Published 2022-11-28
Examination of a Hungarian organization based on a trilemma
By kiskakas
The aspect of equality and transparency
From its beginning, the organization’s operation rest on a vision: a society whose foundation is a brotherhood, where people live together in peace, love, and acceptance. Gólya, as a property, is owned by the members and only the members. This property is expressed in shares that cannot be traded. “… we eliminated the distinction between owner and worker, boss and employee. Instead, we have a created the conditions of community ownership and community-organized work, in which the workers (members) jointly own the organization’s assets, jointly bear the losses and jointly benefit from the profit.” - can be read on the website of Gólya. If we take a look at an average company or organization, the situation is very different: the ownership of the company is held by one or very few people, and the burdens are borne by the workers, who can be easily replaced. Most of the cases these workers don’t even know each other, they are just “small fish in a big pond”. In other words: small benefit, big responsibility. In the case of Gólya, members have equal words in decisions and they know each other well. Matters that affect the whole Gólya community are discussed in meetings (organized every two weeks, in urgent cases immediately). The organization of production and the management of the affairs of the collective now take place on three levels. Workgroups, "blocks" that bring together the workgroups, and cooperative forums bring together the entire membership. Workgroups and blocks organize their work and decisions in separate meetings, mailing lists, and other online platforms. Each member has one vote, regardless of the number of shares, but decision-making is consensus-based and usually ends in some sort of compromise of conflicting proposals and opinions. Members also have the right to veto a decision (a joint veto of two members can prevent a decision).
How can someone become a Gólya member?
Becoming a cooperative member (which means owner-worker) requires the work invested in the business, and recognition and acceptance by the entire membership. At the beginning of a freshman's employment, a person is neither a member nor a candidate, but a so-called "fixed employee." Employees can look into decisions and decision-making but only have a very limited say. They are paid on an hourly basis and only a narrower package of the community/social insurance services that members are otherwise entitled to. This is a temporary, initial situation.
The aspect of sustainability, accessibility
The organization has three main profiles: catering, bicycle courier service, and construction/renovation. Since 2020 Gólya has been running a separate sub-organization to coordinate its longer-term or permanent projects, often coordinated jointly with other allied organizations. The projects can serve the maintenance of the internal functioning of the organization, the broader community of Gólya, its audience, the immediate geographical environment and neighborhood of their building, as well as the efforts of the movement that wants to spread the principles of cooperatives and the solidarity economy. Since the organization moved to Orczy road, the “From neighborhood to community” program was launched. They want that people who live in the neighborhood benefit from the community functions of the building. They want to shape their programs and services according to the neighbor's needs and together with them want to respond to common local problems. *”Furthermore, our goal is to make as many people of different social statuses and affiliations feel at home in Gólya as possible.”*3 Regarding the security of members, the monthly income of the members comes from the part of the generated profit spent on salaries. The members have their own salary, distributed every 4 weeks, equal to all people working the same hours. The new members receive 75% of this amount in the first year and a half, and then their salary is equalized - this difference also belongs to the "redemption" of their share. The members also decide jointly on the use of profit over and above the salary. They discuss what this money should be used for: invest it, place it in a security fund, finance projects with it, or distribute it. On the one hand the salary depends on the success or failure of the joint work, and on the other hand, the cooperative always strives to provide its members with a living and to ensure a predictable, adequate salary. Membership also comes with social benefits: allowance for food and drink, paid leave, housing allowance, maternity/paternity leave, sick leave, and support/special assessment in case of studies or other personal needs. Non-member workers benefit from these to a more limited extent. Members must work 40 hours a week, but it is also possible to request part-time work. ”We share all the work among ourselves, so part of it is physical work spent in shifts (waiting at the counter, cleaning, cooking in the hospitality industry; painting, electrical installation, packing for the builders, bicycle deliveries for the couriers).” The rest of the working time is specialized work, which is organized by a system of work groups organized according to areas: music, community and social program organization, marketing, warehouse, counter and kitchen organization, finance, paperwork, and event organization.
In terms of its relationship with other organizations, Gólya is open to cooperation, and they try to set their prices in such a way that their services are available to many people. Examining Gólya based on the trilemma showed me, that every three aspects are necessary to function in accordance with its current state. We get an average capitalist company/organization if we take out equality. If we take out sustainability, the result is an equal organization that doesn’t function, and bankruptcy is inevitable. Without accessibility, the result is a working, equal place but very few people would access it.
1 Gólya is a Hungarian organization that was officially opened in 2013 September. They spend seven years in the VII. District but because of the gentrification of the area - they had to leave. The new place was opened after a one-and-a-half year of hard work on Orczy road, where 95% of the construction was done by the members and volunteers. It’s a very important aspect of Gólya: community building and joint work.
2 A trilemma is a difficult choice from three options, each of which is (or appears) unacceptable or unfavorable. There are two logically equivalent ways in which to express a trilemma: it can be expressed as a choice among three unfavorable options, one of which must be chosen, or as a choice among three favorable options, only two of which are possible at the same time.