Niki Okuk: When workers own companies, the economy is more resilient
Niki Okuk: 工人擁有公司時,經濟變得更加頑強
Niki Okuk is working to create social and economic justice and worker dignity. Full bio
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money from your work.
to make more capital.
green collar jobs in the hood,"
a tire recycling company,
a hundred million pounds of rubber.
diverted from landfills
of the United Steelworkers Union.
with community-minded ownership,
how we got started.
worked for me and Rco.
was born on her family's plantation
to my black great-grandfather,
in West Los Angeles --
given to a black family at the time.
and his health care
given to a black man
act of the 1960s.
our first warehouse,
about paying myself,
of generations of white privilege.
of white privilege is important
where is the wealth?
of businesses that we want?
of the white side of my family,
from the economy,
was able to gain access and traction,
and capitalism are best homies, but --
is that when we ask ourselves,
because we're broke;
tells another story as well.
called "Collective Courage,"
thousands of African Americans
businesses and schools,
and sovereign economies,
for celebrities and athletes
a celebrity or an athlete,
through cooperative economics,
going to finance black liberation.
examples in this book,
the question I asked earlier,
to get the wealth
of business that we want.
to be cooperative economics.
versions of cooperativism.
is worker ownership.
of worker ownership,
for a century,
all over the world right now.
that's a little bit closer to home.
worker-owned company.
Home Care Associates,
and Latinx home care workers
to pay themselves living wages,
as a unit of SEIU.
a dividend back on their ownership
has been profitable,
the fruits of their labor
the profit out of the company.
about 1,000 dollars over time
of companies like this
an alternative
to bring chain stores,
those types of developments,
out of business,
into wage workers,
of resistance and resilience
here in Los Angeles,
Union Cooperative Initiative,
more worker-owned businesses
we've created two:
might be familiar with it.
and operated by its 20 workers,
why the focus on union-worker ownership,
to the worker-ownership movement.
that we want in our community,
people and training.
paying union dues for decades,
and democratic workplaces for us.
are on the steep decline,
calling on our unions
and political capital
union, living-wage jobs
are full of union members
the importance of solidarity
more union businesses to exist,
important to our success,
with one last example
built entirely around worker cooperatives.
to washing machines to transformers.
now employs 80,000 people
in revenue every year.
are owned by the people that work in them.
and hospitals and financial institutions.
something like this in South-Central.
had a similar idea.
into a Mondragon-like cooperative economy,
"Jackson Rising."
can do for ourselves
for ourselves and each other
about Mondragon
to launch an international initiative
like it all over the world,
about the worker-ownership model.
to be a part of it.
go to your union meetings,
has a worker-ownership initiative,
or another organization like us
on the cooperative model.
and county legislation passed
and support worker-owned businesses.
learn about our models,
lend to us and join us,
going to take all of us
and sustainable and resilient economy
and our children.
with a quote from Arundhati Roy,
to confront Empire,
brainwashed to believe.
what they're selling --
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Niki Okuk - EntrepreneurNiki Okuk is working to create social and economic justice and worker dignity.
Why you should listen
Niki Okuk founded Rco Tires in 2012. They've since recycled more than 300 million pounds of rubber, diverting 70 million gallons of oil from landfills with 16 employees, making it one of southern California's largest sustainability plants. Rco creates alternative uses for trash tires, turning them into new products. Because of Okuk's progressive hiring and management practices, it provides stable jobs for local black and Latino residents who struggle to find employment because of past criminal convictions or legal status.
Okuk grew up in Los Angeles and majored in economics at Columbia University. After working in development with the office of Joseph Stiglitz and working in finance in Korea and Singapore, Okuk completed her MBA with Nanyang University in Singapore, including a sustainability certificate at Sloan School of Business at MIT.
Niki Okuk | Speaker | TED.com