These companies with no CEO are thriving

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

There's a grocery store in Brooklyn, New York,

在紐約布魯克林有一間雜貨店，

with sales per square foot 4 times as high as any other grocery store

每平方英尺的銷售額是該地區 任何其他雜貨店的四倍。

in the area.

10,000 people work there, and it doesn’t have a CEO.

有一萬人在那裡工作， 且還沒有執行長呢。

This place is the Park Slope Food Co-op,

這個地方就是公園坡食品合作社，

and it’s one of 3 million cooperatives, or co-ops for short, around the world.

是全世界三百萬個合作社之一。

Co-ops are a big part of the global economy:

合作社是全球經濟很重要的一部分：

they employ 280 million people— 10% of the world’s workforce

它們僱用了兩億八千萬人—— 佔全世界勞動力的 10%。

and the equivalent of over $2 trillion flow through their doors every year.

等同於每年經手超過兩兆美金。

How is it possible that a business with 10,000 workers doesn’t have a CEO?

怎麼可能一間企業會有 一萬名員工卻沒有執行長？

To answer that, we have to talk about what a co-op is and why they were founded.

要回答這個問題， 就得談到合作社是什麼

以及為什麼成立。

Let’s rewind to 1844.

咱們先倒帶到 1844 年。

A group of 28 weavers in Rochdale, England

在英國的羅奇代爾有二十八名織布工

came together to create and co-own a store.

集結起來要開一間商店， 並一起當業主。

By buying in bulk directly from suppliers, they could negotiate prices,

透過直接向供應商購買，

他們能協商價格，

which allowed all of them to buy stuff they couldn't otherwise afford.

讓他們能買到原本 他們負擔不起的東西。

They ran the store collectively and democratically,

他們以民主的方式共同經營 這家店，在當時相當不簡單。

which was remarkable at the time.

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers wasn't the world's first co-op,

羅奇代爾公平先鋒協會並不是 全世界第一個合作社，

but it was the first to publicize its principles—

但它是第一個把原則 公佈出來的合作社——

principles that guide co-ops to this day.

至今，這些原則 都還是合作社的指引。

Today, there are all kinds of co-ops:

現今有形形色色的合作社：

REI in the US and S-Group in Finland are large consumer co-ops.

美國的娛樂設備公司及芬蘭的 S 集團是大型的消費合作社。

Credit unions and mutual insurance companies are financial sector co-ops.

信用合作社和相互保險公司 則是金融部門的合作社。

And when farmers or other producers come together, that's a producer co-op.

由農民或其他生產者集結 成立的則是生產合作社。

And then there are worker co-ops,

還有勞動合作社，

like Mondragon in Spain or The Cheeseboard in Berkeley, California,

比如西班牙的蒙德拉貢 或加州柏克萊的起士板，

which are founded to provide jobs to people in the community.

它們成立的目的是要提供 工作機會給社區居民。

Some consumer co-ops, like Park Slope,

有些消費合作社，如公園坡，

require their members to work shifts in the store.

要求會員必須要到店內排班。

In exchange for their work, members pay 15 to 50% less for groceries,

會員去工作可以換得 15% 到 50% 的雜貨折扣，

and they influence what products are— or aren’t— sold there.

且他們能影響店內要—— 或不要——銷售哪些產品。

Three crucial things to know about co-ops:

關於合作社一定要知道的三點：

first, all co-ops are jointly owned by their members,

第一：所有的合作社 都是由會員共同擁有的，

whether those members are consumers, producers, workers, or whoever.

不論會員是消費者、 生產者、勞工等等。

Unlike traditional companies, which can have outside shareholders,

不像傳統公司可以有外部的股東，

all owners of a co-op are also members.

合作社的每個業主都是會員。

Second, co-ops are not founded to maximize profit.

第二：合作社成立的目的 不是追求最大利潤。

Many do turn a significant profit, but that’s not their core mission.

許多合作社的確賺不少錢， 但那並非它們的核心使命。

So evaluating a co-op purely by traditional business metrics

所以，若只用衡量傳統 企業的方式來評估合作社

ignores the most important reason for their existence:

就會漏掉它們存在最重要的理由：

how well do they serve their members?

對會員的服務做得多好？

And third: co-ops are controlled democratically by their members.

第三：合作社是由會員 以民主方式管控。

But how do decisions get made?

但，要怎麼做出決策？ 各家有所不同。

It varies.

At a small worker co-op like The Cheeseboard,

在小型勞動合作社，如起司板，

day-to-day operational decisions are just made by the workers.

日常營運決策就單純由勞工來決定。

As co-ops get larger, they do institute some form of leadership or management.

當合作社越來越大時，它們確實會 設制某種形式的領導者或管理者。

Park Slope has a general manager who leads the 80 or so employees.

公園坡有一個總經理 來領導八十多位員工。

And the largest network of worker and consumer co-ops in the world,

而世界上最大的勞動 及消費合作社網路蒙德拉貢，

Mondragon, has a president and managers who lead

有一位總裁和一些經理 來領導約三萬名勞工業主

the roughly 30,000 worker-owners and 50,000 contract workers.

以及五萬名約聘勞工。

But leadership roles in a co-op are very different than in a traditional company.

但在合作社中的領導角色 和傳統公司非常不同。

The leadership implements policies that its members or worker-owners

領導者執行的政策是 其會員透過投票商定的政策。

have agreed upon, by vote.

And at Mondragon workers, can vote to fire the president.

而蒙德拉貢的會員能投票開除總裁。

At a co-op, there’s no single person

在合作社，沒有單一個人

with overarching, top-down power over everyone else,

有權支配一切， 由上而下主導所有人，

like a CEO would have in a traditional company.

不像傳統公司中有個執行長。

Meanwhile, in both co-ops and traditional companies,

另外，在合作社以及傳統公司中，

major company-wide decisions are made by voting.

關於全公司的重大決策 都是由投票決定。

But who votes and how is wildly different.

但誰有投票權及投票的 方式則大大不同。

In a traditional company, voting rights usually come with shares of stock.

在傳統公司中， 投票權通常來自股份。

The more shares you own, the more votes you have.

有越多股份就有越多票。

Take Alphabet, the parent company of Google:

以 Google 的母公司 字母控股為例：

there are thousands of shareholders,

股東有數千人，

but the two founders control 51% of the votes

但兩位創辦人掌握 51% 的票數，

and therefore the direction of the company.

因而能決定公司的走向。

In a co-op, every member has the right to vote,

在合作社，每個會員都有投票權，

and in most co-ops, every member gets one vote.

在大部分的合作社中， 一個會員有一票。

That difference results in radically different policies

這個差別，導致合作社的政策 和傳統公司有很大的不同。

than you’d find at traditional companies.

For example, Mondragon limits the salaries of its management

比如，蒙特拉貢會限制 其管理階層的薪資，

to about 6 times what the lowest paid worker makes.

大約不能超過勞工最低薪資的六倍。

In Spain, CEOs of traditional companies make, on average,

在西班牙，平均來說，執行長的薪資

143 times as much as a typical worker.

是一般勞工的一百四十三倍之多。

At Park Slope, there’s a monthly general meeting,

公園坡每月會舉辦全員會議， 任何會員都可以出席投票，

where any member can show up to vote,

動議需要得到多數支持才能通過。

and a motion needs a simple majority to pass.

It then gets taken up by the Board of directors,

表決過的動議會交給 合作社會員組成的董事會

which is composed of co-op members, for official approval.

做正式核准。

At The Cheeseboard, the worker-owners try to reach consensus on major decisions.

在起士板，勞工業主會試圖 在重大決策上達成共識，

This means that some decisions can take a long time.

這意味著，有些決策 要花很長的時間。

For example, in the late 1970s,

比如，在 1970 年代末期，

the workers debated whether to post a sign outside declaring

針對是否要在外頭張貼標牌聲明 起士板是集體企業，勞工辯論了

that The Cheeseboard was a collective for one and a half years.

足足一年半。

But the extensive discussion, and disagreements,

但多方面的討論和歧見 讓這個決策非常穩固——

around that decision made it a solid one—

The Cheeseboard still advertises the fact that it’s a collective

近五十年後的今天， 起士板仍然在廣告中

almost 50 years later.

宣傳它是集體企業。

And that’s not all that’s working well at co-ops.

合作社做得很好的還不止於此。

Studies in the UK show that co-op start-ups are almost half as likely

英國的研究顯示，新創合作社

在五年內倒閉的機率 將近傳統企業的一半。

to close within five years as traditional businesses.

And in one study, researchers polled 600 workers

有研究中針對兩間居家健康照護 企業的六百名勞工進行調查：

at two in-home healthcare businesses:

one was a worker co-op and the other was a traditional company.

一間是勞動合作社， 另一間是傳統公司。

The workers did similar work with similar salaries.

它們的勞工薪資和工作內容都類似。

The biggest difference?

最大的差別？

Co-op workers were about 40% happier with their jobs.

合作社勞工對於工作的 滿意度高出 40%。