Reflecting on the Movement: Rebecca Lurie

[Editor's note: We'll be sharing responses to our survey asking cooperators to reflect on the last 20 years of worker cooperative development. If you'd like to share your thoughts, you can complete the survey here.]

When did you first become involved with the worker cooperative movement?
2013

What were your hopes for the worker cooperative movement at the time that you first became involved?
That it would enter the field where people are fighting for good jobs and meaningful work and where some are trying to start or run sustainable business, all as an added set of strategies towards healthy economic life.

In what ways have those hopes been realized? In what ways haven't they been?
The approach seems to be growing and that is good (see municipal approaches, like Chicago!) Not fast enough though! And there will be (we see sometimes) fault lines where a worker-owned approach is just another business model and not always deeply seated for radical economic and community change.

What has your experience been with national and regional worker co-op organizations? In what ways have they been beneficial for worker co-ops?
I sit on the Board of Directors of DAWI and serve at the US federation of worker coops Union Coop Council. They have been growing and leading on the work. The UCC has begun to deepen its roots and reach in the union movement. The conversations need to continue to link the larger and broader labor movement to the strategy of worker ownership. As this happens I believe we are strengthening aspects of the field. Proof? not enough yet. Coop Rhody in RI about to form, like Coop Cincy, with union backing, and with hope for capacity to support cannabis coops plus others.

What would you like to see national and regional worker co-op organizations do going forward? Where do you think their focus should be?
More reach into more worker-centered movements and orgs for strategic partnerships.