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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Retail Trade

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March 4, 2024

Other Avenues Grocery Cooperative

Summary

Celia LoBuono Gonzalez joins us on the show this episode to share her story and that of Other Avenues Grocery Cooperative.

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January 4, 2024

Stitching a Co-operative Future in Victoria, BC

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Summary

In the heart of Victoria, British Columbia, a remarkable transformation story has been threaded by The Make House. What started as a 10-year-old sole proprietorship blossomed into a worker co-operative in December 2022.

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November 30, 2023

Artisans Cooperative: An Etsy alternative, owned and run by artists and makers

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Summary

This is a story of how the makers who create a living off their hard-earned skills, banded together to challenge this dominant business ethic, and about the cooperative they built that’s just now getting off the ground. It is a venture that aims to grow at the speed of trust to serve the makers, the customers, and the staff who run it.

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April 24, 2023

Worker Co-ops Fund Themselves, Solve Equipment Crisis

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How the VAWC Inter-cooperative Loan Fund helped save the fledgling worker co-op Flat Iron Coffeehouse.

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January 23, 2023

Mountain Equipment Catastrophe

Summary

Dru Oja Jay is joined by Kevin Harding, one of the organizers of a spirited hail-mary attempt to save Mountain Equipment Co-op from being sold off to a US private equity firm.

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December 22, 2022

NYC's Christmas Tree Cooperative

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Ellis from New York State of Pine discusses the Christmas tree business and how he became a worker-owner.

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August 25, 2022

The Twin City Co-op Wars

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The Co-op Wars traces the history of the food cooperative movement in the mid to late 1970s in Minnesota's Twin Cities. The rapid development of the food co-op network in the area prompted a split between anarchist "hippies" and Bolsheviks who styled themselves as the “Cooperative Organization” and set about taking over the People's Warehouse by force.

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June 2, 2022

Three Examples of Large Tech Co-ops

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Big tech is facing an escalating backlash. Co-operatives could offer a more equitable and accountable alternative. In fact, some already do. This article describes three large co-operatives that have managed to take on tech giants such as Amazon and IBM.

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September 27, 2021

Fairmondo: Cooperatively Owned Online Marketplace

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Fairmondo is an online-marketplace owned by its local users currently based in Germany. It is an ethical alternative aiming to compete against Amazon’s extractive model.

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April 1, 2021

Unstoppable: How Cooperative Businesses are Transforming Communities

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Communities across the Philadelphia region are building cooperative businesses to create more equitable and just workplaces, neighborhoods, and cities. This video documents nine communities as they build businesses in construction, accounting, healthcare, solar installation and more.