Bonjour, CWCF members and friends,

These are very exciting times for the worker co-op movement in North America (especially with the imminent international Worker Co-op Conferences in Quebec City!) -- not to mention the rest of the world. As we all witness the continuing instability in the economy, particularly in the US, some European countries and in developing countries, with accompanying human suffering, we cannot help but want to get our model of economic democracy out in front. I believe that democracy in the economy represents real hope for the future, and these unique international conferences are our time to launch this in a much more serious way. Again, I especially encourage worker co-operators and worker co-op developers to attend the North American Worker Co-op Conference (October 13-15). (The Business Succession and Employee Ownership Conference, October 11-13, is aimed more at developers, professionals, and owners of traditional businesses interested in employee ownership.)

In preparation for the Worker Co-op Conference, the draft of the Quebec Declaration has been completed, and is now being shared with all the other federations in Quebec and the US. We have completed draft rules for CICOPA-North America as well as CICOPA-Americas.

I am blown away by the caliber of the speakers, and participants, expected at these Conferences – from Mondragon, Spain; the Legacoop in Italy; CG-Scop in France; the Argentinean worker co-op federation, the Ohio & Vermont Employee Ownership Centers; CICOPA – the global federation of worker co-ops; and more. We are periodically updating the pdf version of the programs for both Conferences on the web site, www.cooperation2011.coop. At the Worker Co-op Conference, we are expecting the entire Board of the US Federation of Worker Co-ops and many worker co-operators from around the continent.

Then there is the fact that Quebec City is one of the most beautiful (as well as one of the most co-op-oriented) cities in the world. Old Quebec is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here is a site with some images from Quebec City:  QuebecRegion.com.  The Conference will feature tours of local co-ops as well as an optional social evening in Old Quebec which I encourage everyone to attend.

If you are on Facebook, please click “like: on the Facebook groups for either or both Conferences: www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Congrès-2011-de-la-coopération-du-travail-Worker-Co-op-Conference-2011/134110793337536 and www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Congrès-Transmission-dentreprise-11-Business-Succession-Conference-11/120053968086398.

We will try to do live-streaming again as we did last year but as of this date, that is not yet confirmed. We will notify the members if/ when we know that will be possible.

I have to confess that planning for the 2011 Conferences has pretty much taken over my life! There seems to be very little time when I am not planning and coordinating these events along with our temporarily expanded CWCF staff (we have added to our core staff: Stéphanie Guico of Montreal as Conference Logistics Coordinator, and re-hired Holly Magnus as Administrative Assistant), or well as our core staff team and the many Quebec and US partners.

In times when this is not the focus, we continue to support CoopZone in their launch of the co-op development on-line training program which starts in mid-September and which has students enrolled from 8 different provinces; in preparing for the UN International Year of Co-ops; and in preparing for CWCF’s AGM, on October 13th.

If ever you have a question or comment, as always do not hesitate to contact us.

Si jamais vous avez une question ou un commentaire, n'hésitez pas à nous contacter.

In Co-operation, and hope to see you in Québec!,

Hazel