Labor Lines

The Great Recession caused many businesses and workers to reconsider how they do business. One of the rediscovered tools for economic empowerment is worker cooperatives. San Francisco may lead the country in terms of worker cooperatives but recent legislative changes in New York may help incubate more worker owned cooperatives. Chris Michael, a lawyer, and doctoral candidate at CUNY is a founding director of the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives. He joins us along with Shannon, an architect and founder of a design-build firm called “Build with Prospect.” Shannon, with Michael’s guidance, recently transitioned his company to a worker cooperative. We’ll learn how worker cooperatives can be good for business and for workers. Then, we hear about a report developed by Brandworkers which details the working conditions for the people who make our food. Lawrence Goun is a student at the Cornell Institute for Labor Relations and Diana Marino is an organizer with Brandworkers. They&rs