Workplace democracy

Worker cooperative governance with measurable conviction

Worker cooperatives often make decisions where members are equal owners but not equally affected. Nicolas gives co-ops a way to collect intensity-aware signals without replacing their formal governance rules.

Start a decisionSee the mechanism

Nicolas mechanism signals

These concepts follow the mathematical contract used by the app.

Convex cost

cost = c * sum a_ij^2

Voice budget

sum a_ij^2 <= B

Outcome rule

shifted softmax over support

The co-op governance problem

One-member-one-vote is central to many co-ops, yet some decisions need to reveal which proposals carry deep conviction before they reach a meeting, committee, or board.

Nicolas is useful for the signal-gathering layer before proposal prioritization, budget attention, policy tradeoffs, and member consultation where intensity matters.

How Nicolas fits

Members allocate finite voice credits across alternatives, and because stronger support or opposition costs more, a member can show conviction while making that intensity accountable.

Delegation lets members route credits to trusted peers when they do not have the context to vote directly, while direct voting overrides active delegation for that decision.

What it does not replace

Nicolas does not replace bylaws, member registers, board procedures, labor law, or the co-op's formal voting rules.

It is best used before or alongside formal governance, when the co-op needs a more informative decision signal than a poll or informal show of hands.

Use cases

Where this decision model helps

Proposal prioritization

Identify which member proposals deserve scarce meeting time or staff work.

Budget attention

Understand where members want shared resources allocated before formal approval.

Policy tradeoffs

Surface deep support or opposition around policies that affect members unevenly.

FAQ

Can a worker co-op use Nicolas for binding votes?

Nicolas can produce a decision signal, but whether that signal is binding depends on the co-op's bylaws, policies, and legal obligations.

Why would a co-op use delegation?

Delegation helps members route voice credits to trusted peers on issues where those peers have more context, while preserving a clear decision record.

Does quadratic voting conflict with member equality?

Nicolas gives members equal starting voice budgets for a decision. It measures intensity within that budget rather than giving unlimited influence.

Keep reading

Continue with adjacent concepts and practical Nicolas workflows.

Workplace democracyExplore Nicolas' broader fit for democratic workplaces and employee voice.Participatory governanceSee how Nicolas supports member-led governance workflows.