Bills that would revamp the community college accreditation process and permit worker cooperatives are among the nearly two dozen proposed so far by Alameda Assemblyman Rob Bonta during the second half of the 2013-14 legislative session.

By Michele Ellson at the Alamedan

SELC IS AN OAKLAND NONPROFIT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

featured in the Bold Italic Magazine

I am constantly inspired by all the amazing organizations and community movements in Oakland. There are many wonderful nonprofits working hard to create opportunities, facilitate growth, and bring together different residents for a single cause.

Assemblymembers Bonta and Levine Introduce Limited Liability Worker Cooperative Act to Facilitate Worker-Owned Business Development

AB 2525 would eliminate cumbersome requirements of existing law so that local worker-owned and managed businesses can thrive

Business Planning workshop for cottage food operations coming up on April 17. Organized by our friends at UC Cooperative Extension and UC Berkeley and others.

The Worker Cooperative Policy Coalition was successful in getting our bill, AB 2525, the Limited Liability Worker Cooperative Act, into the California State legislature. We need your feedback more than ever!

In The Year 2525, If Man Is Still Alive, If Woman Can Survive, They May Find Limited Liability Worker Cooperatives

Legal Eats teaches culinary entrepreneurs to stay within the law.

The Berkeley Student Cooperative is proud to announce our 3rd annual $10,000 Cooperative Development Grant! Applications due March 14th!

What: Growing Clean Energy Jobs in Oakland

When: Saturday, April 5 from 11 am to 2 pm

Where: Youth Uprising - 8711 MacArthur Blvd in East Oakland.

Who: East Oakland community organizations, schools, youth, families, and green job training organizations, solar and energy efficiency businesses, unions, worker justice organizations and food justice organizations.

Click here to view or download the flyer.

Co-op 101: An introduction to the cooperative economy

NoBAWC Event

BREAKING NEWS:

Worker-Owned Job Creation on the Rise: Assemblymember Bonta Introduces California’s First Limited Liability Worker Cooperative Act to Facilitate Worker-Owned Business Development

Bill introduced in the California State Assembly would eliminate cumbersome requirements of existing law so that local worker-owned and managed businesses can thrive.

BREAKING NEWS:

Worker-Owned Job Creation on the Rise: Assemblymember Bonta Introduces California’s First Limited Liability Worker Cooperative Act to Facilitate Worker-Owned Business Development

Bill introduced in the California State Assembly would eliminate cumbersome requirements of existing law so that local worker-owned and managed businesses can thrive.

This article was originally published on Shareable

The legal problems of the sharing economy just got real. The latest lawsuits against "ride-sharing" companies Lyft and Über could be game changers. The plaintiffs are drivers who give rides to strangers for money, paying a portion of their earnings to the companies. The class action lawsuits argue that the drivers should be classified as employees of the companies. Regardless of the outcome, the lawsuits call attention to the potential harms arising from the non-sharing parts of the sharing economy. It’s a good opportunity to declare that the so-called “sharing economy” needs a new business model.

You can’t truly remedy today’s economic problems by using the same business structures that created the economic problems. Because of their current ownership structure, Airbnb, Lyft, Über, and TaskRabbit could be bought out by ever larger and more centralized companies that won’t necessarily care about the well-being of people using the services, or about the overall abundance of jobs in our economy...

There is only one way to ensure that a company will make decisions in the interests of the people it serves: Put those people in control of the company.

"The rules for the new economy haven't been written yet. Well, they have...it's just that they were written 50+ years ago when the 9-to-5, 30-years-and-a-gold-watch career path was the rule, not the exception. They haven't kept up with the changing economy or the new workforce."

Read the whole interview with Sara Horowitz of the Freelancer's Union