Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy

[Michel Bauwens]

Via Joe Rinehart:

 

Dear Friends of the Eastern Conference for Workpace Democracy,

As you may know, the ECWD will be held July 8-10, 2011 on the campus of University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  We're in the process of recruiting presenters and proposals for panels, caucuses, or other sessions, and we'd love to hear from you!

Click here to submit a proposal today!

To be clear, we're working with a modest budget and can neither waive registration fees nor subsidize travel.  We do, however, have some room to help presenters and participants meet financial needs through scholarships if they income-qualify.

The deadline to submit proposals is March 21 and we expect to confirm presenters by the end of March.

So far we've tentatively confirmed or are working to confirm:

• Keynote Address w/ Melissa Hoover, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
• Plenary: "Trends in Worker Co-op Development and Community-Based Solutions" (presenters TBD)
• "Connecting Within Great Swaths of the Nation: How Worker Owners Can Gather Without Bankrupting Their Cooperative" with Frank Adams & others
• "How to Bring Evergreen to Your Community" with Steve Dubb, Democracy Collaborative
• "Legislation and Urban Cooperative Development" with Lisa Stolarski, Keystone Development Center
•  "Latino/Latina-Owned Cooperatives: Challenges and Success Stories", a roundtable discussion (presenters TBD)
• "Lessons from Wisconsin: Worker Co-ops Defending Workers Rights" John McNamara & Rebecca Kemble
• "Interfaith Movement Building", a panel moderated by Esther West, Equal Exchange (speakers TBD)
• "Building Alliances to Meet Community Needs in a Post-Global Economy" with Deborah Olson, Center for Community Based Enterprise, Detroit
• "Putting the Human Back in Human Resources: Policies and Structures that Create a Culture of Care" (presenter TBD)
• "Building Inclusive Board Practices: Elections, Governance, and Engaging Your Constituents" with Ole Olsen, Isthmus Engineering
• 1-2 sessions with the Anti-Oppression Resource Training Alliance (AORTA)

We'll consider any and all proposals, but our wish list includes:

• Communication and Conflict Resolution
• Engaging Members in Multi-stakeholder Co-ops, including food/consumer cooperatives
• Marketing/Building Public Awareness of Co-ops
• Financial Management and Planning
• Internal Orientation, Education and Training
• Organizational Structure
• Collaborative/Open Source Technology

Please note that we only have space for roughly 24 sessions.  ECWD will prioritize the voices of women, people of color, people with disabilities and other members of groups that have been historically marginalized within our movement. We appreciate all proposals!

Please visit our website for more information: http://east.usworker.coop

Questions? Comments?
Please contact Neily Jennings at [e-mail] or 802.448.0972 (US) / 514.433.6164 (Canada)

Thank you!

Neily Jennings and Esteban Kelly, ECWD Organizers

[George Pór]

Sounds a like a much needed event.

 

Is there room for standing up for workplace democracy in traditional, non-coop corporations, within this movement? 

 

Why not remind the Corporate Social Responsibility field that the company's first responsibility is towards its employees, a worklife based on freedom and dignity rather than command, control, fear and apathy?

 

Have you heard of the movement for "freedom and democracy in the workplace"? If not, check it out. They say:

 

"Do you know that  1 out of 4 Americans believe they work in a dictatorship. What if they could work in a democratic workplace instead?"