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Annex: © copyright 1998 the Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative Inc. |
Missing Link History
The Missing Link began in 1971 when a group of former Berkeley High School students attending UC Berkeley formed three campus businesses, all democratically managed collectives: a record store, an art supply store, and a bicycle shop.
Becoming independent of the university student association, the Missing Link incorporated in September 1973 but maintained its store in the basement of the Student Union building. In 1978 the Missing Link, Inc., moved off campus to its present location at 1988 Shattuck Ave.
By 1994 we had grown a lot, moving our repair shop across the street to 1961 Shattuck Ave. Because the business had become more complex, we needed to draft new bylaws. Seeing the affinity between our 23-year-old worker-run business and the worker co-op movement, we expanded the bylaw revision project to include becoming a California co-op, with the name, The Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative, Inc.
Since our founding we have kept our operational structure. We are still collectively run by the people who work here. Business decisions are made at monthly meetings by the employee-member-owners of the shop, each casting one vote and each holding equal shares in the corporation.
A worker co-op is different from a consumer co-op. In a consumer co-op, such as the Davis Food Co-op or REI, the consumers shopping at the store are the members. A profitable consumer co-op can return co-op profits to the members based on their "patronage." For consumer co-ops, patronage is usually considered the members' purchases at the store. At the Missing Link, the employees are the members of the co-op, and their patronage is the hours they work at the store, so we return profits to the members based on hours worked.
There are many types of cooperatives. There are co-ops that combine the consumer and worker co-op models, having both worker-owners and consumer-owners. Other Avenues Food Co-op in San Francisco is an example. Other co-ops, such as Ace Hardware, are supplier co-ops. Producer co-ops are common in the agricultural industry.
The news and history of cooperatives in the United States is vast and best told by some of the links below. Check them out.