Growing a New Economy: Local and Regional Support Networks for Democratic Workplaces 

As the number of worker cooperatives grows throughout the United States, local and regional support networks can play an important role in meeting the unique legal, accounting, marketing and organizational needs of these workplaces in your neck of the woods. Come learn about various ways in which worker coop support networks have organized through the country, hear about their program objectives and operational structures and get ideas about how to start a support network appropriate for your region and relevant to the needs of worker cooperatives in your area. Three speakers representing different models of regional support organizations will give brief, but thorough, presentation of their respective organizations with plenty of time for your questions.

Sue Bob, Worker Owned and Run Cooperative Network (WORC’N): Sue has worked with Community Builders Cooperative, a design, carpentry, and cabinetmaking cooperative, since 1980. In 2000, Sue and other members of worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces in the Boston area got together and formed WORC'N, the Worker Owned and Run Cooperative Network. A member of the Eastern Coordinating Council for the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy since 2005, Sue is looking forward to the ECWD conference in '09!
Kasper Koczab, Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC): Kasper has been a member of the Berkeley Free Clinic collective since Fall of 2000 in the role of a medic, a trainer, a phlebotomist, a fundraising organizer and a cheerleader for the organization that he loves almost as much as his grandma’s pierogies… he’s Polish. In 2007 he joined NoBAWC and currently sits on its Board and serves as NoBAWC’s second fraction-time staff person. Currently he’s in the process of applying to MBA programs in order to gain skills necessary to help grow the worker cooperative movement in the US and to introduce the worker cooperative organizational model to classroom discussions that lack such perspective. He’s also working on a photo documentary project about worker coops and he would love to hear your personal stories about your democratic workplace experience. You can e-mail him at kasper@nobawc.org.
John McNamara, Madison Cooperative Network Steering Committee: John currently serves as the Accounts Manager of Union Cab of Madison Cooperative. He has been a member of Union Cab since 1988. John has served as a director for Union Cab for 8 years (4 as president) and has been on the Strategic Planning Committee for 6 years. John also serves as a director for the US Federation of Workers Cooperatives, sits on the Worker Ownership Fund (NCDF) Advisory Board, and will be starting his third year in the Masters of Management: Cooperatives and Credit Unions at St. Mary's University (Halifax). John sits on the fledgling Madison Cooperative Network Steering Committee manages their web site (www.madcoops.org) and writes an occasional blog on worker cooperatives at http://rochdale.livejournal.com
Troy Pieper, Federation of Workplace Democracies in Minnesota (FWD-MN): Troy has been a member of the Hard Times Cafe, a worker owned restaurant in Minneapolis, for three years. He also works with the Hub bicycle cooperative. He is treasurer on the board of directors of the Federation of Workplace Democracies in Minnesota (FWD-MN, or Forward Minnesota) and secretary on the board of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
Adam Trott, Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops: Adam Trott is in his 3rd year as a worker/owner of Collective Copies in Massachusetts. Along with the Cooperative Capital Fund, Adam sits on the board of the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy. He cherishes his participation in the Valley Alliance of Worker Cooperatives, as well as the 4 years he spent at the Fourth Street Food Co-op in Manhattan, with 2 years on their Finance Committee. Adam graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a BA in Theater and a BA in Social Thought and Political Economy.