Thoughts on Corporate Accountablity Conference

I am writing to express my appreciation and my disappointment with Ralph Nader’s Conference on Corporate Accountability (http://www.tamethecorporation.org/index.html). While I am pleased that the cooperative movement in this country gains the recognition it deserves at this conference (as a viable alternative to the Corporation), I am disappointed that someone who is not a member of that movement was chosen to speak for it.

Alisa Gravitz, the Executive Director of Co-op America, who spoke on the topic of “Co-ops and Credit Unions: People’s Businesses†may very likely be a member of a cooperative food market or a credit union, but so are millions of other Americans. Co-op America is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is  “to harness economic power . . . to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.†Despite the somewhat misleading name, it is not a member of the larger cooperative movement in the United States.

A member of the South Bronx, Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA) would have been a much better choice to speak to the topic of creating an alternative to the sociopathic practices of the corporate world. CHCA is a worker-owned home health care agency that currently employs more than 550 African-American and Latina women—75% of whom had previously been dependent on public assistance.

Or a member from Greenworker Cooperatives, also in the Bronx, would have been able to speak about their project to create a worker cooperative recycle/reuse center. This effort has received over a half-million dollars in start-up grant money to realize their vision of good, “green-collar†jobs, that sustain their communities not decimate them like the corporations.

My disappointment that a representative of the growing worker cooperative movement (now organized nationally as the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (http://www.usworker.coop/about) was not invited to speak, in no way should be interpreted as a rebuke of the work that Ms. Gravitz does with Co-op America to educate small business owners about social justice issues.

Inkworks Press, the collectively managed print shop I am a member of in Berkeley,CA, has been an active supporter of Co-op America for ten years. And we have encouraged other worker-managed enterprises to join and to participate in the Green Festivals that they, in partnership with Global Exchange, stage in three major metropolitan areas across the country.

One of the best-kept secrets in this country is the self-managed economy of democratic workplaces, whether organized as cooperatives, democratic ESOPs or loosely legalized as collectives. This diverse economic arena, together with the new movement of staff controlled non-profits and the expanding practice of community-controlled enterprises opens a vista to “economic citizenship.â€

The Solidarity Economy evolving in the countries of the South reflects a similar positive practice (not simply against, but beyond, the transnationals) in the current “exploiting fields†of global trade.

What better alternative can we imagine to the corrupting power of transnational corporations than an international network of people practicing in their daily work lives a perspective that puts people before profit?

Bernard Marszalek
(written as a reflection on his own dime, not intended as a statement endorsed by Inkworks Press)

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Bernard Marszalek
Inkworks Press
510 845 7111 x110
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2827 Seventh Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
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INKWORKS PRESS
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"Ahead of the curve since 1974"

Comments

[davidlkendall]

Hi Mr. Marszalek,

"One of the best-kept secrets in this country is the self-managed economy of democratic workplaces..."??

No kidding. Are you HIRING? I was a Graphic Designer for over 20-years, until I discovered a couple of years ago, I could earn the same living doing just about anything else (like washing dishes, for instance), in Spokane Washington. I'd love to get back into graphics reproduction. I'm good at it, and I enjoy it. But I'd just about lost all hope of getting an equitable return on twenty-years of personal and financial investment -- until now.

So once again -- are ya hirin'? I'll check back from time to time for your response. Thanks for your consideration.

[Bernard]

Greetings All,

I wanted to update everyone that Alisa Gravitz (Co-op America's Executive
Director) responded to say that through some confusion the topic wasn't
changed in time and that she spoke on the "Emerging Green Economy" and not
specifically on coops.

Her colleague Denise wrote, "She pointed to cooperatives and other
exciting examples of how the economy is changing to better serve people
and the planet. The talk was very well received and served well all of
our joint efforts to create a more just and sustainable economy."

-bernard