United States
Images & Observations from the 2012 US Federation of Worker Cooperatives Conference in Boston, MA
Producers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin took part in the national U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives conference in Boston June 22-24. They presented several short preview clips from Shift Change, about WAGES, Arizmendi, and some of the MadWorc cooperatives from Madison, Wisconsin. The clips were greeted with enthusiasm, and many coop members at the conference [...]
Occupy by Analogy: Christopher Mackin in Conversation with The Straddler
[Originally published in The Straddler] This is an excellent interview with Christopher Mackin, of Ownership Associates, in which he reflects on the development of current mainstream business structures and also the roots and possibilities for more widespread employee ownership. ————————————————————– On April 17, 2012, The Straddler met Christopher Mackin in the lobby of the New [...]
Capitalism Has Failed: 5 Bold Ways to Build a New World (Alternet)
Gar Alperovitz and the Democracy Collaborative which he founded are working with us to set up screenings of Shift Change in the fall and helping to prepare discussion materials to accompany the film. This article is the first in a 5 part series published on Alternet. May 16, 2012: As our political system sputters, a [...]
A Message from Shift Change Producer Melissa Young
Dear friends, cooperators, and supporters, Maybe you, like me, have felt discouraged about the state of our economy, and the imbalance of political and economic power in the U.S. today. It was this feeling of discouragement and frustration that initially set me on a path to look for concrete, accessible alternatives. A friend suggested that [...]
The Field Guide to Investing in a Resilient Economy: Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives (CSR Newswire)
[This article was originally published on CSR Newswire. Read the full story here >] By Susan Arterian In our last post we introduced Capital Institute’s Field Guide to Investing in a Resilient Economy series, which utilizes the power of narrative to recast the story of our financial system, chronicling the progress of transformative, scalable, real-world investment models that support [...]
Madison cooperatives booming, both old and new
Madison is the state capital, seat of the University of Wisconsin, and home to several worker cooperatives that have been in business for over 30 years. Rebecca works at Union Cab, founded in 1979, which now boasts 228 worker members – drivers, mechanics, office staff, and dispatchers. Committed to environmental sustainability, they are replacing gas [...]
Inspired by Mondragon, Chicago works to bring back world class manufacturing
Chicago once had many large and small industries that provided thousands of family wage jobs. But with the decline in US manufacturing, many of those industries and jobs have disappeared. . Now a coalition of business, labor, education, and public officials called the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council [CMRC] is determined to restore Chicago as a [...]
Occupy Production: A Vision for Democracy at Work
(by: Richard D. Wolff, Truthout | Op-Ed) As the Occupy movement keeps developing, it seeks solutions for the economic and political dysfunctions it exposes and opposes. For many, the capitalist economic system itself is the basic problem. They want change to another system, but not to the traditional socialist alternative (e.g. USSR or China). That [...]
EQUAL EXCHANGE – A Profitable, Mission Driven Company
Equal Exchange is one of the largest roasters of fair trade coffee in the world, and they are 100% owned and operated by their workers. Their headquarters in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts is a great place to film, especially if you like chocolate and coffee. A new employee who wishes to join the coop works for [...]
What They’re Saying About SHIFT CHANGE
Since we released a 6 minute preview of the new film Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work just a few weeks ago, it has been viewed by more than 15,000 people all around the world; we’ve received countless messages of encouragement and support from viewers as far afield as Israel, Australia, and South Africa; and [...]
Continue Reading »