In this episode of Punchcard, we speak to Rebecca Kemble, an experienced cooperator from the US, who is a member of Union Cabs Worker Coop in Madison and co-founder of the Solidarity Economy Principles Project.
From 2009-2016 Rebecca was a member of the board of the US Federation of Worker Coops, and in late 2024, Rebecca penned an article pointing a finger at the Federation for having drifted away from its grassroots cooperative movement origins, by centralising power and becoming unaccountable to the cooperatives that it claims to represent.
In response to the Federations shift Rebecca and others have developed the Solidarity Economy Principles Project. The project was founded to help guide and ground organisations in cooperative practices & principles to avoid them going the same way as the US Federation.
To hear the full story, listen to episode 5 of Punchcard – A Warning From The US Federation of Worker Coops w/ Rebecca Kemble.
Additional resources
- Back to Basics: Aligning Our National Organizations with Co-op Principles – by Rebecca Kemble
- Remembering the Democracy at Work Network | GEO Live #18 w/ Jim Johnson and John McNamara
- Mapping Our Futures: Economics and Governance Curriculum by Elandria Williams, Susan Williams and Samir Hazboun
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