Reiterating that I don’t have an interest in defending this guy in particular and now adding that I don’t have an interest in “coops (as a concept” but instead coops as they exist.

You were doing a decent job of explaining to that other person that exploitation isn’t a vibe but instead an objective measure of circumstances, but nominally free agreements in council votes don’t erase that reality just like the nominally free agreements in employment contracts don’t. Under capitalism, if a coop is to stay competitive, the owners must still agree to foregoing some amount of compensation for subsidizing cut prices and reinvesting into the company to stay competitive. That they are signing this away in a council meeting and not a hiring contract is immaterial.

Ultimately, all of this is edutainment slop. It is not “the movement.” It is not “the Left.” However, for something more credible, we shouldn’t be evaluating it on the basis of its personal moral purity, but on the basis of the change that it produces. If syndicates are the most useful, then use syndicates, but if the most useful tool under brutal capitalism is to “brutally use it” as Zizek says, then we should consider that too, even if ultimately those capitalists too will ultimately be our enemies (as Zizek is already).