JohnnyMac 🌲 @johnnymac@social.coop
30-year participant in co-op economy. Developer, Educator, Student, and activist. workersparadise.org
For your audio edification: Vernon Oakes talks with five @ROCUSAorg Association directors about the many benefits to residents of owning their #community. @EverythingCoop
https://soundcloud.com/user-913981455/five-association-directors-of-roc-usa-are-interviewed-on-everything-co-op
@LeoSammallahti my blog is workersparadise.org
John McNamara
The latest post in my series about the labor movement, co-ops, and the American Dream: https://workersparadise.org/2018/05/15/labor-unions-and-co-ops-part-4/ #labor #coops #unioncoops
#Cooperative expo at the Olympia procession of the species! This town ain't bad sometimes
Had my second meeting with a local media outlet whose founders are considering a #workercoop as their exit plan! Both, who own 85% of the company, now seem actively interested in the idea. Next step is to convince the three younger managers, who each own 5%... :)
A May Day international Sociocracy conference entirely on zoom!
https://www.conferize.com/international-sociocracy-online-conference-1
An upcoming conference on permaculture and Sociocracy: http://www.onsenfarm.com/events/2018/6/4/build-the-guild-a-permaculture-and-sociocracy-convergence
My post for this week begins a series about union-coops and the American Dream. It is from a couple of chapters of my first attempt at my dissertation. It should be seen as an exploration, not an exhortation.
https://workersparadise.org/
#workercoops #coops #labourunions #unioncoops
I got my blog/site back up with new domain name (www.workersparadise.org). I hope to start posting more regularly in the future. I am thinking of using chapters from my first attempt at a dissertation as the meat for several posts, but as always, I welcome anyone who would like to post on the site on the topic of worker co-ops and worker control. #coop #workercoop #unioncoops
Hugely successful Labor Notes conference, about 3,000 "troublemakers" gathered to share experiences and ideas, network, build relationships, and get a big boost of inspiration (from the WVA teachers, among others). Our three worker coop sessions were well attended and the discussion was much further along than "what is a coop?" Thanks to Kali Akuno, Tim Schermerhorn, Jose Torres, Eric DIrnbach and others. Next one in 2020!
#labornotes #workercoops
Really, asking "what should replace Facebook" is putting things the wrong way around.
A more interesting way to ask the question is, "what did Facebook replace."
People used to build their own websites. People used to have blogs. People used USENET which was truly distributed and un-censorable.
Facebook and Google took the open internet and open standards and monetized and made everything crappy. Enough of that. Nothing should replace Facebook, it's done, stick a fork in it.
Draft agenda for the Worker Cooperatives meeting at Labor Notes in Chicago, 4/8.
https://www.loomio.org/d/ftPEoZbj/wall/1comentarios y sugerencias.
Sociocracy is, in many ways, a governance/management system tied to the values and principles of cooperation and the management of the commons. Disclosure: I am a member of the Co-op Implementation Circle. http://geo.coop/story/manifesto-wholesome-cooperation
Sen. Gillibrand placed the following language into the Omnibus Funding Bill: "SBA is directed to provide education and outreach to businesses, employees, and financial institutions about employee-ownership. This effort should include information about the different business structures available, such as cooperatives. . . SBA is directed to develop guidance on employee-ownership to approved lenders and assist in accessing financing through the 7(a)(15) loan guarantee program."
#coops #workercoop
A new post form one of our student interns about homecare and platform co-ops: http://www.geo.coop/story/home-care-cooperatives-and-future-work #workercoop #platformcoop #homecare #postcapitalism
I still have some concerns about aligning with business unions, which have been historically transactional and anti-democratic in nature, but I also see some value in supporting this movement and, perhaps, restoring a more radical element to the labor movement. #coop #unioncoops
A new video just dropped about #UnionCoops – the story of how #unions and #coops are working together to build democracy in the workplace http://bit.ly/2EDTTxI #coops #unioncoops
an interesting discussion today about the failure of a union-coop car wash in LA. The success of converting from an "employee" mindset to that of a "worker-owner" involves more than signing incorporation papers. The support of a functional network of peers and developers along with the ideological engagement of the workers is essential, but not always present or automatic.
#coops #unioncoops #conversion
This quarter, NWCDC, my workplace, has been very fortunate to have five students working with us on a number of projects. One of them has been blogging as part of his coursework and his insights (including discussion about platform co-ops and social media) are available to anyone interested (I double-checked with him before posting this). Check out: https://outgrowingcapitalism.wordpress.com/ #coop #platformcoop #p2p
The Rural Cooperator has an article about using co-ops to provide broadband internet access to upstate NY https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/CoopMagJanFeb2018.pdf #coop #broadband