"THIS WAY OUT: A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO STARTING A WORKER COOPERATIVE
(EXPLAINED BY THOSE WHO HAVE DONE IT)"
Educational DVD PROJECT
UPDATE ANNOUNCEMENT DECEMBER 1, 2010
Synopsis:
- NoBAWC onboard to assist with materials, curriculum, fundraising, letter of support
- We have translation services for a Spanish language option on the DVD
- New Vimeo Groups site for video and other submissions from Worker Cooperatives
- No cost ways to help support this DVD project and spread the word
- Cooperative-advocating film recommendations
Greetings All:
It has been a busy three weeks and I have wonderful news for this update.
NoBAWC (Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (http://www.nobawc.org) has become a collaborator in this important project. With their established expertise, contacts, assistance and companion written materials (see letter at the end of this missive), the "This Way Out..." DVD will be a truly comprehensive, portable, flexible workshop-in-a-box for breathing yet more life into the economically and socially vital cooperative movement.
My second piece of glorious news is the addition of fellow filmmaker Mark Day to the team (www.dayproductions.com.) Mark is also the co-founder of the day laborers advocacy organization, The Asociacion de Jornaleros de San Diego (San Diego Day Laborers Association http://myajsd.org) Mark will be facilitating the translation of the DVD coop lessons for the Spanish language option on the DVD. Mark Day is also the director/producer of two wonderful films, "The San Patricios" about immigrant Irish soldiers who defected from American forces to the Mexican side during the unjust Mexican-American War; and "Stephan Chemical: The Poisoning of a Mexican Community" about the severe and inexcusable harm done to poor workers in the maquiladoras by the industrial waste of (largely) American corporations. These films are available on DVD from the Day Productions web site. I am delighted to have Mark with me on "This Way Out...."
I want to thank Melissa Hoover and the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (http://www.usworker.coop), not only for their assistance and kind feedback over the past few weeks, but also for announcing the "This Way Out..." DVD project through their mailing list. Further thank you shout-out's to Michael Johnson and GEO (Grassroots Economic Organizing http://www.geo.coop) for helping to spread the word.
I have opened two new online venues attached to this project on Vimeo.com. The first is a channel of my own cooperative-oriented videos all in one place:
http://www.Vimeo.com/channels/ThisWayOut .
The second is a free Group on Vimeo where worker cooperatives can upload videos, photos, news, networking and assistance requests, advice and tips:
http://www.Vimeo.com/groups/WorkerCoop making them available for other cooperatives and organizations.
NOTE: Users will need to register for a Vimeo Basic account to get in, but it's free, free, free. For heavens sake folks, use it and network with other coops across the U.S. and world! By using Vimeo's embed feature, the videos and info can then be redistributed to other specific web sites based on content need or appropriateness. Like YouTube, Vimeo compresses your video uploads into cross-platform (both PC and Mac friendly) Flash files, but does (in my opinion) a better job and without the thumbnail ads & links for unrelated videos at the end of your video.
I want very much to give a plug here for two videos related to worker cooperatives that I believe are wonderful films and fabulous tools for grassroots organizers. You may have seen them before, but I urge you to buy or rent them and host an event to screen these two films, whether in your home or through an organization. The first was made in the late 90's, but is still vital: "Democracy In The Workplace" by Margot Smith and Bob Purdy, www.OffCenterVideo.com (you can preview this 28 minute film online at the website.) It is a wonderful intro to worker cooperatives in the San Francisco Bay Area and gets the point across about the benefits of being in a worker cooperative. The second is by director/producers Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein and is a highly inspirational and moving film called, "The Take" (87 minutes run time, www.thetake.org) The filmmakers chronicled the takeover of a plant in Argentina by it's workers during Argentina's economic meltdown earlier this decade, but also follows this specific story in the context of a larger movement of workers not only taking over failing, corrupt or bankrupt production facilities, but making them work and making them work better. The DVD also includes several wonderful bonus short films. I absolutely adored this film, and so was pleased to receive a message of support from Avi Lewis. I highly recommend using these films in any economic organizing outreach work.
I hope that you all have had the chance to watch my interviews with "For All The People..." (PMPress.org) author and worker coop member John Curl (eight parts) as well as the two interviews with the California Center For Cooperative Development's Exec Director Kim Coontz and Luis Sierra, plus Jim Hightower interviewed at the US Worker Cooperative Convention in August 2010. These are part of an ongoing series of interviews that I am doing of general interest to the cooperative community, complimentary to, but not part of, the "This Way Out..." step-by-step DVD guide. These videos are posted on the IndieGoGo fundraising page, as well as on my Vimeo and YouTube channels. (links at the end of this missive.)
So, one last thing before we get to the NoBAWC letter. If you want a no-cost way to support this project and to see this step-by-step starting-a-worker- coop instructional DVD out by the target date of Summer 2011, here are several dirt-simple ways to do it: 1) email or post information about the project to your mailing list or co-workers; 2) post it via your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. 3) Watch the trailer video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2e0RWiuZNY and at Vimeo at:
http://www.vimeo.com/channels/thiswayout and send a letter of support about why you feel this project is needed. It does not have to be a long letter.
4) Forward the IndieGoGo link! It takes just a moment to refer the project to someone (or everyone!) on your email list and IndieGoGo pays attention! Those referrals can result in "This Way Out..." being a featured project on IndieGoGo's front page. Again, the IndieGoGo link is: http://igg.me/p/12438?i=shlk
Project links: Vimeo http://www.Vimeo.com/channels/thiswayout (general)
http://www.Vimeo.com/groups/WorkerCoop (for coops)
http://www.YouTube.com/JJNoire
http://www.mightysmallfilms.com
Thank you to everyone for your donations and your support!
In Solidarity,
Jai Jai Noire - filmmaker
"This Way Out..."
The NoBAWC letter:
Dear Supporter,
A fundamental shift from business as usual is happening. Millions of unemployed and underemployed U.S. workers with valuable experience and skills are taking a more critical look at a system that has let them down. Consumers are seeking ways to operate in the market economy without exploiting workers, the environment, or themselves. Practical, cooperative, sustainable, market-based solutions have proven themselves successful in the Bay Area and throughout many leading economies around
the world. The Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC) has been on the forefront of the modern worker cooperative movement since 1994, and so we are excited to announce our collaboration with Jai Jai Noire of Mighty Small Films in the production of the educational DVD, "This Way Out: A Step By Step Guide To Starting A Workers Cooperative (Explained By
Those Who Have Done It)."
As the largest regional network of worker cooperatives in the nation (thirty-eight members and growing), NoBAWC needs tools to help us develop secure and dignified jobs right here in the USA. The This Way Out DVD will be a powerful instrument in assisting economic development agencies like ours in developing worker cooperatives and quite literally restructuring the economic paradigm we are bound within. Your financial support will open the doors of financial security and human dignity for innovative
workers yearning to contribute to society and make a decent living outside of the profit-driven, irrational, and crumbling major corporate model.
In assisting Mighty Small Films in the production of This Way Out, NoBAWC will:
- Create a detailed content outline for an informative, concise, and practical DVD tool based on best practices for cooperative ventures.
- Develop a companion manual for the curriculum presented in the DVD, with sample forms, documents, procedures and other documents often used by democratic workplaces.
- Provide access to member cooperatives where worker-owners will explain on camera how to develop and operate a successful cooperative venture in their own words.
- Consult about which workplaces best illustrate various issues presented in the film, assuring to include examples from diverse industries—bakeries to IT support—and of various sizes—3 members to 230+ members.
- Assist in soliciting funding from individuals and organizations for the successful completion of the project.
- Promote the finished DVD via our website, listserves, events, and member workplaces—where customers often ask “How do we get one of these stores in our neighborhood?”
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"This Way Out: A Step By Step Guide To Starting A Worker Cooperative (Explained By Those Who Have Done It)"
An educational DVD workshop-in-box
Press jai (at) mightysmallfilms.com Berkeley, CA
©2010 Mighty Small Films