The Workers’ Paradise home location is in Olympia, WA part of the region covered by the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854 signed under duress. The Workers’ Paradis acknowledges the Indigenous People of the Medicine Creek Treaty: Coast Salish People and Sahewamish Tribe who are the traditional custodians of this land. We also honor the Nisqually Tribe and Squaxin Island Tribe and pay respect to elders past and present and we extend that respect to other Native People with whom we engage throughout the Pacific Northwest region.
The opinions of this blog reflect belong those of the author and should not be interpreted to statements of any organization that the author associates with or is a member of including, but not limited to The Workers’ Paradise.
Publisher
John A. McNamara
John McNamara created and publishes The Workers’ Paradise. John shares a wonderful life with his wife, Becky in Olympia, Washington on the Salish Sea and works for the Northwest Cooperative Development Center. He sometimes teaches on worker cooperatives and democratic management as an Adjunct Faculty at The Evergreen State College. He earned a Ph.D. in Business Administration and a Masters of Management: Co-operatives and Credit Unions from St. Mary’s University (Halifax). His dissertation, titled “Aligning Values and Practice: A Comparative Analysis of Worker Managed Co-ops Using the Co-op Index Tool”, considers the efficacy of management models in operationalizing the co-operative identity. In 2015, John co-edited a book on tools to measure cooperatives.
John worked for Union Cab of Madison Co-operative (a worker’s co-operative) for 26 years–leaving in 2014 to pursue his PhD, teaching, consulting and life in the Pacific Northwest. During that time, he served on the board of directors for eight years, held the title of president for four years, vice-president for one year and the title of “Co-operative Parliamentarian”. John has also served eight years the Strategic Planning Committee. He coordinated marketing for the co-op for 14 years and served in management for 10 years finishing as General Manager/Business Manager over the last three years.
John was a founding member of the US Federation of Worker Co-operatives (individual member) and the Democracy at Work Network. He served the board of directors of the USFWC from 2006-2011. John also served on the Advisory Board for the Worker Ownership Fund, the board of Northcountry Co-operative Development Fund, and the board of Governors of the now-defunct Democracy at Work Network and was an incorporator for MadWorC, a network of worker co-ops in Madison, WI. He currently serves on the board of Orca Books Cooperative, a solidarity co-op in Olympia.
Contributors
This could be You! If you are interested in adding your ideas on worker ownership and the cooperative movement, send a email to the publisher: johnamac<at>me.com.
Hosting
Electric Embers, a worker cooperative internet service provider, handles the hosting duties. They are a great group of people and incredibly helpful and responsive.