Cooperatives
Here is a place for news and information about Cooperatives (Co-ops), Democratic Workplaces, Collectives, Communes, Intentional Communities, Eco-Vilages, etc. This community is the continuation/alternative to r/cooperatives on Reddit.
Regional/National Groups:
US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
Northwest Cooperative Development Center
Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (No Boss)
Worker-Owned and Run Cooperative Network of Greater Boston (Workin')
Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives (Vawk) NYC NoWC (Nic-knock)
Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Austin Cooperative Business Association
Alberta Community & Co-operative Association
Education & Development:
[Democracy at work](Democracy at work)
[Co-op Law](Co-op Law)
International Co-operative Alliance
[Cooperative Fund of New England]
(https://cooperativefund.org/)
[Shared Capital, formerly North Country Development Fund](Shared Capital, formerly North Country Development Fund)
California Center for Cooperative Development
University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives
[Democracy at Work Network](Democracy at Work Network)
Fund for Democratic Communities
Sustainable Economies Law Center
(PDF File) A Technology Freelancer's Guide to Starting a Worker Cooperative
[North American Students of Cooperation](North American Students of Cooperation)
News/Blogs:
Co-operate And No One Gets Hurt
Grassroots Economic Organizing
Other Forums/Lists: r/Cooperatives
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You're right that cooperatives above a certain size can't be direct democracies. I do think we need to be able to cooperate at scale in a democratic way, like representative democracy - otherwise how do countries work? (Not very well some might argue) but if we don't develop an alternative to the googles and amazons of the world then we'll never outcompete the current system.
Direct democracy is possible at scale with technology.
I'm sure there are certain issues where direct democracy would be appropriate, regardless how big the cooperative is. But technological reasons aren't the issue. A manager is delegated authority to make decisions because it's inefficient to involve members in every single matter.
perhaps it should be treated like a priority list: direct democracy for every single thing won’t work, but perhaps if there’s a monthly vote on the top 10 issues people have (as prioritised by the members of the coop somehow: maybe you get 5 votes to spend however you like in the issues list?) and the rest is delegated
The problem is one of scope. I think we've historically delegated more than we should because we couldn't do direct voting well.
For example, I feel that people should have an active say into which categories their tax money goes.
For managers, they don't need to be given the same control they have now
There are also a lot of things where not everyone in a society needs to vote on something. Do men need to have a vote on the type of tampon that is stocked in the bathroom? Do the other departments need to weigh in on the butcher's scheduled hours?
It really does have a limit where once you go more than a couple layers decisions get made by people who are not involved or invested in whatever is being decided.