More than Zucchini

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/atWork#!/featured/100831

“The green laundry idea fits the complete program. You're doing something for the environment and you're creating meaningful jobs that can pay decently. If you can take that structure and [replicate] it in different places in the country, you can build the capacity for the cooperatives to come together. That's my view with this union co-op Mondragon–Steelworker concept. Once we show successes, people will say, 'I want some of that.'"

In its home country, the Mondragon model fixes the disconnect between management and workers by creating a social council that provides daily input on how the business is run and is charged with attempting to solve any conflict that arises from operations. In moving the concept to North America, union committees are replacing the social council. When the co-ops and projects are set up, the goal is to ensure they can't be sold off or, if they are sold, that they continue to provide good union jobs. The Mondragon model works based on 10 principles that dovetail very well with labor movement principles, including sovereignty of labor, wage solidarity and commitment to social transformation.

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Our Harvest started in 2011 to fill the void left by the disappearing family farm and to help revitalize the Cincinnati farm community. The company began with two employees and has since, with the help of the USW, as well as United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 75, expanded to 10 employees while quadrupling sales. It also forged a deal with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College—which created a certificate program in sustainable agriculture management—to provide food to the college and train college students on the co-op's farm. Ellen Vera, a representative of UFCW who works with Our Harvest, says that within three or four years the co-op expects it will expand to include about 200 jobs and hundreds of acres of production." We're looking to produce the biggest impact we can," Vera says. "We want to create a model that is replicable in other cities. It's something we'd love to see across the country."

Our Harvest is just one of five U.S. projects CUCI is working on currently. CUCI created the Cincinnati Railway Manufacturing Cooperative in hopes of attracting a world-renowned manufacturer of railway machinery. The Sustainergy Cooperative's goal is to use local union labor to retrofit commercial buildings to be more energy efficient. The Jewelry Makers co-op partners with a nonprofit that encourages women to improve their lives through jewelry-making and provides them with other training and life skills. Finally, the co-op is reviving the Yucky Cookies brand that was popular in New York City gourmet outlets.

CUCI is studying the feasibility of other projects and Mondragon International USA is looking to expand the model to 10 other cities in the near future. According to Michael Peck, Mondragon’s U.S. delegate, these will include participation from other unions such as the UFCW, SEIU, Operating Engineers and other building trades unions.

FULL story at link.