A 2012 documentary film about worker co-operatives that will be showing in Calgary, Alta. June 24 could be an effective tool to get people thinking about worker co-operatives, says Hazel Corcoran, executive director of the Calgary-based Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation (CWCF).
Shift Change will be showing at the Unitarian Church of Calgary. The CWCF bought a copy of the documentary with the rights to show the film, so long as there’s no mandatory admission charged. The film had its Canadian premier at CWCF’s conference in 2012 to much fanfare.
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CWCF; Alberta Community and Co-operative Association; the Unitarian Church of Calgary’s social justice committee; and Thrive, a Calgary-based community economic development organization, have collaborated to screen the film.
The documentary, which was created by award-winning U.S. film producers Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young, examines the success of worker co-operatives around the world, with a focus on the Mondragon region of Spain — the Mecca of worker co-operatives — and some areas of the U.S.
“(Shift Change) tells the little known stories of employee-owned businesses that compete successfully in today’s economy while providing secure, dignified jobs in democratic workplaces,” the Shift Change website states.
Hazel characterizes Shift Change as a “very good education tool” to help people grasp the worker co-operative model, how it can be beneficial to business owners and how watching the film can be an important first step for anyone interested in starting a worker co-op — including people who are unemployed and had never thought about starting their own business.
“I think it could be a real spark for getting people to think about it, particularly young people, who have an unemployment rate higher than average,” she says.
“We’d like to see the rest of the co-op sector be more knowledgeable about (worker co-ops) and how people can work together in different ways.”
Click here for more information on the June 24 screening.
Related Story:
Are Worker Co-ops the Silver Bullet?
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A version of this article was originally written for the Alberta Community and Co-operative Association (ACCA) news service. This repost, for which we received permission, follows the style guidelines of the original post. To learn more about generative newsroom options for your organization or community, please contact peter(at)axiomnews.ca.
