UFCW Local 876
876 Horace Brown Dr., Madison Heights
11:30 am - 2 pm
We were invited to speak to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 876 by their Secretary-Treasurer Rick Blocker. He started off the event by describing the UFCW’s role in helping to organize the Detroit Community Grocery Store Coalition, a group of churches, community organizations and individuals working to create community-based grocery stores in underserved Detroit neighborhoods. He presented a short film created to describe the food desert situation that the city finds itself in today, and explain what the Coalition is doing to remedy the situation.
He was followed by Al Cholger, Staff Representative of the United Steelworkers, District 2 who presented a new USW strategy: organizing for stronger co-ops. He described how co-op members can benefit from membership in a union, and how unions can be more effective when working in a co-op structure.
Next the audience heard from Dave Ivers, who presented an overview of the work of C2BE, based on his long involvement us. Finally our featured speaker Mikel Lezamiz spoke on the lessons of Mondragon.
Presentations
Photos
UFCW Local 876's Secretary-Treasurer Rick Blocker making the case for cooperative groceries in Detroit
USW Staff Representative Al Cholger speaking on the synergy between cooperatives and unions
Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Dave Ivers talking about the work of C2BE
Mikel Lezamiz speaks to the audience
Categories: CBEWeek
