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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Solidarity Snapshot: Gowri Krishna

How did you get into this work? 

After law school, I went to the Community Development Project (CDP) at the Urban Justice Center, a nonprofit legal services organization that works with grassroots and community-based organizations throughout NYC. Even though attorneys there had just finished up forming Colors restaurant, a worker-owned restaurant started by the Restaurant Opportunities Center New York (ROC-NY), I got to learn about cooperatives, particularly from the angle of worker centers and other nonprofit organizations developing worker cooperatives as a way for low-wage, often immigrant workers to create and operate their businesses. In those early years, I also worked with Green Worker Cooperatives in an initiative to create a business that sold recycled or surplus building supplies. In 2008, I met staff from the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park who were developing their first worker cooperative—Si Se Puede Women’s Cooperative. I began working with the coop, researching new and tricky areas of law to figure out what options would be best for the immigrant-run coop. I got to see first-hand how women in the coop took on leadership roles and ownership over the business, finding strength collectively, and taking home more pay with less time worked (meaning more time with their families) than before. My work with Si Se Puede began an over-ten year relationship with CFL and their cooperatives. In that time, the NYC and national coop economy has grown. I continued working with coops after CDP. I spent time in Michigan and Rhode Island and had a chance to see how coops and other solidarity economy structures have taken root outside of NYC. At New York Law School, I run a clinic where law students get credit for working with real clients under my supervision. We have taken on a number of clients and matters related to coops, and I hope to continue this in the future. Students get to learn about the solidarity economy, play a small role within it, and who knows what kind of interest and future involvement it will inspire!

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