Adria Powell, CEO and President, Cooperative Home Care Associates
Maru Bautista, Director of the Cooperative Development Project, Center of Family Life
Rebecca Lurie, CUNY SLU Professor, Moderator
Join us for a presentation in connection with the SLU summer course “Theory, Practice and Principles of Cooperative Enterprise Management.” Over the past eight weeks, 25 SLU students engaged in learning and experiencing cooperative management techniques and approaches for bringing the change we want to see in the world.
This special final session will feature guest speakers from two of the largest organizations involved in worker co-ops in New York City. Adria Powell, CEO and President of Cooperative Home Care Associates in the Bronx, represents the cooperative with more than 2,000 workers who are members of 1199SEIU-United Healthcare Workers East. Maru Bautista, Director of the Cooperative Development Project at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, serves the immigrant communities with start-up support and sector-based cooperative economic development. Both women serve on the board of Democracy At Work Institute (DAWI), and both are members of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. SLU Professor Rebecca Lurie will host the conversation and moderate a discussion with the audience.
No RSVP necessary. Doors open at 6 PM. Light refreshments will be served.
Co-sponsored by the Murphy Institute’s Community and Worker Ownership Project (CWOP) and The Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI)
The course will be held Friday, March 9 from 9:00 am-5:00 pm and Saturday, March 10 from 9:00 am-1:00 pm, all in English.
Registration deadline: Monday, March 5, 2018 at 5:00 pm.
The Democracy at Work Institute and US Federation of Worker Cooperatives are hosting a Democratic Management Crash Course for managers/management teams of worker coops, including those recently converted or in the process of converting, established coops, and start ups.
This free 1.5 day hands-on course will cover the basics of what makes a democratic workplace, and will help you answer questions like, “Who makes that decision?”, “Which numbers should I share?”, “How do we practice accountability?”.
We strongly encourage you to register for the free 60 min Management Skills Check-Up Webinar in advance of the crash course. You can register here for the next webinar, scheduled for Thursday, February 15 from 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern.
In this workshop, worker-owners will learn tools and techniques to form systems of accountability and evaluation. Worker-owners will learn about and have a chance to practice, giving and receiving feedback, self-evaluation, peer-to-peer accountability, and client feedback. By the end of the workshop, worker-owners will be able to implement accountability systems in their coops that can reduce or prevent interpersonal conflict, improve morale and job satisfaction, and increase the coops’s efficiency.
En este taller, los dueños-trabajadores aprenderán herramientas y técnicas para formar sistemas de rendición de cuentas y evaluación. Dueños-trabajadores tendrán la oportunidad de aprender y practicar, como dar y recibir critica constructiva, como autoevaluar, como crear rendición de cuentas entre pares, y recibir critica constructiva de parte de clientes. Hacia el final del taller, los dueños-trabajadores serán capaces de poner en práctica sistemas de rendición de cuentas en sus propias cooperativas ayundando reducir o prevenir los conflictos interpersonales, mejorar la moral y la satisfacción en el trabajo, e incrementar la eficiencia de las cooperativas.
The Murphy Institute has a strong history of helping students and workers understand how to improve their lives at work and in their communities. To that end, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new project at CUNY at the Murphy Institute, Community and Worker Ownership Project (CWOP).
In this age of burgeoning inequality and pervasive challenges to political and workplace democracy, this project seeks to support undertakings in worker-owned cooperatives and worker participation and control, as well as grassroots leadership in community development.
Bring non-credit courses and workshops to CUNY sites for existing and potential cooperative worker/owners
College degrees and certifications
Design credit courses, certificates and degree programs with scholars to expand education options for economic democracy and cooperative ownership
Business conversions and start-up
Support expansion of coop businesses with organized labor, worker centers, community based organizations and industry sectors
Public programming
Host and sponsor forums and conferences or serve as a speaker
Research
Initiate or share in research to evaluate economic and social justice impact of cooperative ownership and democratic engagement
Get involved!
You may be interested in learning more or participating in developing the work with us. You may have ideas or interests that can help grow the movement for economic democracy in your sphere of influence and impact and we can help. We want to hear from you!
On the Laura Flanders Show this week, Damayan Cleaning Cooperative, the first Filipina migrant worker-cooperative in the United States had a chance to tell their story. Comprised primarily of survivors of labor trafficking, these cooperative members have created dignified, democratic livelihoods for themselves by starting a cleaning cooperative.
This work connects to Damayan Migrant Workers Association‘s work resisting labor trafficking. Learn more about this inspiring work in the short video below.
December 4, 8:30 -10:30am The Murphy Institute 25 W. 43 Street, 18 Floor
The local movement of worker cooperatives, supported by the City Council, has increasingly caught the imagination of workers and organizers. What is the potential and what are the limitations of worker co-ops in building a movement for economic and social justice? To what extent does the co-op model enable working people to create secure jobs with decent pay and dignity, and, in doing so, begin to envision a new economy? What is the nature of organized labor’s role in this new movement?
Speakers:
Amy B Dean, Editorial Board Member, New Labor Forum; Fellow, The Century Foundation; Co-author, A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement
Roger Green, Director, Dubois-Bunche Center on Public Policy, Medgar Evers College; collaborating on a conversion of hospitals to cooperative ownership models
Adria Powell, Executive Vice President, Cooperative Home Care Associates
Melissa Risser, Attorney, Urban Justice Center’s Community Development Project; co-founder of 1worker1vote.org
A conversation about workers, communities and social justice
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