SHIFT CHANGE

Looking for SHIFT CHANGE in another region? View our complete screening calendar >

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCREENING 

When: Sunday, OCT 21, 2012 @ 7:00pm | FREE

Where: West Village F, Room 20 Auditorium | 40A Leon Street, Boston (View a Map)

Transit: Near MFA station (Green Line) and Ruggles (Orange Line)

Event Details: Reception at 6pm with coffee from Equal Exchange and light snacks from local vendors. A Q&A with filmmakers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin will follow the screening.

TUFTS UNIVERSITY SCREENING

When: Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 @ 7:00pm | FREE

Where: Barnum 104, 163 Packard Avenue, Medford, MA (View a Map)

Transit / Parking: Take #96 bus (Medford Sq via Davis Sq) to Boston Ave & Winthrop St., walk for 8 minutes); free parking in a designated lot, behind the Fletcher school, on Curtis St).

Event Details: Q&A with filmmakers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin will follow the screening.

Boston Area screenings presented by: Boston Area Solidarity Economy Network (BASEN), a local chapter of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network (www.ussen.org), and of the Intercontinental Social Solidarity Economy Network (www.ripess.org). Co-sponsored by: Equal Exchange, Trillium Asset Management, Red Sun Press, Northeastern University Social Enterprise Institute, Somerville Climate Action, Boston Collective Delivery, Ownership Associates, South Mountain Company, JP Forum, JP New Economy Transition, New Economy Institute, Cooperative Fund of New England, the Tellus Institute, Gurmylay: Growing the Green Economy, Al Campbell of the Union for Radical Political Economics SC, and Harvest Co-op. Also cooperating to bring this great film to you are the Worker Owned and Run Cooperative Network of Boston (worcn.org), Jobs with Justice, Democratic Socialists of America, Somerville Rep. Denise Provost, Dollars & Sense, Mass. Global Action, Jewish Labor Committee, Dorchester Community Food Co-op, Occupy Boston Sustainable Economy Working Group, and Boston Workers Alliance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Rodney North, 774-776-7398, rodney@equalexchange.coop 

JOIN BASEN! Contact Julie Matthaei, jmatthaei@wellesley.edu or Wayne Clark, rwayneclark@igc.org

A new employee who wishes to join the coop works for a probationary period, and then existing coop worker owners vote to decide if the new person should become a member. If she/he is approved, the new member will begin to buy in to the company. If the new employee faces any difficulty in immigration then they can hire immigration lawyers. On resolving the issue he/she will be approved. All members have an equal say in setting company policy. The 120 member staff is divided into teams with managers in each department.

Each member can choose to spend 4 hours of the work week to participate in meetings, trainings, and other member development activities. At staff meetings and broad policy discussions, the member owners take an active part in setting company policy, a role that is taken very seriously. In one group discussion on innovation and risk, Daniel Fireside cautions, “A lot of folks look to us as a role model.  If we take a risk and we fail totally, not only are the livelihoods of our members at stake, but so is the model of a successful worker coop.”

EE imports fair traded coffee, chocolate, tea, sugar, olive oil, and bananas. When new worker owners are voted in, the company pays their way to Latin America or Africa for a first hand experience with some of the small coffee and cacao farmers who provide raw materials for Equal Exchange products.

Customers include specialty food stores, coops and faith based groups who appreciate the company’s social mission, ”to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate…the contribution of worker co-operatives and Fair Trade to a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.”