Suppose I have studied for years to become a pastry chef. I set up my own bakery, investing my time, energy, and labour into procuring equipment and building up a reputation as a delicious place to eat. I run the entire operation myself as the sole worker. Eventually, after years of turmoil, word of my exceptional pastries spreads and my bakery becomes the number one spot in town. Soon there's a line up around the block, long enough that I have to turn away customers on the regular.
Not wanting to have to send people home hungry, I decide that having someone to wash my dishes and somebody to tend to the counter would buy me enough time to focus on the main reason people come to my shop: my delicious pastries.
I do, however, have an issue. I worked really hard to build my bakery up to where it is today, and don't want to have to give up ownership to the two people I want to bring onboard. They didn't put in any effort into building up my bakery, so why should they have an equal democratic say over how it's run?
Is there a way I can bring on help without having to give away control of my buisness?
Furthermore, what's to stop the two new workers from democratically voting me out of the operation, keeping the store, name, brand, and equipment for themselves?
Depends on the bylaws you set up.
In most Co-operatives, there's a time period where a new employee is not given an ownership stake. Then there are specific procedures that layout that a member can only be removed if they have been found guilty of X number of misconducts over time. And even then, the bylaws usually try to remedy the situation before requiring a unanimous (minus 1) vote in order to remove the person.
Thanks for the response! Would the idea then be that over time, the other two workers would eventually have to be given equal ownership over the operation?
As an asside, regarding the unanimous minus one vote policy as well, it seems like all you'd need to ensure that you never got removed was to ally yourself with one other person who would promise to never vote against you.