Tag Archives: innovation

Sustainability-Coops Leading the Way

Posted on November 4, 2019 by John McNamara

In the 2013 Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade, the ICA authors make the following case: “Quite simply, a co-operative is a collective pursuit of sustainability. Co-operatives seek to ‘optimise’ outcomes for a range of stakeholders, without seeking to ‘maximise’ the … Continue reading →

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A New Year with Feathers

Posted on January 2, 2017 by John McNamara

The coming year brings, as always, hope. Given the rhetoric of the last year, that might seem a rather odd statement, but even if you feel that the abundance of hope has diminished, it still exists. Indeed, in some of … Continue reading →

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The People’s Ride: A Co-op Response to Uber

Posted on October 5, 2015 by John McNamara

I haven’t been a fan of the “sharing economy” primairlity because it really isn’t about sharing, it is about extraction. Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, TaskRabbit aren’t sharing anything, they are providing a technological interface for people to do menial jobs and … Continue reading →

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The Farmer’s Union, Cooperation, and the Environment

Posted on January 28, 2013 by John McNamara

Over the weekend, I had a really wonderful opportunity. I was asked to moderate a panel for the Wisconsin Farmer’s Union 82nd Annual Conference entitled, “Cooperatives – Empowering the Rural Economy… Again.” I also spoke to the Youth Conference presenting … Continue reading →

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Imagine 2012 and Beyond

Posted on January 7, 2013 by John McNamara

In October, economists and cooperative thinkers from around the world met in Quebec to bridge the gap between the disciplines. The conference, Imagine2012, International Conference on Cooperative Economics featured a number of presenters such as Neva Goodwin, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Stefano … Continue reading →

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Madison Mayoral Candidates Discussing Worker Cooperatives: Let’s Turn Talk Into Action

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Fred Schepartz

It appears that worker cooperatives may become an issue in this spring’s mayoral election in Madison, Wisconsin. Incumbent David Cieslewicz is blogging about a community-wide effort to facilitate the forming of worker cooperatives. Challenger and two-time former mayor Paul Soglin … Continue reading →

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The Fair Trade Dilemma

Posted on July 8, 2009 by John McNamara

Worker cooperatives should be about social transformation. They should strive to change the dominant paradigm of profit-motive that Corporate Social Responsibility as a means to mitigate the worst aspects of capitalism. Continue reading →

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Mondragon and Globalization, Basque Country and Ghosts

Posted on October 13, 2007 by John McNamara

Today’s schedule: Group Discussion in the Morning. We then left Hotel Sandika and the mountains to have lunch and discussion with Anjel Herrassti in Donostia. We returned to Mondragon and checked in at the Mondragon Hotel. The first part of … Continue reading →

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Getting Ready for Mondragon

Posted on September 15, 2007 by John McNamara

As part of my class at St. Mary’s, I will participating in a 10-day seminar at Mondragon Cooperation Corporation. It is sure to be an exciting time and to get ready for the trip, we are starting to read up … Continue reading →

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Should Co-ops Create Multi-nationals?

Posted on October 22, 2006 by John McNamara

Recently, the membership of Burley Bicycles Cooperative sold their jobs to a private investor ending 28 years of worker democracy for a paltry sum of about $20,000 per member. Burley became immensely popular with Baby Boomers for the creation of … Continue reading →

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