1st Annual NYC Worker Cooperative Conference

Economic Democracy and Economic Justice:
The Tale of a New City

The New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives will hold its first annual conference of presentations and discussions about economic democracy and the road to economic justice.

The conference will be held on Saturday, June 21, 2014 at CUNY Law School. The public is invited to a day of panels, group sessions, and presentations on workplace democracy, worker cooperative businesses, and the future of economic democracy in New York City.

PROGRAM OF EVENTS (TENTATIVE)

MAIN AUDITORIUM, 2ND FLOOR
10:00 AM    COFFEE & PASTRIES
10:30 AM    WELCOME
11:00 AM    WHAT IS A WORKER COOPERATIVE?

Joe Marrafino, Democracy at Work Network
Anh-Thu Nguyen, MAKE Foundation
Scott Trumbull, The Working World

12:00 PM    WORKING AT A WORKER COOPERATIVE

Yadira Fragoso, Sí Se Puede Women’s Cleaning
Telesh Lopez, Caracol Interpreters
Ralph Lozada, Cooperative Home Care Associates
Teresa Bucio, Apple Eco-Cleaning
Ricky Maclin, New Era Windows and Doors

1:00 PM    LUNCH

2:00 PM    CONNECTING TO SOCIAL JUSTICE

Saduf Syal, Make The Road New York
Ligia Guallpa, Worker’s Justice Project
Omar Freilla, Green Worker Cooperatives
Jessica Gordon Nembhard, City University of New York
Ngoc-Tran Vu, Mekong
Ed Ott, City University of New York

3:00 PM    BUILDING A WORKER COOP ECONOMY

David Hammer, ICA Group
Brendan Martin, The Working World
Carmen Huertas-Noble, CUNY Law School
Joe Marrafino, Democracy at Work Network
Christopher Michael, NYC NOWC

4:00 PM    CITY SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY 

NYC Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo
NYC Council Member Mathieu Eugene
NYC Council Member Dan Garodnick
NYS Assemblyperson Carl E. Heastie
Miquela Craytor, NYC Economic Development Corporation

5:00 PM    CONCLUDING REMARKS

Jennifer Jones Austin, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies

 
SPECIAL PROGRAMMING

11:00 AM     
MADISON PRINCIPLES OF COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

Jim Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organizing
Jessica Gordon Nembhard, City University of New York

INTERNAL CAPITAL ACCOUNTS WORKSHOP

David Hammer, ICA Group

12:00 PM    
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING WORKSHOP

Miquela Craytor, NYC Economic Development Corporation

BOARD OF DIRECTORS WORKSHOP

Carmen Huertas-Noble, CUNY Law School

1:00 PM    
CO-OPOLY: THE GAME OF CO-OPERATIVES

5:30 PM    
NYC NOWC MEMBERSHIP FORUM

DOCUMENTARIES
10:00 AM    TOGETHER

This documentary portrays the resilience of worker cooperatives during the European financial crisis. It focuses on examples of restructuring measures by worker cooperatives in four European countries: the Foundry de l’Aisne, an enterprise in crisis transformed into a worker cooperative in France; the MONDRAGON Corporation, the 7th largest industrial group in Spain; Muszynianka, a producer of mineral water in Poland; and Consorzio SIS, a social cooperative consortium in Italy.

11:00 AM    THE TAKE

A documentary film by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein about how workers in Argentina are taking over the factories abandoned by their previous owners in the wake of the 2001 economic meltdown putting them under worker self-management. The film follows thirty unemployed auto-parts workers who walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act – The Take – has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.

1:00 PM     THE MONDRAGON EXPERIMENT

BBC’s documentary on the [circa 1981] twenty-five year old experimental industrial set-up in the Spanish city of Mondragon where most of the factories and laboratories are cooperatively owned and run by a workers’ committee.

2:00 PM     SHIFT CHANGE

Shift Change is a documentary film about worker-owned and cooperative businesses in the United States and Mondragon, Spain. It tells the little known stories of employee owned businesses that compete successfully in today’s economy while providing secure, dignified jobs in democratic workplaces.

* All day long, we will have technical assistance providers available for private one-on-one sessions.

Train to:
Court Square  /
23rd Street ‑ Ely Ave

Subways:
E/M/7/G