Monthly Archives: October 2009

Happy 30th Anniversary, Union Cab!!

Posted on October 29, 2009 by John McNamara

Right about the time of this post, in 1979, the first Union Cab passenger (the wife of one of our drivers, Mike Gibson who would later serve as Operations Manager) marked the first fare of Union Cab. We still have … Continue reading →

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Mondragon: What relevance for US cooperative development?

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Bernard

A recent weeklong conference in Sonoma, California – The Economics of Peace – featured a day devoted to lectures and workshops on the cooperatives associated with the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC). This event marks the third occasion in the last … Continue reading →

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#8 Honesty-The Lonely Word

Posted on October 26, 2009 by John McNamara

The first time that I met Ian MacPherson, one of the key drafters of the Identity Statement, I mentioned how my co-operative, Union Cab, created our core values the same year that the Identity Statement came into existence. Even though … Continue reading →

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Capitalism: An Update

Posted on October 23, 2009 by John McNamara

In Michael Moore’s latest blog entry, he lists 15 things that we need to start doing now to change the world and take our economy back. I read with baited breath. Would he actually mention co-ops? After a litany of … Continue reading →

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#7 Solidarity

Posted on October 19, 2009 by John McNamara

Solidarity, to me one of the most beautiful words in the English language, is not simply a cooperative value. It is a human value. To have a discussion about this value involves talking about so much more than the cooperative … Continue reading →

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#7 Democracy

Posted on October 12, 2009 by John McNamara

By nature of writing on worker co-operatives, I have touched on the subject of democracy countless times. It is the foundation of co-operation. It is part of the definition, the values and the principles. If we could only use one … Continue reading →

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Bosses’ Day

Posted on October 9, 2009 by John McNamara

When I was young, I would occasionally recognize the ads for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and even Grandparents’ Day. I would ask my mom when “Kids’ Day” was. She would always reply (without hesitation), “Kids’ Day is everyday.” I thought … Continue reading →

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Capitalism: A Review

Posted on October 7, 2009 by John McNamara

****DISCLAIMER**** In the spirit of openness, please consider the following as you read this post. My name appears in Capitalism: A Love Story’s credits under the heading “Special Thanks”. I provided significant information to DogEatDog Productions regarding worker co-operatives, Mondragon, … Continue reading →

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#6 Equity (Equality’s Counter-weight)

Posted on October 5, 2009 by John McNamara

The first lesson that I received about the concept of equity as a co-operative value occurred at the MMCCU student orientation from Tom Webb. He explained the difference between equality and equity as follows: [We have delivered the orientation in … Continue reading →

Posted in Governance, Identity Statement Series, Worker Rights | Tagged , , | 1 Comment