SMart
= SMart (.be, .eu, etc ..) is a new type of labor mutual for freelance workers, based on a mutualization and pooling of resources, which started in Belgium and is expanding to other European countries [1]
URL = http://smart-eu.org/ [2]
Description
"SMart was set up as a non-profit organisation in 1998 in Belgium (BUT IS NOW A COOPERATIVE). Its founders were convinced that solutions could be designed that would allow creative professionals to work on their projects without being overwhelmed by administrative burdens and the worry of unpredictable cash-flow. Social innovation, to support and change the creative sector, is at the heart of this initiative and its three cornerstone values.
- Non-profit: Advocating social economy: Our model is based on solidarity and pooling of means.
- Need-based: Providing solutions that fit needs expressed: We offer services based on need and stay affordable.
- Democracy: Encouraging solidarity, mobility and involvement: Our users are our stakeholders and governors."
2. Michel Bauwens
SMart belongs to the legal category of Business and Employment Cooperatives, also called "labour mutuals". Freelancers pay a percentage of their income (2%) into a mutual guarantee fund, that allows the mutual to pay invoices within a week, after which it then carries out the payment procedures with the clients for a standard 'factoring' fee. This more regular income then allows freelancers to pay themselves their own salary, and after reaching tresholds, to become a official employee of the organization, while retaining their full autonomy. This allows a non-subordinate form of labor, but also allows freelancers to get the benefits that go with the status of being employed. SMart's leadership also promotes a cooperative and mutualist values agenda. In 2016, they moved to the legal status of a European Cooperative, which started operating in ten EU countries, and they were likely to reach 100,000 members by the end of 2016.
At the P2P Foundation we consider labour mutuals of the type of SMart to be a crucial bridge between the precarious statutes of independent workers and the protections of the social state available for the 'salariat', i.e the waged workers."
Governance
Sergio Giorgi:
"Formally speaking entities in Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria are all cooperatives registered under the national cooperative Law. The youngest one is SMart … in Belgium! SMartBe is legally a cooperative since 2016: it was originally established as a not-for profit organization in 1998.
In Hungary, Sweden, and The Netherlands SMart partners have all endorsed core values and principles of social economy (no profit, no distribution of dividends, participative governance avoiding absolute majority by any a single stakeholder) and formally registered under different legal forms (limited company, not-for-profit, foundation respectively in the aforementioned countries).
We really expect all successful SMart entities to converge towards the adoption of a cooperative status, and users to become members and take a stake in strategic decisions; we believe that the cooperative is the status that matches our governance and social enterprise model at best." (email, August 2017)