Portside

With our inequality coming close to that of Jamaica and Argentina, as Obama pointed out in his Dec. 4 speech on inequality and social mobility, we can no longer ignore the danger it poses to our democracy and living standards.

We have working examples of the kinds of cooperative banking and financial institutions we need in order to scale up our vision of a New Economy beyond corporate control: from cooperative banks to credit unions, to federal loans and the community’s own investment. By enriching this sector, we can nurture the power of workers over capital, an age-old struggle that the most recent financial crisis makes only more urgent. But there are real constraints.

Teachers unions are facing tumultuous times, grappling with financial, legal and public-relations challenges as they fight to retain their clout and build alliances, and deal with declines in membership.

Five years ago the workers at Republic Windows sat-in to demand the boss pay them their vacation and severance pay. Today, the former owner of Republic Windows was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing the workers money. Since then, the workers, members of the United Electrical Workers Union, have formed a workers owned co-op, New Era Windows.