52:48
Episode guests
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Tech unions address power imbalances and provide collective bargaining, but extreme imbalances can still occur.
- Cooperatives like Igalia prioritize team collaboration, shared decision-making, and removing hierarchical structures.
Deep dives
The Importance of Tech Unions in Balancing Power
Tech unions are seen as a necessary way to address power imbalances and provide collective bargaining in larger companies. They can help mitigate power imbalances but may not offer complete balance due to extreme power imbalances that can still occur.
