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Farther, Faster, Together: The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives at Two
by Melissa Hoover
Editor’s note: On the eve of the first official
membership meeting and second annual conference of the US Federation of Worker
Cooperatives (USFWC) taking place in New York City from October 13-15, we
asked Melissa Hover, the first USFWC staff person to review the accomplishments
of the new organization and its future plans. Hoover has been a cooperative
activist nearly all of her working life and is currently a collective member at
Inkworks Press, a worker-owned and -managed print shop which serves the Bay
Area progressive community.
The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives was
founded at the U.S. Conference of Democratic Workplaces in Minneapolis, May
2004. The conference elected a board and settled on an outline of the defining
characteristics of the organization and its membership. In the two years since
then, the elected board has been busy sorting out a structure, building a
foundation and exploring possible directions for the Federation.
Possibly most important, the nascent Federation has served
as a contact point and resource for those interested in forming, supporting or
studying worker cooperatives. Interest in the democratic worker-owned model is
growing around the country. People in diverse fields and industries―truck
drivers organizing in South Carolina, motorcycle parts manufacturers in
Arizona, college students from several states, bookstore and café workers in
Oregon and Maryland, nurses in Wisconsin, food bank workers in Alabama, and
teachers in California―have all contacted the Federation over the past
two years. They have sought information on all aspects of worker ownership and
democratic self-management―how to get started, get technical assistance,
get money, and begin operating. The Federation has focused on building the
resources to help provide answers. It is hoped that the upcoming national
conference will serve as one of those resources, a forum to foster democratic
workplace development. Look for some of the people mentioned above at the
conference in New York City.
Membership
As of this writing, the USFWC has thirty-five members―twenty-two worker
cooperatives and democratic workplaces (four of these are democraticlly-run development
and support organizations), four Federation "partners," one
cooperative development & support organization, two cooperative financial
institutions, and six individuals (see sidebar). We estimate that our
membership currently comprises about twenty percent of the worker cooperatives
in the United States. Of our twenty-two worker coop/democratic workplace
members, nine are on the West Coast, eight are on the East Coast, two in the
South and three in the Upper Midwest. Our members' combined gross revenues are
just over $87,000,000. They employ almost 700 people combined. We have also
partnered with several regional worker cooperative alliances in the Bay Area,
Minnesota and the West and East Coast. Together, these regional alliances
represent over one hundred democratic and worker-owned businesses.
Thank you and congratulations to the founding members of the
US Federation! We expect membership to double (at least) in the rest of 2006.
For an application and explanations of membership and dues, see the "How
to Join" section of our website at:
http://www.usworker.coop/.
Incorporation
The Federation's Board of Directors has filed the paperwork to become a
501(c)(6) nonprofit mutual benefit membership organization in the state of
California. The 501(c)(6) form for mutual benefit associations has relatively
simple filing requirements and allows us to do lobbying under federal statutes.
To seek foundation funding and carry out our education and outreach mission, we
also plan to incorporate a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization To date, we have
drafted an activities statement, California Articles of Incorporation and an
initial draft of the organizational bylaws. All of these are works in progress―to
be reviewed and amended by our membership at the upcoming national conference
and membership meeting.
Benefits
We are continuing negotiations with the National Organizers Alliance (NOA) to
offer our members a pension benefit through the NOA. We are also researching
the possibility of health benefits and post-retirement medical benefits for
USFWC members.
Directory of Worker Cooperatives
The USFWC has been working with several other cooperative groups including
Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO), the Cooperative Development Institute
(CDI), North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), and the Southern
Appalachian Center for Cooperative Ownership (SACCO) on the "Data Commons
Project" to create an online, easily-updatable directory of worker
cooperatives and other solidarity economy initiatives. This is a long-term
project with exciting potential, and when completed will be the only current,
accurate, open-source directory of its kind. In the meantime, the Federation
will print a preliminary directory of worker cooperatives, democratic
workplaces and support organizations to be distributed this fall. To learn more
about the Data Commons Project, contact Ethan Miller at (207) 946-4478 or by
email: directory@geo.coop.
Online Resources
We are currently building an online document library, which will include models
and sample documents from worker cooperatives, as well as step-by-step help
with incorporation, conversion, and establishing democratic ownership and
management practices.
Looking Ahead
The board and staff are looking forward to the general
membership meeting at the upcoming conference as an important point in the
growth of the Federation: there we will review the bylaws, create structures
for effective member participation, take on new projects, and set a direction
for the Federation over the next few years. We hope all members can send a
voting representative (or several!) to the conference and meeting, and we are
committed to helping make that possible. Our work as a vibrant, powerful
grassroots organization is just getting started.
“The mission of the United States
Federation of Worker Cooperatives is to create stable and empowering jobs and
worker-ownership through the development of a thriving cooperative movement. We
advance worker-owned, -managed, and -governed workplaces through cooperative
education, advocacy and development.”
Include the citation below and GEO Newsletter grants
permission to copy, use, and distribute this article.
Permission not for commercial or for-profit use.
©2007 GEO, P O Box 115, Riverdale MD 20738
http://www.geo.coop
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