Brewing For Democracy Austinites Organize Brewery Cooperative — Citizens Reclaim Economic Freedom, Workers’ Rights, Community… ‘Pint By Pint’

Citizens Reclaim Economic Freedom,
Workers’ Rights, Community… ‘Pint By Pint’

AUSTIN, Texas In the heart of Austin, a strange trend is brewing: Small collectives of people, average citizens by most measures, are opting out of corporate economic structures in favor of an old American standby, the co-op.

A co-op, shorthand for “cooperative,” is a business model typically reserved for rural farm communities, and most frequently the product of worker or consumer movements among small groups or single business entities. A common sight in Texas and other states with still-open ranges and agriculture activity during the mid-70s, the co-op traces its modern roots to the 1800s, when the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers established a food co-op in Rochdale, England.

The idea is simple, on its face. Individuals who are served by the co-op are the actual owners, otherwise known as members, along with its employees, who also retain status as the co-op’s management. The business is governed as a democracy, with members voting on issues presented by management. Ultimate authority is delegated to an elected board of directors, comprised of nine people, seated three at a time for three-year terms.

However, on a large scale, the co-op does not exist on any playing field currently occupied by America’s major corporate entities. While a striking resemblance to this idea is the basis for America’s market economy, it is motivated solely by profit. Co-ops are different. Instead of profit, the co-op functions only in the interests of its customers, and typically arising from a necessity that is lacking in a community.

Yet in spite of its relatively small real estate in the public consciousness, a strange collection of independent individuals in Austin, Texas are on the verge of coming across a genuine world’s first. Black Star co-op, a beer community