2023 Union Co-op Symposium

Announcing the 2023 Union Co-op Symposium, From Dream to Action: The Transformative Power of Co-ops, Labor, and Community, co-hosted by Co-op Cincy with 1worker1vote. The Symposium will take place in-person on Oct 20 and Oct 21 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Here’s info on 3 of the sessions we’re planning:

Community Ownership of Solar: How Worker-Owned Solar Installers, Purchasing Co-ops, and Rural Electrics Can Partner To Electrify the Country – Solar power can knit together disparate urban and rural communities and create shared purpose and wealth. In order to make solar this transformative, we have to ensure that everyone, and especially communities that have borne the brunt of the current energy system, have material access to solar. The Inflation Reduction Act has given us many of the tools we need, but it’s up to us to come together and build the solar-powered world we want to live in.

Unleashing Workplace Democracy: The Power of Labor and Co-ops Together – Worker-ownership is a proven strategy for achieving many of the goals of the labor movement, as well as for creating resilient, family-sustaining jobs that workers own and control. What is stopping us from having unions embrace union co-op development as one of the essential tools for rebuilding the labor movement? What is stopping the cooperative movement from fully joining forces with the labor movement to overhaul our economy and put people before profits?

Mutualism: Learning from Emilia Romagna, Mondragon, and Quebec to Energize the Solidarity Economy – By connecting with the wisdom of long-established cooperative ecosystems as well as the fresh perspectives and experiences of budding cooperative ecosystems, participants will share their questions, learnings, and insights on how to deepen and catalyze our regional ecosystems in a way that helps consciously shape a future where the planet and people thrive.

More information and registration can be found here.