About us

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[edit] VAWC in the Press

  • Deb Hobson, of KOPN in Columbia, MO, interviewed Melissa Hoover (USFWC) and Erbin Crowell about the Mondragón/Steelworkers partnership and worker co-operation in the US. Listen online from their archive page. Choose the archive for 'A Chautauqua', then click the episode for 2/11/10.
  • In PBS' MediaShift episode focused on the Environmental Impact of Media,  Charles of GAIA Host Collective talks about the impact of computers, reducing consumption, and ways GAIA Host works to minimize the impact of their customers' websites.
  • Grassroot Economic Organizing's article about the VAWC Book Project's upcoming book describing the past, present and future of worker co-operatives in our region in their Fall 2009 issue, by Michael Johnson.
  • The Cooperative Fund of New England announces their support for the VAWC Staff Pilot Project on page 2 of their Summer 2009 newsletter.
  • Click here for our piece about the Staff Pilot Project and co-op driven co-op development in the United States Federation of Worker Co-operatives July 2009 Newsletter.

For more worker co-operative press visit the United States Federation of Worker Co-op's Media page.

[edit] Our Story

If you would like to receive a complimentary copy of this in booklet form call 1(888)682-4801 with your shipping information.

After the 2005 Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, members from three worker co-ops started meeting to discuss how to continue the energy, the relationships and the development of the conference. Through collective action reliant on face to face relationships worker co-ops began addressing questions that face our movement: Why aren't there more worker co-operatives? What are the core characteristics of successful worker co-operative systems that VAWC Members can utilize? What are the best ways co-ops and their members can mobilize resources to create this system? How can our development model reflect our co-operative values and principles? How can worker co-ops participate and work in partnership with other types of co-ops to create a co-operative economy?

These, and other bigger questions, are better suited to a larger group than one co-operative. Representatives from our regions worker co-ops met monthly, researched co-operative action and international models, and built relationships. This work led us to formalize VAWC and build a unified, diverse voice for worker co-operation. Since 2005 VAWC has been part of the discussion to answer these larger questions; part of our answer is our product, the other part process. Now we like to ask a question: If we can co-operatively run our own businesses, why can't we co-operatively run our own development?

[edit] Mission, visions, and goals

The Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives is dedicated to building a sustainable local economy by facilitating the growth and development of worker co-operatives. To realize this we provide support for our members, develop new worker co-operatives and promote worker co-operatives by educating and developing community awareness.

The Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives (VAWC) is rooted in the ideals of co-operation, mutuality and solidarity. VAWC is itself an expression of co-operative principles - a 'co-op of co-ops' - that have come together as a means of strengthening the efforts of our individual co-ops to develop their businesses, serve their members, and contribute to the wider co-operative economy. Our core goal is to provide ourselves with the resources and support we need to advance our co-operatives, empower our members, and benefit more people in our communities. In joining with VAWC, our co-ops commit to solidarity as expressed by provisions of membership.

Our members are deeply convinced that worker-owner businesses can be powerful vehicles for long-term, positive economic development throughout the Valley, particularly in minority and low-income communities.

Our long-term vision is to contribute to growing a regional economy in which one may live an entirely co-operative life: from the food we eat to how we earn our living, the clothes we wear to the housing we inhabit, the financial institutions we use to the cultural experiences that enrich our lives. We foresee a future in which all basic needs in life are provided by co-operatives, with VAWC providing the cornerstone for worker co-operation in a wider co-operative economy.

More broadly and deeply VAWC sees this local mission as global. A worker cooperative can be a social, political, and economic enterprise through which individual co-operators can consciously connect with and serve the common good of us all—starting with their community, then onto a network of fellow worker-owned cooperatives like VAWC, onto the whole cooperative movement here in the States and across the globe, and onto all other movements and efforts for greater democracy, cooperation, peace, economic well-being, and ecological sanity.

[edit] Structure & Identity

Worker co-operatives and our movement are made stronger through shared identity, statutes and structural provisions that preserve our individual autonomy while clearly identifying our organizations as co-operatives united in the common cause of developing a co-operative economy.

The basis for membership for worker co-ops in VAWC is the Co-operative Identity as defined by the International Co-operative Alliance (www.ica.coop):

Definition: A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.

Values: Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

Principles: The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice. • Voluntary and Open Membership • Democratic Member Control • Member Economic Participation • Autonomy and Independence • Education, Information and Training • Co-operation among Co-operatives • Concern for Community

The worker co-operative identity is further detailed by the World Declaration on Co-operative Worker Ownership established by CICOPA (The International Organisation of Industrial, Artisan and Service Producers’ Co-operatives) in 2004.

[edit] Education

VAWC co-ops are committed to education and skills development as a mechanism for the empowerment of their members. Of particular importance is the provision of education for prospective as well as current members in co-operative governance, process, history, and the co-operative principles upon which the movement is based.

VAWC is working with the UMass Co-operative Enterprise Collaborative, along with faculty at the Economics Department, co-creating curriculum centered on the co-operative model with a particular focus on worker co-operatives. A Certificate in Applied Economic Research in Co-operative Enterprise is currently being offered, as well as supporting classes and events. Contact us with any questions.

[edit] Building a development organization

We are dedicated to building a worker co-operative system that stands fora movement for economic democracy, fair trade, and sustainability in the Pioneer Valley, the nation, and the world. Not so obvious, however, is that local development organizations such as VAWC can play a crucial role in actualizing that potential. Individual co-operatives separated from each other cannot promote such a movement, even the very successful ones. Multi-state regional and national networks are playing a vital role, but they cannot make things happen locally.

The VAWC Staff Co-ordinator

In addition to VAWC’s internal needs we also believe that our co-ops need to be especially proactive and strategic in response to our current economic crisis. In order for us to actualize our potential, we feel that a new model of development that is more accountable to and funded by co-ops themselves is essential. While other approaches have had a positive impact, their contribution has been limited by 1) a dependence on grants and government support, and 2) a limited understanding of the worker co-operative culture, decision-making, and priorities.

Drawing on the experiences of Mondragón and Northern Italy, we are going to explore a new model for co-operative development in our region. We had three basic goals for this project:

  • to engage with member co-ops to better understand their needs and the needs of their members,
  • to begin basic activities with demonstrated impact such as education, marketing and building cross sector co-op relationships, and
  • to work with member co-ops to outline the responsibilities and funding for a long-term staff position.

VAWC Member co-ops sign on to a Membership Agreement. The Agreement, a sort of bylaws among co-ops, is a living document that contains our commitment to each other and the co-operative principles. Continuing to direct and fund the Staff Project is a key element in this.

[edit] Our History

The VAWC Book Project

This project is a major public education effort. However, it is a deeper purpose: to begin building a coherent community of support throughout the Valley and beyond for VAWC as a development organization. As such, we are using the book project as an innovative organizing tool that is part of the wider effort to build VAWC into a sustainable organization.

In using the interviews as an organizing tool, we are specifically seeking to broaden and deepen the awareness, appreciation, involvement, and support for VAWC among:

  • all of the individuals in all of our worker co-operatives;
  • the significant number of former worker co-operators who reside in the Valley and beyond;
  • the many social enterprises and socially responsible businesses in the area; and
  • the broad progressive community in the Valley.

We are conducting, recording, transcribing, and processing extensive interviews with:

  • current and former worker co-operators in the Valley about their experiences, their co-ops, how they see VAWC, and how they think VAWC could play a dynamic role in the Valley, and
  • people who are socially, economically, and environmentally active in the area about their activities and how they think VAWC could play a dynamic role in the Valley.

We are seeking funds to cover the expenses associated with conducting and transcribing interviews that provide much of the raw material for the book. So far we have secured $2,500, leaving us with about $12,500 more to raise.

Our provisional table of contents includes:

1.Introduction: overview of book, a brief intro to the Valley, history of co-op movement, types of co-ops, co-operative principles, cast of characters (local co-ops), topics to be covered;

2.Existing Valley Co-op Stories including stories of personal and community transformation;

3.Former Valley Co-op Stories including cautionary tales;

4.Topics/Themes: brief essays on co-op governance, dealing with interpersonal conflict, hiring and firing, etc.;

5.Building a Fair Trade, Co-operative Economy: stories of Mondragón, Québec, and the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy;

6.A Co-operative Vision for the Pioneer Valley; and

7.Resources List

The illustrator member of our team will leaven the book with humorous illustrations; stories of personal and community transformation from the interviews will give it an inspirational feel.


[edit] Into the future

Our local movement faces long-term challenges that have confronted the national worker cooperative movement since its revival in the 1970s. First, we are now focusing on creating the kind of development organization that can build and sustain a significant worker co-operative movement throughout the Valley, which, in turn, can contribute strongly to a local, sustainable democratic economy.

To move towards our goals for the next three to five years we will focus on creating the kind of development organization that can:

  • develop additional individual worker cooperatives throughout the Valley, by working with new groups of "co-oprepreneurs".
  • assisting in the conversion of established businesses into co-operatives where that is feasible.
  • develop co-ops that are connected to a network of support, technical assistance, fellowship, and access to capital.
  • develop start-up and ongoing financing for co-operative enterprises, primarily through our VAWC Co-op Development Fund.
  • participate and build a wider co-operative economy.
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