Shift Change» conference https://shiftchange.org True stories about dignified jobs in democratic workplaces. Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:54:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Images & Observations from the 2012 US Federation of Worker Cooperatives Conference in Boston, MA https://shiftchange.org/images-and-observations-from-the-national-us-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=images-and-observations-from-the-national-us-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference-2012 https://shiftchange.org/images-and-observations-from-the-national-us-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference-2012/#comments Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:30:11 +0000 Moving Images https://shiftchange.org/?p=547 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 are now helping to plan screenings in various cities when the film is released in the fall.

People attending the conference, engaged in many active, relevant, participatory breakout sessions, including “Converting a Business into a Worker Cooperative,” “Business Law for Cooperatives,” and sessions on “Immigrant-Led Worker Cooperatives.”

In one thoughtful workshop, “Building a Cooperative Ecosystem in North America” people discussed presentations from David Smathers Moore of the TeamWorks coops in the Bay Area, Hazel Corcoran of the Canadian Worker Cooperative Federation, and Bruno Roelants, General Secretary of the international organization, CICOPA.

We hope you enjoy these images and observations from the conference! Please click on the “i” icon in the upper right corner of the gallery window to read the image caption / description.

U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives Conference

Producers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin took part in the national U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives conference in Boston June 22-24, presenting short clips from Shift Change, about WAGES, Arizmendi, some of the MadWorc cooperatives from Madison Wisconsin. The preview clips were greeted with enthusiasm, and coop members at the conference are helping plan screenings in several cities for the film when it is released this fall.

[img src=https://shiftchange.org/wp-content/flagallery/u-s-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference/thumbs/thumbs_usfwc-conf-2.jpg]00Chaka Fattah Delivers the Keynote
Attendance at the conference was up sharply as interest grows in cooperative businesses. Chaka Fattah, Congressman from Philadelphia delivered a keynote. Fattah is a sponsor of the National Cooperative Development Act.[img src=https://shiftchange.org/wp-content/flagallery/u-s-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference/thumbs/thumbs_usfwc-conf-5.jpg]10Tim Huet Presents
Tim Huet of the Arizmendi Association led an overly packed workshop called "Structuring Worker Cooperatives for Growth". Huet pointed out some of the barriers to growth of worker cooperatives, and how those might be overcome as we encourage more or larger cooperatively owned and operated businesses.[img src=https://shiftchange.org/wp-content/flagallery/u-s-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference/thumbs/thumbs_usfwc-conf-1.jpg]20Workshop Participants in Tim Huet's Session
Participants in Tim Huet's session, including staff from Equal Exchange (one of the cooperative businesses featured in Shift Change, listen attentively.[img src=https://shiftchange.org/wp-content/flagallery/u-s-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference/thumbs/thumbs_usfwc-conf-4.jpg]30Staff from Companies Featured in Shift Change Attend the Conference
Attending this workshop were people from a diversity of coops, including (left to right) Jeremy Kranz and Joshua Hatch of Isthmus Engineering in Madison, and Joseph Tuck of the Alvarado Street Bakery in California.[img src=https://shiftchange.org/wp-content/flagallery/u-s-federation-of-worker-cooperatives-conference/thumbs/thumbs_usfwc-conf-3.jpg]20Coop Workers Participate in A Breakout Session
Other participants in the same workshop include, Esteban Kelly of Mariposa Food coop in Philadelphia, Kim Pinkham of PV Squared, Clothilda Barnett of Athens, Georgia workers center, Eric Olson of Red Sun Press, Annie Winkler of Real Pickles, and Kristin Forde of Union Cab.

 

 

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