The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-12-18
i. S. Labor Is
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foundation for decent standard Of
living.
5. The great majority of urban co
operatives are genuinely anxious to
include union people in their mem
bership and are searching for ways
in which it may be done more rap
idly.
The fact remains, however, that the
great body of labor's rank-and-file are
not members of co-operatives. Coop
erative leaders recognize that this
constitutes one of our major unsolved
problems. 1t is a problem for which
solution is imperative if consumers
cooperation in the United States is
to play major role in the postwar
world.
| 1t has therefore been most encour-
aging to observe at first hand two in
stances where organized labor is
either actively building co-operatives
or is engaged in doing a job of basic
cooperative education as a prelimi-
nary step toward eventual business
activity.
Labor Bus Cooperative
The first case is Winfield Park,
New Jersey, war-born defense hous-
ing community which will eventually
provide homes for 700 families. Over
$50 are now living on the project
the majority of them are shipyard
workers and they are 100 per cent
union.
Several of the original families
knew of consumers cooperation and
were determined that Winfield should
be cooperative community. Trans
portation was an immediate and vital
problem, since the project is located
IA miles from their work. Organiza-
ton of cooperative bus route re-
duced rates from $500 to $1S0 per
week, provided funds for further CO.
operative expansion, and gave con-
crete demonstration of the workable
ity of the cooperative method.
Expansion in Grocery Business
Still housewives were having to
travel three or four miles by bus to
do their grocery shopping. Winfield
needed store and wanted it to be a
cooperative. Advice was sought from
members of nearby societies and rep
resentatives of the Eastern Co-opera-
tive League and Wholesale were
called in for consultation. Initial edu-
cational steps were taken.
Several mass meetings were held |
with movies and cooperative speak |
ers, but the real job consisted of the |
ringing of countless doorbells-this in |
spite of long hours of work and dis
couragingly muddy streets. Those
whose responded favorably were
asked to invest in their own enter
prise-not SIS or $40, but $30-enough
to finance the sort of store the
needed.
But there was no building avail
able which could be used for store.
That proved to be no handicap for
men who are skilled craftsmen on
heir daily jobs Several unused con-
'truction shacks bought for a song,
waste materials found lying around,
md hours of hard work resulted in
small but attractive store building
In September the store opened for
,usiness-a week ahead of schedule
n order to meet a community emer-
sency. Volume scared Immediately
o over $1,000 week. Within two
months it has become a vital element
II the life of the community.
Government representatives aston [
shed at what these people have done
or themselves may provide funds for i
buildings to house other enterprises.
The cooperative has been offered the {
opportunity to run all these bust [
lesses. Plans are now being laid to t
finance them so that they |
will really belong to the people of
Winfield. i
A similar story could be told of an d
lmost identical community in Audi L
on, New Jersey, near Camden. In s
Their defense housing communities =
imilar interest is arising. Of course a
lese situations hold many elements L
uncertainty No one can predict L