Greetings, members and friends of CWCF,

It's always a great experience, not to mention inspiring and humbling, to meet worker co-operators from around the world. In November, a couple of us had this opportunity, because CWCF was able to send two representatives to the meetings of CICOPA, the international organization of worker co-operatives, in Cancun, Mexico. Those in attendance for CWCF were board President, Alain Bridault (pictured above second from the left) and myself (pictured above second from the right). It was only the second time I was able to attend a meeting of CICOPA, the first being 12 years ago in Quebec City. There were three main components, each on a different day: the founding General Assembly where we officially formed CICOPA-Americas, the General Assembly of CICOPA (world), and a one-day conference on the development of worker and health co-operatives, with a focus on NGOs that do international development. A report on the results of this final day is here. For those with Facebook, you can see all my photos of these meetings here.

During the General Assembly of CICOPA (World), we thanked the outgoing President, Javier Salaberria (pictured above far right) of Mondragon, who was President for 6 years. The General Assembly also elected the new President, Mañuel Mariscal (pictured above far left) and several directors, including Alain Bridault and CICOPA-North America President, Rebecca Kemble. Of course there was a presentation on the workplan completed, the strategic plan and the budget. The accomplishments of CICOPA, which does not even have the equivalent of one half-time employee, are impressive. CICOPA members passed a resolution on a music project on co-operation for the Year of Cooperatives 2012, a resolution which I drafted with the help Rebecca Kemble and Olivier Biron. See the complete resolution, here. You will hear more about this project soon.

Regarding CICOPA-North America, we met with some of the leaders of the worker co-op movement in Mexico. I think at least we will have a presence from Mexico (either as a full member or as an observer) to the Steering Committee of CICOPA-North America.

In the CICOPA-Americas’ General Assembly, seven directors to the Board were elected, the President is Arildo Mota Lopez of Brazil. There are also two directors representing the US and Canada: Rebecca Kemble and myself.

In addition to participating in these activities, since the Quebec Conferences, we have primarily completed follow-up to the Conferences, and we have worked on catching up in the rest of our work.

On January 12th, the International Year of Co-ops 2012 will be officially launched, with at least one launch event in each province, one in Ottawa and one in Yellowknife! For more information, see: http://www.canada2012.coop/en/get_involved/Be-a-part-of-the-Canada-2012-launch. We encourage worker co-operators to participate.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful holiday season and also to wish you a Happy 2012!

If you have an article you’d like to submit to a future newsletter, please send it to David Wilson, david@canadianworker.coop. As always, if you have a question or comment, please contact us.

In co-operation, Hazel Corcoran