scholarly journals A study of the statutory background for worker cooperatives in the US: a proposal for a regulatory framework

2019 ◽  
pp. 19-54
Author(s):  
Sofía Arana Landín
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
State Level ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Economic Stress ◽  
Agricultural Cooperatives ◽  
The People ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Worker Cooperatives ◽  
Worker Cooperative

The lack of a clear and comprehensive regulatory framework for worker cooperatives is one of the main causes for their scarcity in the USA, as it causes ignorance and uncertainty even though cooperatives are one of several forms of doing business recognized by the Internal Revenue Code (like sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies, LLC’s, and Subchapter S corporations). Tax laws divide businesses into those categories, each with its own special tax provisions and worker cooperatives try to fit into any of those forms of business while “acting on a cooperative basis”, thus, having their own specificities. Even though at a State level there are regulations for agricultural cooperatives in all States, there are only less than 30 States that have either worker cooperative regulations, general cooperative regulations or consumer regulations which worker cooperatives can use. However, the situation in the USA now demands for these entities. The fact that a particular attention is being given to worker cooperatives as an aftermath of the recent crisis is not news, as we have seen, historically2, cooperatives have traditionally emerged in situations where the public sector was unable to provide the response required by the people, for instance in support for financial access, housing, or decent livelihoods. As ZEULI and CROPP state it: “The historical development of cooperative businesses cannot be disconnected from the social and economic forces that shaped them. Co-ops then, as now, were created in times and places of economic stress and social upheaval”. Different studies during the previous recession show how worker cooperatives increase their turnover and number of jobs, while other enterprises shrink, being this the reason why their study at this moment becomes a must. Thus, there should be a minimum understanding and control of what a worker cooperative is in order to be able to register and act like a real worker cooperative. Quoting GUTNECHT “allowing something that is not a cooperative to call itself a cooperative squanders a precious asset – the goodwill and public trust that reposes in the word ‘cooperative’”. Thus, the USA is missing a very important instrument in order to fight against unemployment, inequality, income maldistribution and unsustainable development at a time when there is a conscience by a majority of the population in different movements that demand a change. This change is possible if educational, cultural and legal issues are properly addressed, as it has been done in other countries and higher instances, creating a fairer, equitable and more cohesive and sustainable society, thus a better world to live in. This paper aims to conduct a comparative statutory research on cooperative law for worker cooperatives in the USA, with a view of promoting an increased understanding within the academic and governmental communities, at a national and international level in order to promote worker cooperatives. In the case of New York public policies tacking this issue are already being devised. If this goal is achieved we will all benefit from them.Received: 26 April 2018 Accepted: 08 April2019Published online: 22 July 2019

scholarly journals The scarcity of worker cooperatives in the USA: enquiring into possible causes

2018 ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Sofia Arana Landin
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
York City ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Worker Cooperatives ◽  
State And Local

Even though the access of workers to capital has been promoted in some countries for over centuries, Governments and public bodies have started to promote it worldwide, as in previous occasions, more particularly as an aftermath of the Great Recession, usually in the form of worker cooperatives.However, workers’ access to capital in the USA in the form of worker cooperatives is still surprisingly rare. We cannot find any recent public policies at a federal level in order to promote them and the old ones that exist remain mostly obsolete and unknown. Only at a state and local level, we find in the latest years a series of actions directed to achieve this goal, as in the case of New York City, where there is an important budget to promote the access of workers to capital more particularly after 2012 and, among others, worker cooperatives are being formed.The purpose of this paper is to enquire about the possible causes of the scarce number of worker cooperatives in the USA as the only way of offering solutions comes from understanding the causes.

scholarly journals “What’s Happened to the People?” Gentrification and Racial Segregation in Brooklyn

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-572
Author(s):  
Themis Chronopoulos
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Racial Segregation ◽  
Black Neighborhoods ◽  
The People ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Racial Desegregation ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article explores the relationship between gentrification and racial segregation in Brooklyn, New York with an emphasis on Black Brooklyn. With more than 2.6 million residents, if Brooklyn was a city, it would be the fourth largest in the USA. Brooklyn is the home of approximately 788,000 Blacks with almost 692,000 of them living in an area that historian Harold X. Connolly has called Black Brooklyn. In recent decades, large portions of Brooklyn, including parts of Black Brooklyn have been gentrifying with sizable numbers of whites moving to traditionally Black neighborhoods. One would anticipate racial segregation to be declining in Brooklyn and especially in the areas that are gentrifying. However, this expectation of racial desegregation appears to be false. While there are declines in indices of racial segregation, these declines are frequently marginal, especially when the increase in the number of whites in Black neighborhoods is taken into consideration. At the same time, gentrification has contributed to the displacement or replacement of thousands of long-term African American residents from their homes. This persistence of racial segregation in a time of gentrification raises many questions about the two processes and the effects that they have on African Americans.

Saving Ireland in Juteopolis: Gender, Class and Diaspora in the Irish Ladies’ Land League

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall Whelehan
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Gender Balance ◽  
Local Setting ◽  
The People ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Working Class Women

Abstract First established in New York in 1880, the Irish Ladies’ Land League soon had branches across Ireland, the USA, Britain, Canada and Australasia and represented an unprecedented advance in Irish women’s political activism. In Dundee, Scotland the organization found a particularly receptive environment due to the distinctive gender balance of the Irish community there, with working-class women a large majority. This article analyses how a transnational movement translated into a local setting and how emigrants’ activism was shaped by factors of class, gender and religion. The circulation of mobile agitators and newspapers connected local branches in Dundee with the wider world of the Irish land reform movement, and this article seeks to uncover a more textured picture of the people who collected funds, attended rallies, and who are too often considered in the plural, as anonymous supporters grouped together under ethnic or political banners. The picture that emerges challenges existing views of the Ladies’ Land League as a predominantly middle-class affair. In Dundee the members were overwhelmingly working-class and their harsh experiences in the city’s jute industry shaped their activism. Local Catholic networks and ideas of religious humanitarianism contributed significantly to the branches, yet clergymen did not direct their activities, rather they responded to women’s mobilization.

State of the sector: US worker cooperatives in 2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Other Information ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Worker Cooperatives ◽  
Worker Cooperative

Purpose This is a national census of all worker cooperatives in the USA for 2017 implemented by the Democracy at Work Institute which is affiliated with the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the largest worker cooperative association in the USA. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Longitudinal survey with descriptive analysis of results. Findings The author identified 394 worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces in all areas of the country in fiscal year 2017 (though early tracking for 2018 shows at least 400 such businesses). While the typical worker cooperative is small (about nine workers and about $588,600 gross annual revenue) and either recently launched, or converted to the form, there are many notable examples of very large and/or long lasting businesses. Together they employ an estimated 6,734 workers and produce about $467m in revenue each year. The following analysis attempts to outline the basic geographic, structural, economic and demographic features of these enterprises. Research limitations/implications The author reached out to this list of businesses via e-mail and telephone contact between August and November 2018. This included both members of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives and non-members. The author asked participants to provide information based on their fiscal year 2017 performance. The survey asked similar questions to the prior year’s survey (e.g. total revenue, total assets, total wages, net income, total workers, total worker–owners, etc.), but also included some small changes in content, format and style. In total, 105 worker cooperatives responded and either fully or substantially completed the survey questions. All non-responsive firms were verified to be in business and operate as worker cooperatives in 2017 to the best of the author’s knowledge. Regardless of whether they responded, the author assigned all businesses an industry (NAICS) classification, foundational year and primary location based on basic internet research. This allowed the author to examine the larger universe when analyzing issues around the geography, age and industry of these enterprises. Additionally, internet research also allowed the author to add some other information about a portion of the non-responding worker cooperatives (e.g. number of workers, etc.) when such information was self-reported on their websites. Originality/value This is the only census of worker cooperatives done in the USA to the author’s knowledge.

Sewage pollution in New York, USA: impact of the ‘Right to Know’ Act

Water Policy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1303-1316
Author(s):  
Sridhar Vedachalam ◽  
Parmeet Singh ◽  
Susan J. Riha
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Right To Know ◽  
Sewage Pollution ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Sewage Discharge ◽  
The People ◽  
Treated Sewage ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Right

In 2012, New York, USA enacted the Sewage Pollution Right to Know (SPRtK) Act, which requires public notification of untreated and partially treated sewage discharges. With the passing of this law, New York joined 12 other states that have similar laws but none as comprehensive as New York's. As part of the SPRtK Act requirements, aggregated sewage discharge reports (SDRs) are made available on the web. For this study, we made use of one year's worth of SDRs to identify spatial and temporal patterns in sewage discharge incidents. The SDRs were strongly associated with the type of municipality, density and age of the treatment plant. New York has some of the oldest infrastructure in the USA, and this law enables the state environmental agency to document instances of failure and take corrective action. Proper implementation of the law would place information in the hands of the people and protect public health.

scholarly journals Neuroticism and State Differences in Partisanship in the USA: Emotional Stability, Ideological Orientation, and Republican Preference

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 242-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart J. H. McCann
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Partial Correlation ◽  
New York Times ◽  
State Level ◽  
Lower State ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
The Usa ◽  
State Resident

Relations between Neuroticism, Republican-Democrat preference, and conservative-liberal ideological orientation were examined with the states of the USA as units of analysis. State-aggregated Neuroticism scores were based on 1999-2005 responses of 619,397 residents to the 44-item Big Five Inventory. State Republican-Democrat preference was based on the 2002 occupancy of the U.S. Presidency, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, state House, state Senate, and state Governorship, as well as state-aggregated partisanship responses of 110,305 persons to 1998-2002 CBS/New York Times national polls. State conservative-liberal ideological orientation was based on 1998-2002 state-aggregated responses of 103,828 persons to CBS/New York Times national polls. Using correlation, partial correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression, it was determined that lower state resident Neuroticism is associated with Republican preference, and that both conservative-liberal ideological orientation and state resident Neuroticism account independently for variance in Republican-Democrat preference. These relations were found when 1998-2002 state socioeconomic status, white percent, and urban percent were statistically considered and controlled in partial correlation and hierarchical regression analysis. In contrast, corresponding analyses involving the other Big Five showed that only Openness and Conscientiousness showed any relation to partisanship, albeit infrequent and inconsistent. State resident Neuroticism is the primary state-level Big Five predictor of Republican/Democratic Party choice.

State Resident Neuroticism Accounts for Life Satisfaction Differences Between Conservative and Liberal States of the USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart J. H. McCann
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
New York Times ◽  
State Level ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Multiple Regression Equation ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
The Usa

Past research indicates associations between higher conservatism and higher life satisfaction, lower neuroticism and higher life satisfaction, and higher conservatism and lower neuroticism. Qualified deduction led to the following hypothesis: Neuroticism can account for the association between higher conservatism and higher life satisfaction. The 50 American states served as the units of analysis. Responses of 619,397 residents to the 44-item Big Five Inventory in an internet survey conducted from 1999 to 2005 provided mean neuroticism scores for each state. Conservative-liberal leaning of over 84,000 respondents to CBS News/New York Times polls from 1999 to 2003 and the percent voting Republican in each state in the 2000 to 2008 presidential elections combined to form a conservatism score for each state. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index provided life satisfaction scores for over 1,000,000 respondents, transforming to a 2008 to 2010 composite score for each state. In a sequential multiple regression equation with life satisfaction as the criterion, state socioeconomic status and white population percent entered first as a block, conservatism entered second, and neuroticism entered third, the demographic controls accounted for 45.7% of the variance, conservatism accounted for another 10.4%, and neuroticism accounted for an additional 10.6%. However, with the entry order of conservatism and neuroticism reversed, neuroticism accounted for another 19.6% but conservatism accounted for only an additional nonsignificant 1.4%. Therefore, the hypothesis was supported. Three alternative explanations suggested by other researchers were not supported in the state-level analysis.

Universal Values and Muslim Democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Anwar Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
World Today ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Dignified Life

This study deals with Universal Values and Muslim Democracy. This essay draws upon speeches that he gave at the New York Democ- racy Forum in December 2005 and the Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in Istanbul in April 2006. The emergence of Muslim democracies is something significant and worthy of our attention. Yet with the clear exceptions of Indonesia and Turkey, the Muslim world today is a place where autocracies and dictatorships of various shades and degrees continue their parasitic hold on the people, gnawing away at their newfound freedoms. It concludes that the human desire to be free and to lead a dignified life is universal. So is the abhorrence of despotism and oppression. These are passions that motivate not only Muslims but people from all civilizations.

9/11 and Armageddon: the Christian Right and George W. Bush

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Göran Gunner
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Christian Right ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Religious Leader ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Mega Church ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Jerry Falwell ◽  
High Degree

Authors from the Christian Right in the USA situate the September 11 attack on New York and Washington within God's intentions to bring America into the divine schedule for the end of the world. This is true of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, and other leading figures in the ‘Christian Coalition’. This article analyses how Christian fundamentalists assess the roles of the USA, the State of Israel, Islam, Iraq, the European Union and Russia within what they perceive to be the divine plan for the future of the world, especially against the background of ‘9/11’. It argues that the ideas of the Christian Right and of President George W. Bush coalesce to a high degree. Whereas before 9/11 many American mega-church preachers had aspirations to direct political life, after the events of that day the President assumes some of the roles of a mega-religious leader.

scholarly journals Evidence-Based Landscape Architecture for Human Health and Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Brown ◽  
Robert C. Corry
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Landscape Architecture ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
The People ◽  
Outdoor Environments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health And Well Being

More than 80% of the people in the USA and Canada live in cities. Urban development replaces natural environments with built environments resulting in limited access to outdoor environments which are critical to human health and well-being. In addition, many urban open spaces are unused because of poor design. This paper describes case studies where traditional landscape architectural design approaches would have compromised design success, while evidence-based landscape architecture (EBLA) resulted in a successful product. Examples range from school-yard design that provides safe levels of solar radiation for children, to neighborhood parks and sidewalks that encourage people to walk and enjoy nearby nature. Common characteristics for integrating EBLA into private, public, and academic landscape architecture practice are outlined along with a discussion of some of the opportunities and barriers to implementation.

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