The Great Recession and the slump that followed have triggered a jobs crisis that's been making headlines since before President Obama was in office, and that will likely be with us for years. But the American economy is also plagued by a less-noted, but just as serious, problem: Simply put, over the last 30 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened into a chasm.
Gradual developments like this don't typically lend themselves to news coverage. But Mother Jones magazine has crunched the data on inequality, and put together a group of stunning new charts. Taken together, they offer a dramatic visual illustration of who's doing well and who's doing badly in modern America. The poorest 90 percent of Americans make an average of $31,244 a year, while the top 1 percent make over $1.1 million.
To see lots of graphics that break down the gross inequalities see Mother Jones' article.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Company Converts to Worker Coop in Recession
Oakland North
The late Neldam’s bakery is reborn, with workers in charge and treats as diverse as Telegraph Ave.
By: Alyssa Fetini | September 11, 2010 – 12:00 pm
There is a new bakery in town—sort of. When recession-related woes forced Neldam’s Danish Bakery on 34th St. and Telegraph Ave to close its doors in July after 81 years in business, its longterm employees banded together to give the Koreatown staple a fresh start.
“When Neldam’s closed, I thought to myself ‘what am I going to do now?’” said Mark Davis, who had been a baker at Neldam’s for 37 years.
Less than three months later, Davis has an answer. With the help of the building owners and investors Kevin and Sukhee Yoo, Davis and twelve of Neldam’s former employees, many of whom have worked together for decades, have formed a co-op to reopen the bakery under a new name: Taste of Denmark.
The new, employee-run Taste of Denmark, which opened for business on September 9, will give the employees a stake in the business — an added incentive to see it succeed.
“Now the former employees can not only have their old jobs back, but be owners and put more passion into the bakery,” said Sukhee Yoo.
The veteran employees and new managers say they hope their perspective on the changing needs of their customers will help Taste of Denmark avoid the same fate as Neldam’s. “Before, it was a very Danish style bakery but now we realize that we need to cater to the Asian- American community, the black community and Hispanics,” said Yoo, referencing the area’s increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse population.
Though Taste of Denmark will feature all of Neldam’s standard pastries, such as croissants, turnovers, cakes and (of course) danishes, plans for Asian pastries, tres leches cakes, and sugar and gluten- free options are underway. “We’d like to think that anyone can come in here and ask for something, and although we might not have a lot of it, we’d at least have something for everybody,” Davis said.
Oaklanders have already welcomed the bakery back with open arms. By 8 a.m. on opening day, Taste of Denmark was already full of customers—some new, eager to try out the free samples on the counter, and some faithful devotees. “I’ve been coming here since the 1940’s” said self-proclaimed regular Madeline Wells. “The people here are amazing. The pastries are like nothing I’ve ever tasted. This place is in a category all its own.”
A Taste of Denmark is located at 3401 Telegraph Ave. The hours, as of Sept. 9, are 7 a.m.-6:30 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.
The late Neldam’s bakery is reborn, with workers in charge and treats as diverse as Telegraph Ave.
By: Alyssa Fetini | September 11, 2010 – 12:00 pm
There is a new bakery in town—sort of. When recession-related woes forced Neldam’s Danish Bakery on 34th St. and Telegraph Ave to close its doors in July after 81 years in business, its longterm employees banded together to give the Koreatown staple a fresh start.
“When Neldam’s closed, I thought to myself ‘what am I going to do now?’” said Mark Davis, who had been a baker at Neldam’s for 37 years.
Less than three months later, Davis has an answer. With the help of the building owners and investors Kevin and Sukhee Yoo, Davis and twelve of Neldam’s former employees, many of whom have worked together for decades, have formed a co-op to reopen the bakery under a new name: Taste of Denmark.
The new, employee-run Taste of Denmark, which opened for business on September 9, will give the employees a stake in the business — an added incentive to see it succeed.
“Now the former employees can not only have their old jobs back, but be owners and put more passion into the bakery,” said Sukhee Yoo.
The veteran employees and new managers say they hope their perspective on the changing needs of their customers will help Taste of Denmark avoid the same fate as Neldam’s. “Before, it was a very Danish style bakery but now we realize that we need to cater to the Asian- American community, the black community and Hispanics,” said Yoo, referencing the area’s increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse population.
Though Taste of Denmark will feature all of Neldam’s standard pastries, such as croissants, turnovers, cakes and (of course) danishes, plans for Asian pastries, tres leches cakes, and sugar and gluten- free options are underway. “We’d like to think that anyone can come in here and ask for something, and although we might not have a lot of it, we’d at least have something for everybody,” Davis said.
Oaklanders have already welcomed the bakery back with open arms. By 8 a.m. on opening day, Taste of Denmark was already full of customers—some new, eager to try out the free samples on the counter, and some faithful devotees. “I’ve been coming here since the 1940’s” said self-proclaimed regular Madeline Wells. “The people here are amazing. The pastries are like nothing I’ve ever tasted. This place is in a category all its own.”
A Taste of Denmark is located at 3401 Telegraph Ave. The hours, as of Sept. 9, are 7 a.m.-6:30 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
3 Participatory Budgeting Projects Make Finals of "Vitalizing Democracy" Prize
New Videos on Participatory Budgeting in Argentina & Brazil
Feb 16, 2011
The Bertelsmann Foundation has posted short videos (in English) describing the seven finalists for the 2011 “Vitalizing Democracy” Prize. 158 democratic innovations from around the world were submitted, and three of the finalists are cases of participatory budgeting. Each case also uses technology in innovative ways, for SMS-voting, internet voting, electronic ballots, or online forums.
- La Plata (Argentina): Participatory Budgeting uses SMS-voting and electronic ballots.
http://bit.ly/laplatavideo
- Belo Horizonte (Brazil) Co-Governance: part of Belo Horizonte’s participatory budgeting includes Internet and interactive voice response (IVR) voting.
http://bit.ly/belovideo
- Recife (Brazil) Participatory Budgeting: includes electronic ballots and Internet voting.
http://bit.ly/recifevideo
E-participatory budgeting:
innovative practice in Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
One of the most interesting e-participation experiments
is the e-participatory budget of Belo Horizonte, in Brazil.
With 2.35 million inhabitants, this city is the sixth largest
in Brazil and an important political centre in the country.
Its PB is one of the oldest in Brazil: it began in 1993 and
its methodology has been innovative. Most notably, it has
included an autonomous housing PB designed to deal with
this especially important issue. It is based on a two-year cycle,
a feature that has tended to inspire other experiments in
Brazil, and places emphasis on popular control over the real
execution of the public works that have been chosen.
In 2006 a digital PB was added as a third pillar, which was
repeated in 2008 and 2010. The digital PB has three objectives:
to modernise PB through the use of ICTs; to increase
citizen involvement in the process, and to include big investments,
concerning the whole city, in the participatory
budgeting process. In fact, most Brazilian PBs face a double
problem: participation remains relatively limited (1 to 3
percent of the people in cities, somewhat higher in smaller
towns) and the biggest investments tend to remain outside
their reach.
The idea is to organise an online vote open to all residents
older than 16, in order to prioritise some investments that
require much more than the amounts available at the district
level. In order to participate, citizens have to access the
e-voting platform through the city‘s official website, where
information on the various public works is provided. The
decision is made through majority rule, with no preference
given to socially disadvantaged areas. In 2006, 25 million
R$ (around 14 million US$) were made available to the digital
PB. The amount was increased to 50 million (28 million
US$) in 2008, so that one public work (a beltway around
a very important square) could be selected. In comparison,
around 80 million R$ (44 million US$) were given to the
district PB in 2007-2008, and 110 million R$ (around 61
million US$) in 2009-2010. (In this last round, 110 public
works were selected, which means that the average amount
was 1 million R$, around 550,000 US$.) The methodology
was somewhat different in 2006, when voters could cast
9 votes, one per district, and 2009, when voters had only
one choice and it was also possible to vote by phone.
173,000 persons voted in 2006 (nearly 10 percent of the
Belo Horizonte electorate), and 124,000 in 2008 – compared
with 38,000, 34,000 and 44,000 voters for the district
PB in 2005/2006, 2007/2008 and 2009/2010. The increase
in participation with online voting has been a clear success.
However, the deliberative dimension has been virtually lost
(only 1,200 contributions were made in the online forum in
2006), and the digital participatory budget looks more like
a ‚light‘ referendum than a ‚traditional‘ PB. This peculiar
success has made the Belo Horizonte digital PB an internationally
recognised good practice (Peixoto, 2008).
Feb 16, 2011
The Bertelsmann Foundation has posted short videos (in English) describing the seven finalists for the 2011 “Vitalizing Democracy” Prize. 158 democratic innovations from around the world were submitted, and three of the finalists are cases of participatory budgeting. Each case also uses technology in innovative ways, for SMS-voting, internet voting, electronic ballots, or online forums.
- La Plata (Argentina): Participatory Budgeting uses SMS-voting and electronic ballots.
http://bit.ly/laplatavideo
- Belo Horizonte (Brazil) Co-Governance: part of Belo Horizonte’s participatory budgeting includes Internet and interactive voice response (IVR) voting.
http://bit.ly/belovideo
- Recife (Brazil) Participatory Budgeting: includes electronic ballots and Internet voting.
http://bit.ly/recifevideo
E-participatory budgeting:
innovative practice in Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
One of the most interesting e-participation experiments
is the e-participatory budget of Belo Horizonte, in Brazil.
With 2.35 million inhabitants, this city is the sixth largest
in Brazil and an important political centre in the country.
Its PB is one of the oldest in Brazil: it began in 1993 and
its methodology has been innovative. Most notably, it has
included an autonomous housing PB designed to deal with
this especially important issue. It is based on a two-year cycle,
a feature that has tended to inspire other experiments in
Brazil, and places emphasis on popular control over the real
execution of the public works that have been chosen.
In 2006 a digital PB was added as a third pillar, which was
repeated in 2008 and 2010. The digital PB has three objectives:
to modernise PB through the use of ICTs; to increase
citizen involvement in the process, and to include big investments,
concerning the whole city, in the participatory
budgeting process. In fact, most Brazilian PBs face a double
problem: participation remains relatively limited (1 to 3
percent of the people in cities, somewhat higher in smaller
towns) and the biggest investments tend to remain outside
their reach.
The idea is to organise an online vote open to all residents
older than 16, in order to prioritise some investments that
require much more than the amounts available at the district
level. In order to participate, citizens have to access the
e-voting platform through the city‘s official website, where
information on the various public works is provided. The
decision is made through majority rule, with no preference
given to socially disadvantaged areas. In 2006, 25 million
R$ (around 14 million US$) were made available to the digital
PB. The amount was increased to 50 million (28 million
US$) in 2008, so that one public work (a beltway around
a very important square) could be selected. In comparison,
around 80 million R$ (44 million US$) were given to the
district PB in 2007-2008, and 110 million R$ (around 61
million US$) in 2009-2010. (In this last round, 110 public
works were selected, which means that the average amount
was 1 million R$, around 550,000 US$.) The methodology
was somewhat different in 2006, when voters could cast
9 votes, one per district, and 2009, when voters had only
one choice and it was also possible to vote by phone.
173,000 persons voted in 2006 (nearly 10 percent of the
Belo Horizonte electorate), and 124,000 in 2008 – compared
with 38,000, 34,000 and 44,000 voters for the district
PB in 2005/2006, 2007/2008 and 2009/2010. The increase
in participation with online voting has been a clear success.
However, the deliberative dimension has been virtually lost
(only 1,200 contributions were made in the online forum in
2006), and the digital participatory budget looks more like
a ‚light‘ referendum than a ‚traditional‘ PB. This peculiar
success has made the Belo Horizonte digital PB an internationally
recognised good practice (Peixoto, 2008).
Sunday, February 6, 2011
The Tale of 2 Dollars
Posted by Dandarius on February 5, 2011
On Transition California
To clearly understand the power of self-reliant economics as an investment model, let us follow the adventures of two dollars as they go out to seek their fortune and make their mark in the world.
Dollar #1 ended up in a civil engineering construction company. The company did relatively well. They won a contract with the IMF to build an oil pipeline in South America. The cost of the pipeline ultimately was the responsibility of the local government, which would end up paying for the interest on the loan to build the pipeline for many years. This road made it possible to transport oil from drilling operations in a remote section of the country. The profits from the drilling were supposed to help pay for economic development projects to benefit the local people. Unfortunately, they ended up being used to pay for the interest for the loan to build the pipeline but this did not affect the profitability of the construction company, which was paid for by the IMF who loaned the money to build the road. And so after ten years, the $1 investment was worth $3.84
There was unfortunately a minus side – environmentally, socially and economically. The pipeline had serious leaks and caused an incredible amount of pollution. The areas for miles around the drilling sites were blighted. The communities protested, but they were not shareholders, and the construction company felt itself answerable first and foremost to the shareholders. The construction company did provide a large number of jobs while the pipeline was being built, but these were generally low paying subsistence level jobs. In any case, workers generally spent all their income in stores which stocked items imported from other places. For this reason, there was no economic development in the area other than the drilling itself. 100% of the profits of the drilling operation thus left the country. The local area, being impoverished, experienced massive social unrest and unemployment. There is no way to put a price tag on these costs.
Dollar #2 went to Working Villages. It was used in the set-up and operation of grain mills. At an initial start up cost of $133,000 and a yearly operating cost of $30,000, the mills had expenses of $433,000 over a ten year period and income of $2.4 million. Net income was almost $2 million on an initial investment of under $200,000. So Dollar #2 had grown to $10 in the 10 year period.
But the story of Dollar #2 had just begun. The $10 was reinvested in development of a chain of cooperative stores, which stocked food, clothing and manufactured items produced locally at prices below the cost of imported items.. All the money earned by the local farmers during the 10 years - about $10 million was used to buy products in the stores. The stores sold items at a 25% net margin, and so produced a net profit of $2.5 million from total gross sales of $10 million over the period, from a startup capital of $100,000. The $7.5 million in gross sales that were paid out to local producers and manufacturers were all recycled through the local economy multiple times. The dressmakers who sold their dresses bought food from local farmers, who in turn bought locally made agricultural implements. The $10 thus grew to $250.
The story of Dollar #2 is starting to get interesting! Income from the milling and the stores was re-invested in building local industries, including clothing, construction materials, furniture, agricultural tools, large fruit orchards, and a large dairy. Oxen were trained to plow and transport goods, enhancing worker productivity. One farmer with a trained ox team can plow at least 10 times more land than a farmer plowing by hand. Agricultural output thus soared.
Because the economy was self-reliant, every transaction within the village economy was recycled back into the local economy. It thus became increasingly difficult to judge profitability exactly, but we conservatively estimate that the original investment produced wealth in excess of $100 million in 10 years in this one village alone. Within 10 years, we expect to have replicated the self-reliant community in hundreds of locations in the region.
The ROI for Dollar #2 was $3.86 while at the same time, by building the local economy, the opportunity for future investment increased exponentially. A local economy that at the outset could properly utilize an investment of at most $200,000 had been transformed into an economy that could effectively utilize tens of billions of dollars – all of this with zero pollution or environmental degradation and total community support.
Which dollar followed an intelligent investment course? If we consider this from the standpoint of investment security, Dollar #1 was better, because the construction company had a proven track record, and was well capitalized. If we look simply at return on investment, both courses appear almost equivalent. But if we look at the long term picture, Dollar #1 created environmental and economic chaos, while Dollar #2 was instrumental in the economic growth of the community, without any pollution or social upheaval creating prosperity across the board.
On Transition California
To clearly understand the power of self-reliant economics as an investment model, let us follow the adventures of two dollars as they go out to seek their fortune and make their mark in the world.
Dollar #1 ended up in a civil engineering construction company. The company did relatively well. They won a contract with the IMF to build an oil pipeline in South America. The cost of the pipeline ultimately was the responsibility of the local government, which would end up paying for the interest on the loan to build the pipeline for many years. This road made it possible to transport oil from drilling operations in a remote section of the country. The profits from the drilling were supposed to help pay for economic development projects to benefit the local people. Unfortunately, they ended up being used to pay for the interest for the loan to build the pipeline but this did not affect the profitability of the construction company, which was paid for by the IMF who loaned the money to build the road. And so after ten years, the $1 investment was worth $3.84
There was unfortunately a minus side – environmentally, socially and economically. The pipeline had serious leaks and caused an incredible amount of pollution. The areas for miles around the drilling sites were blighted. The communities protested, but they were not shareholders, and the construction company felt itself answerable first and foremost to the shareholders. The construction company did provide a large number of jobs while the pipeline was being built, but these were generally low paying subsistence level jobs. In any case, workers generally spent all their income in stores which stocked items imported from other places. For this reason, there was no economic development in the area other than the drilling itself. 100% of the profits of the drilling operation thus left the country. The local area, being impoverished, experienced massive social unrest and unemployment. There is no way to put a price tag on these costs.
Dollar #2 went to Working Villages. It was used in the set-up and operation of grain mills. At an initial start up cost of $133,000 and a yearly operating cost of $30,000, the mills had expenses of $433,000 over a ten year period and income of $2.4 million. Net income was almost $2 million on an initial investment of under $200,000. So Dollar #2 had grown to $10 in the 10 year period.
But the story of Dollar #2 had just begun. The $10 was reinvested in development of a chain of cooperative stores, which stocked food, clothing and manufactured items produced locally at prices below the cost of imported items.. All the money earned by the local farmers during the 10 years - about $10 million was used to buy products in the stores. The stores sold items at a 25% net margin, and so produced a net profit of $2.5 million from total gross sales of $10 million over the period, from a startup capital of $100,000. The $7.5 million in gross sales that were paid out to local producers and manufacturers were all recycled through the local economy multiple times. The dressmakers who sold their dresses bought food from local farmers, who in turn bought locally made agricultural implements. The $10 thus grew to $250.
The story of Dollar #2 is starting to get interesting! Income from the milling and the stores was re-invested in building local industries, including clothing, construction materials, furniture, agricultural tools, large fruit orchards, and a large dairy. Oxen were trained to plow and transport goods, enhancing worker productivity. One farmer with a trained ox team can plow at least 10 times more land than a farmer plowing by hand. Agricultural output thus soared.
Because the economy was self-reliant, every transaction within the village economy was recycled back into the local economy. It thus became increasingly difficult to judge profitability exactly, but we conservatively estimate that the original investment produced wealth in excess of $100 million in 10 years in this one village alone. Within 10 years, we expect to have replicated the self-reliant community in hundreds of locations in the region.
The ROI for Dollar #2 was $3.86 while at the same time, by building the local economy, the opportunity for future investment increased exponentially. A local economy that at the outset could properly utilize an investment of at most $200,000 had been transformed into an economy that could effectively utilize tens of billions of dollars – all of this with zero pollution or environmental degradation and total community support.
Which dollar followed an intelligent investment course? If we consider this from the standpoint of investment security, Dollar #1 was better, because the construction company had a proven track record, and was well capitalized. If we look simply at return on investment, both courses appear almost equivalent. But if we look at the long term picture, Dollar #1 created environmental and economic chaos, while Dollar #2 was instrumental in the economic growth of the community, without any pollution or social upheaval creating prosperity across the board.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Mondragon Cooperative Built on Sweatshop Labor?
Editor's Note: This protest speaks to the need for relocalization in conjunction with economic democracy, as well as a scaling down of the materialistic lifestyle encouraged by Western culture. I knew years ago that Mondragon was creating high tech exports to partially support their cooperative project (many people wondered how did they do it and why haven't we been able to?). This raised a red flag as most high tech is environmentally unsustainable, as is the environmental burden of transporting exports and related packaging. Most high tech goods are produced in sweatshops to be competitive on the global market. Sometimes despite good intentions, the distancing of the supply chain leads easily to environmental, economic, and social abuses. It become much easier to both hide these practices and to emotionally and socially distance one's self from the effects. Hence all the problems with tracking sweatshop and green goods. A truly sustainable economy would be focused on local/regional productions, with minimal production of necessary specialized goods by the global fair trade market. In the meantime, these workers need fair wages. In the long term, they should be building their own regionally produced, democratically controlled, sustainable, cooperative economy. Nothing else will substitute.
FagorMastercook Protest
ZSP Admin, pon., 07/21/2008 - 20:10
Fagor's not a Workplace but a Workcamp: Mondragon Capitalists F#$% Workers in Poland. Strike is Imminent
Fagor is a large appliance manufacturer owned by the Mondragon "Cooperative" capitalist enterprise. In Poland it cooperatives FagorMastercook in Wroclaw. Currently there are serious labour problems in FagorMastercook. Members of the Wrocław group of Union of Syndicalists (ZSP) went Friday to a protest in front of the factory.
The place has become quite militarized. On Friday the firm had over 200 armed security guards from the notorious firm Impel there to protect the factory. The place was surrounded by metal barricades and each worker going in was throughly searched. Some employees say that there is often heavy security and searches.
Despite the heavy security, or perhaps because of it, about hundreds of workers joined in the demonstration on Friday. About 300 people, workers and supporters, were there after the morning shift, and about 200 before the afternoon shift began. The demo was organized by the August 80 union which has been negotiating with the firm for many months to get people a pay raise.
The workers in FagorMastercook have noted many instances of people being fired for belonging to unions or even just agreeing with their postulates. At least 20 members of August 80 were fired.
In FagorMastercook there are a few unions: Solidarity, August 80 and OPZZ Metalworkers. Solidarity and August 80 are calling for pay raises. In June a warning strike took place. Over 90 percent of the workers went on strike. Then a wave of repressions started. Besides firing some unionists and others who supported them, they started to pick out people, have supervisors stand behind them on the line watching their every move, threatening to fire them if they got even a second behind production. This sort of intimidation was probably used to show people that if they tried to organize themselves, the company would find any small pretext to fire them.
On July 9, two members of August 80 were fired for "leaving their workstations". They had been collecting votes on a strike referendum.
Members of ZSP at the demonstration were told that people were threatened with dismissal for demanding pay raises. They also heard that the workers will probably vote to go on strike.
Production workers at FagorMastercook make around 1200 zloties (400 euros) a month. Minimum wage in Poland is currently 1126 zloties a month but this will be raised to 1276 next year. So workers at this highly profitable factory are making almost nothing. That's why one of the slogans of the workers is FagorMastercook: A Workcamp, not a Workplace.
At the end of 2006, the EBRD decided to give 17.5 million euro to FagorMastercook. This money was given as part of a restructuring project. FagorMastercook wants to increase production in Poland and achieve economies of scale while making Poland its production hub for Central Europe. The company moved production from Spain when it started new production of gas stoves in Poland about 5 years ago. The production of refrigerators also got moved to Poland. Over 80 percent of the production is meant for export. They increased turnover by about 29% last year.
FagorMastercook works in a Special Economic Zone and received subsidies from the Polish state; it received a direct subsidy of 3.5 million zloties for creating jobs, plus a CIT and corporate real estate tax exemption. So in addition to money from the EBRD, FagorMastercook got help from the Polish state of about 52 million zloties. That's equal to the EBRD's 17.5 million euros at the current exchange rate. This means that the EBRD and Polish state invested more in the FagorMastercook facilites in Wroclaw than Fagor.
Although Mondragon still pushes its "cooperative" worker-friendly image, publishing bullshit reports on how it is concerned about the effects on globalization on the local workforce, for example in Spain, Mondragón Cooperative Corporation (MCC) is a typical capitalist employer operating plants in low-wage countries like Poland, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico, Thailand and China. Employees in these countries are not co-op members. (Some employees in other countries, even in Spain are also non-members; as many as 1/3 of Mondragon workers are not cooperative members. Any cooperative can also apply to MCC to employ up to 40% non-cooperative workers.)
It pretends to be "one of the world's top 10 best employers" and pays completely shit wages here in Poland and is actively repressing unionists. This is even worse than having typical capitalism disguised as a cooperative; it's just typical exploitation of people from poorer countries by those in the richer ones.
ZSP is calling on people to send letters to Mondragon and to Fagor expressing their disgust with the appallingly low wages in Poland and with the recent incidents of repression and intimidation against protestors. We also ask people, if they meet anybody spreading naive reports about Mondragon, to point out what's going on.
Sample protest letter (please write your own version):
To:
José María Aldecoa
Mondragon Corporation Cooperative
Pº Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta
Nº 5 20500 Mondragon
Guipuzcoa, Espana
Fax: +34 943- 796 632
Fax: 34 943-779-300
Fagor Electrodomésticos
Fax: 943 79 68 81
Fagor Mastercook
Fax: 48 22 639-8985
We are writing to support the demands of the workers at Fagor Mastercook in Wroclaw and to demand an immediate end to its repression of unionists.
Workers at Fagor Mastercook are demanding an pay raise of 1000 zloties since salaries there are barely above minimum wage and are well below the national average. Over 90% of the workforce participated in a warning strike in June. Afterwards, many union members and leaders were fired. Workers have complained that they have been harrassed and intimidated. Peaceful demonstrators were met by 200 armed security guards.
This type of exploitation is a disgrace. Enough of your hypocrisy !
We are looking forward to the workers' imminent strike and ultimate victory.
Signed
....
If you sent a protest, let us know. If you sent a different text, send copies to: info@zsp.net.pl
FagorMastercook Protest
ZSP Admin, pon., 07/21/2008 - 20:10
Fagor's not a Workplace but a Workcamp: Mondragon Capitalists F#$% Workers in Poland. Strike is Imminent
Fagor is a large appliance manufacturer owned by the Mondragon "Cooperative" capitalist enterprise. In Poland it cooperatives FagorMastercook in Wroclaw. Currently there are serious labour problems in FagorMastercook. Members of the Wrocław group of Union of Syndicalists (ZSP) went Friday to a protest in front of the factory.
The place has become quite militarized. On Friday the firm had over 200 armed security guards from the notorious firm Impel there to protect the factory. The place was surrounded by metal barricades and each worker going in was throughly searched. Some employees say that there is often heavy security and searches.
Despite the heavy security, or perhaps because of it, about hundreds of workers joined in the demonstration on Friday. About 300 people, workers and supporters, were there after the morning shift, and about 200 before the afternoon shift began. The demo was organized by the August 80 union which has been negotiating with the firm for many months to get people a pay raise.
The workers in FagorMastercook have noted many instances of people being fired for belonging to unions or even just agreeing with their postulates. At least 20 members of August 80 were fired.
In FagorMastercook there are a few unions: Solidarity, August 80 and OPZZ Metalworkers. Solidarity and August 80 are calling for pay raises. In June a warning strike took place. Over 90 percent of the workers went on strike. Then a wave of repressions started. Besides firing some unionists and others who supported them, they started to pick out people, have supervisors stand behind them on the line watching their every move, threatening to fire them if they got even a second behind production. This sort of intimidation was probably used to show people that if they tried to organize themselves, the company would find any small pretext to fire them.
On July 9, two members of August 80 were fired for "leaving their workstations". They had been collecting votes on a strike referendum.
Members of ZSP at the demonstration were told that people were threatened with dismissal for demanding pay raises. They also heard that the workers will probably vote to go on strike.
Production workers at FagorMastercook make around 1200 zloties (400 euros) a month. Minimum wage in Poland is currently 1126 zloties a month but this will be raised to 1276 next year. So workers at this highly profitable factory are making almost nothing. That's why one of the slogans of the workers is FagorMastercook: A Workcamp, not a Workplace.
At the end of 2006, the EBRD decided to give 17.5 million euro to FagorMastercook. This money was given as part of a restructuring project. FagorMastercook wants to increase production in Poland and achieve economies of scale while making Poland its production hub for Central Europe. The company moved production from Spain when it started new production of gas stoves in Poland about 5 years ago. The production of refrigerators also got moved to Poland. Over 80 percent of the production is meant for export. They increased turnover by about 29% last year.
FagorMastercook works in a Special Economic Zone and received subsidies from the Polish state; it received a direct subsidy of 3.5 million zloties for creating jobs, plus a CIT and corporate real estate tax exemption. So in addition to money from the EBRD, FagorMastercook got help from the Polish state of about 52 million zloties. That's equal to the EBRD's 17.5 million euros at the current exchange rate. This means that the EBRD and Polish state invested more in the FagorMastercook facilites in Wroclaw than Fagor.
Although Mondragon still pushes its "cooperative" worker-friendly image, publishing bullshit reports on how it is concerned about the effects on globalization on the local workforce, for example in Spain, Mondragón Cooperative Corporation (MCC) is a typical capitalist employer operating plants in low-wage countries like Poland, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico, Thailand and China. Employees in these countries are not co-op members. (Some employees in other countries, even in Spain are also non-members; as many as 1/3 of Mondragon workers are not cooperative members. Any cooperative can also apply to MCC to employ up to 40% non-cooperative workers.)
It pretends to be "one of the world's top 10 best employers" and pays completely shit wages here in Poland and is actively repressing unionists. This is even worse than having typical capitalism disguised as a cooperative; it's just typical exploitation of people from poorer countries by those in the richer ones.
ZSP is calling on people to send letters to Mondragon and to Fagor expressing their disgust with the appallingly low wages in Poland and with the recent incidents of repression and intimidation against protestors. We also ask people, if they meet anybody spreading naive reports about Mondragon, to point out what's going on.
Sample protest letter (please write your own version):
To:
José María Aldecoa
Mondragon Corporation Cooperative
Pº Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta
Nº 5 20500 Mondragon
Guipuzcoa, Espana
Fax: +34 943- 796 632
Fax: 34 943-779-300
Fagor Electrodomésticos
Fax: 943 79 68 81
Fagor Mastercook
Fax: 48 22 639-8985
We are writing to support the demands of the workers at Fagor Mastercook in Wroclaw and to demand an immediate end to its repression of unionists.
Workers at Fagor Mastercook are demanding an pay raise of 1000 zloties since salaries there are barely above minimum wage and are well below the national average. Over 90% of the workforce participated in a warning strike in June. Afterwards, many union members and leaders were fired. Workers have complained that they have been harrassed and intimidated. Peaceful demonstrators were met by 200 armed security guards.
This type of exploitation is a disgrace. Enough of your hypocrisy !
We are looking forward to the workers' imminent strike and ultimate victory.
Signed
....
If you sent a protest, let us know. If you sent a different text, send copies to: info@zsp.net.pl
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Unmarketing. Stop Marketing, Start Engaging.
Book Review by the New Economics for Humanity
1/26/2011
AWESOME BOOK!!! I seriously loved it. Scott speaks as if his way is the way, but I don't mind it, that's what works for him and it resonates with me. I too recommend what works for me.
One of the topics that have come to my mind when I think of the Financial Institution of the Future project is, what are economic transactions for?? Why do we want to measure them?? and, what is it about value that makes it so important. Recently, I have repeatedly heard phrases that have led me to conclude that economic transactions are all about social relationships.
Paolo Ricciardelli, from a Skype group that discusses complementary currencies, said that "The core idea is that relations of exchange between individuals are more valuable than the goods or services exchanged."
In another conversation with Helen Dew from Living Economies, she told me that "we know that good relationships mean good trade". A relevant for my local exchange group which is wondering about why we are becoming stagnant.
Well, the author of this book takes this conversation about good relationships to the world of business in a way that no mainstream businessman could do. Although he apparently also works as a consultant for old-age type of business, I see great potential for using his wisdom in evolutionary businesses. "Marketing happens every time you engage (or not) with your past, present and potential customers" he says. It is not about a department of your business that will put an expensive ad and hope that someone will call, which the author calls the 'push and pray' method. It is about engaging with your customers, it is about establishing human conversations. Furthermore, he doesn't get tired of saying that honesty, authenticity and transparency are key to success.
So, in a mainstream/old-age company, the employees normally do not care about their job, they do what they do 'to survive', 'to pay the bills'. The employer cares about his employees as long as they bring sales. There is no engagement between them, therefore, employees will never be part of the positive marketing process for that business. They will never tell their friends to visit the factory where they work because it is awesome and have great products for them, for example. What Scott seems to be telling me is that your employees need to be as passionate about their job, as you are about your company. You need to be passionate about what you do so that you can go out and talk to people about it.
How does passion comes about?? or how do you motivate your employees?? Engage with them, be honest, authentic and transparent so that they trust you. When they trust you, they will be honest, authentic and transparent to you, so you'll trust them. Then, every one will play a key role in the Unmarketing process.
I concluded that marketing is about imposing, unmarketing is about creating trust. Scott even talks about a social currency!! something like, every time you build and strengthen your relationships with potential costumers, that is to say, with anyone, you are crediting your social account with a social currency. Eventually, the time will come for you to use it!
With the Financial Institution of the Future project, I am struggling a bit because I have got people joining the team on the BetterMeans Platform, however, I haven't been able to engage with them in a conversation that would motivate us to actively participate. That is because the platform does not allow us to keep contact with each other through email. If I want to email them, I need to go to my personal email account and select the recipients one by one. Same would be for them, which is an issue since not everyone has everyone else's addresses. So before we can go out to talk about this project, we need to develop passion for it, we all have to own it, to feel we belong to it and it belongs to us. We need to love the project...but we need the tool to engage and have conversations. I'd like to ask to current and future contributors, how do you think we can overcome this if BetterMeans cannot solve this issue for our project, which they are aware of??
My abstraction of the book can be summarized in the next sentence: Conversations start the process of building trust, which creates and strengthens good relationships. These are essential in building community, which process engages the public and promotes good trade. Social cohesion is key to healthy and sustainable economic activity. I chose the fractal spiral to indicate that, to me, this is a never ending process, it is an iteration, it feeds itself and when you look at it closer, you find more of the same stuff..."to infinity and beyond"!!
1/26/2011
AWESOME BOOK!!! I seriously loved it. Scott speaks as if his way is the way, but I don't mind it, that's what works for him and it resonates with me. I too recommend what works for me.
One of the topics that have come to my mind when I think of the Financial Institution of the Future project is, what are economic transactions for?? Why do we want to measure them?? and, what is it about value that makes it so important. Recently, I have repeatedly heard phrases that have led me to conclude that economic transactions are all about social relationships.
Paolo Ricciardelli, from a Skype group that discusses complementary currencies, said that "The core idea is that relations of exchange between individuals are more valuable than the goods or services exchanged."
In another conversation with Helen Dew from Living Economies, she told me that "we know that good relationships mean good trade". A relevant for my local exchange group which is wondering about why we are becoming stagnant.
Well, the author of this book takes this conversation about good relationships to the world of business in a way that no mainstream businessman could do. Although he apparently also works as a consultant for old-age type of business, I see great potential for using his wisdom in evolutionary businesses. "Marketing happens every time you engage (or not) with your past, present and potential customers" he says. It is not about a department of your business that will put an expensive ad and hope that someone will call, which the author calls the 'push and pray' method. It is about engaging with your customers, it is about establishing human conversations. Furthermore, he doesn't get tired of saying that honesty, authenticity and transparency are key to success.
So, in a mainstream/old-age company, the employees normally do not care about their job, they do what they do 'to survive', 'to pay the bills'. The employer cares about his employees as long as they bring sales. There is no engagement between them, therefore, employees will never be part of the positive marketing process for that business. They will never tell their friends to visit the factory where they work because it is awesome and have great products for them, for example. What Scott seems to be telling me is that your employees need to be as passionate about their job, as you are about your company. You need to be passionate about what you do so that you can go out and talk to people about it.
How does passion comes about?? or how do you motivate your employees?? Engage with them, be honest, authentic and transparent so that they trust you. When they trust you, they will be honest, authentic and transparent to you, so you'll trust them. Then, every one will play a key role in the Unmarketing process.
I concluded that marketing is about imposing, unmarketing is about creating trust. Scott even talks about a social currency!! something like, every time you build and strengthen your relationships with potential costumers, that is to say, with anyone, you are crediting your social account with a social currency. Eventually, the time will come for you to use it!
With the Financial Institution of the Future project, I am struggling a bit because I have got people joining the team on the BetterMeans Platform, however, I haven't been able to engage with them in a conversation that would motivate us to actively participate. That is because the platform does not allow us to keep contact with each other through email. If I want to email them, I need to go to my personal email account and select the recipients one by one. Same would be for them, which is an issue since not everyone has everyone else's addresses. So before we can go out to talk about this project, we need to develop passion for it, we all have to own it, to feel we belong to it and it belongs to us. We need to love the project...but we need the tool to engage and have conversations. I'd like to ask to current and future contributors, how do you think we can overcome this if BetterMeans cannot solve this issue for our project, which they are aware of??
My abstraction of the book can be summarized in the next sentence: Conversations start the process of building trust, which creates and strengthens good relationships. These are essential in building community, which process engages the public and promotes good trade. Social cohesion is key to healthy and sustainable economic activity. I chose the fractal spiral to indicate that, to me, this is a never ending process, it is an iteration, it feeds itself and when you look at it closer, you find more of the same stuff..."to infinity and beyond"!!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
St. Louis Timebank Brings MORE for All
Grace Hill is comprised of sister agencies, Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers, Inc. (GHNHC) and Grace Hill Settlement House (GHSH). Each is controlled by a separate governing body. Grace Hill Settlement House was founded in 1903 by the Episcopal Diocese to help immigrant families "settle into their new neighborhood" on the near north side of St. Louis. Now it serves neighborhoods throughout the City of St. Louis and St. Charles County with its MORE system.
The Grace Hill Settlement in St Louis is one of the pioneers of Co-Production using Time Dollars. Their Member-Organized Resource Exchange (MORE) now underpins community involvement in 11 neighborhood centers and four health centers. Their involvement in the Head Start program dates back to 2001 when they won the contract to deliver the program to half the city of St Louis, mainly because of their proven ability to involve hard-to-reach groups through MORE.
Since MORE was fully computerized in 1991, service activity by residents has generated over 670,000 Time Dollars which, calculated at minimum wage, would have an equivalent monetary value of $3.5 million.
MORE for all
The Member Organized Resource Exchange (MORE), a hallmark Grace Hill program, has become the organization’s most vital way of engaging neighbors in helping neighbors.
Shaped by community members who build their leadership skills on one of seven MORE Boards, the program can involve everyone – children and parents, youth and seniors. In MORE’s inventive “time dollar” system of barter-exchange, community members of any age can offer a service – whether babysitting or house painting – within their skill set. Hours of service not only help their neighbors, but translate into “dollars.” They can then use “time dollars” to exchange services with neighbors, purchase services at Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers, or buy everyday household items and larger purchases, such as major appliances and furniture, at MORE stores. The exchange builds self-confidence as community members see the value of their work converted into tangible assets.
MORE also operates the Neighborhood College, where community members can strengthen their skills in 40-hour certificate courses on subjects such as parenting education and financial literacy. Like everything about MORE, the curriculum changes when neighbors see a new need arise.
The Grace Hill Settlement in St Louis is one of the pioneers of Co-Production using Time Dollars. Their Member-Organized Resource Exchange (MORE) now underpins community involvement in 11 neighborhood centers and four health centers. Their involvement in the Head Start program dates back to 2001 when they won the contract to deliver the program to half the city of St Louis, mainly because of their proven ability to involve hard-to-reach groups through MORE.
Since MORE was fully computerized in 1991, service activity by residents has generated over 670,000 Time Dollars which, calculated at minimum wage, would have an equivalent monetary value of $3.5 million.
MORE for all
The Member Organized Resource Exchange (MORE), a hallmark Grace Hill program, has become the organization’s most vital way of engaging neighbors in helping neighbors.
Shaped by community members who build their leadership skills on one of seven MORE Boards, the program can involve everyone – children and parents, youth and seniors. In MORE’s inventive “time dollar” system of barter-exchange, community members of any age can offer a service – whether babysitting or house painting – within their skill set. Hours of service not only help their neighbors, but translate into “dollars.” They can then use “time dollars” to exchange services with neighbors, purchase services at Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers, or buy everyday household items and larger purchases, such as major appliances and furniture, at MORE stores. The exchange builds self-confidence as community members see the value of their work converted into tangible assets.
MORE also operates the Neighborhood College, where community members can strengthen their skills in 40-hour certificate courses on subjects such as parenting education and financial literacy. Like everything about MORE, the curriculum changes when neighbors see a new need arise.
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