Willy St. Co-op union issues: https://workersparadise.org/2019/11/27/willy-st-co-op-for-consumer-union-for-the-workers/
Today at the Union Coop Symposium we heard from the Mexico Electrical Union (SME) about their decade long struggle to save jobs destroyed by the Calderon administration. it was an incredibly moving story and they continue to fight the government to uphold the agreement that includes 13 electrical plants and 50 buildings. I didn't take as complete notes as I had hoped due to being so enthralled.
Equal Care Co-op is a platform #co-op with a multi-stakeholder ownership model using sociocracy circle method for its governance. https://www.powertochange.org.uk/what-is-community-business/stories/equal-care-coop/
Just had a discussion about police cooperative such as they have in North St. Louis (https://www.northcountypolice.com/). I'm not sure how I feel about this--it seems like a way to reduce cost to taxpayers and provide more oversight to police. Still, it is a bit weird to see Police Cooperative on the side of a squad car and kinda gives me the creeps. #coop #cooperative
This week, my topic was on the Blueprint for a Co-op Decade (which ends Dec. 31, 2019). Today is imagining 2040. From Arizmendiarrieta: βThe future is never as uncertain as it is believed to be and is more conditioned than may seem to us, not as much for what we lose our interest in as for what we try to adopt and improve according to our taste.β We build the road as we travel and the first step of achieving our goals is to state them. #workercoops #coopdecade #coop https://workersparadise.org/2019/11/08/the-worker-co-op-movement-in-2040-revisited/
@GuerillaOntologist @johnnymac I'm a long way from CA, but it seems to me that what the situation calls for is a qualitatively different kind of power generation and distribution. This could be an opportunity to start building micro-grids.
PG&E as a co-op getting support. If Newsome, though, is flirting with Berkshire Hathaway. If Newsome were to push the co-op model, I think it would make his chances on the POTUS race in '28 (or '24) much better. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/business/energy-environment/pge-california-mayors.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
TL/DR: UNFI closes unionized distribution centers it bought and moves to a new non-union site. Teamsters win arbitration, but UNFI appealing. Where is NCG on this? https://www.theolympian.com/news/business/article236799048.html#storylink=hpdigest_business
via #RMFU co-op developer #DanHobbs:
"Many in the co-op community are unaware of just how dire the situation [in the USDA cooperative department] is. As of this writing, a
program that numbered about 75 cooperative specialists in the mid-1990s is now down to three
professionals. For many, the agency lost visibility when USDA abruptly killed Rural Cooperatives magazine about a year ago, ending its 84 years in production without a word of explanation to the public."
40 years ago a small band of cab drivers, dispatchers, and mechanics set out to prove that the workers could run a taxicab company better than the bosses with a focus on living wages, a human and safe workplace, and a democratic environment. I spent almost 26 years there. Congratulations to all of the members of Union Cab past and present!
https://workersparadise.org/2019/10/29/my-2nd-birthplace-union-cab-of-madison-40-years-on/ #workercoops
@tbeckett
Yes, war is evil...but WAR is the best!
those of you in the UK, won't see this as very unique, but the US has only one Funeral society and it turns 80 this year! https://workersparadise.org/2019/10/27/a-co-op-to-die-for-peoples-memorial/
The PNW has a huge diversity of co-ops, this is one of my favorites: internet service provider through Althea mesh technology: https://workersparadise.org/2019/10/25/own-the-internet-clatskanie-co-op/ #coop #netneutrality @owntheinternet
@GuerillaOntologist just so you know, I have an especially long post about Union Cab of Madison scheduled for 10/29, its 40th Anniversary. if you want, I can send you the text in advance.
GEO's kicking off a fundraiser to help us pay for our spiffy new website (built by @agaric ).
Pitch in $35 and get an ebook copy of "Building Cooperative Power"
Contribute $50 and you get the ebook and the print edition!
$12 or more gets your name on our contributors page.
Many thanks to all our supporters!
https://mailchi.mp/fa7306a88a0f/your-contribution-to-building-a-collective-world
Today, I am focusing on the construction co-ops along the i-5 corridor in Washington State. https://wordpress.com/post/workersparadise.org/1271
Happy International Credit Union Day!
https://workersparadise.org/2019/10/17/international-credit-union-day/ #creditunion
30-year participant in co-op economy. Developer, Educator, Student, and activist. workersparadise.org