By Mike Mowry, Quality Control Technician and Worker-Owner Coordinator
What’s a worker-owned co-op? We get that question a lot. And sometimes, it can be hard to explain. But in May, we experienced exactly what worker-ownership is about: democracy in action.
Every year in the first week of May, which is when we celebrate Equal Exchange’s birthday, the worker-owners here at Equal Exchange hold our Annual Meeting of the Co-op. This all-day affair serves as an opportunity to not only review the successes and challenges from the previous year, but also to hold our annual elections. As a co-op, we vote on the members of our Board of Directors (both inside and outside seats), as well as the Worker-Owner Coordinator position - that’s me. As part of this process, we listen to candidate speeches, ask questions of those running for open positions, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, and finally, put our votes to the ballot. 
The Annual Meeting represents both a day of active reflection on Equal Exchange’s past year and an exciting new beginning for the year to come. Any worker-owner - someone who has completed their education curriculum and has been voted into the co-op after at least a year of employment as a full-time, worker-owner track employee - is free to express themselves. People who are worker-owner track employees may listen and observe.
Each worker-owner has an equal vote, no matter the job title in their everyday work at Equal Exchange. Together, we elected a new outside board member (Beth Badger), re-elected two inside board seats (Alistair Williamson and Keith Olcott), voted in favor of a change in location for our West sales office, and approved fellow worker-owner Lisa Rusell to represent Equal Exchange as a voting delegate at the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives Annual Conference.
This year's Annual Meeting was particularly special for me, as it was my first time facilitating as Worker-Owner Coordinator. (I was elected Worker-Owner Coordinator at the 2008 Annual Meeting.) One of my responsibilities as Worker-Owner Coordinator is the facilitation of all meetings of the co-operative - which are different than regular staff meetings, and take place quarterly. It was meaningful for me to give the State of the Co-operative presentation, in which I reflected on the progress we made as a co-op since last May. It was rewarding to highlight all of our hard work and dedication, from increasing our investment in Fair Trade bananas, to opening our first café in Boston, and making the decision for the worker-owners to become the largest investor in Equal Exchange.
This year, I was also fortunate to be re-elected for another term as Worker-Owner Coordinator. It makes me stop; I can only think of a few other organizations where such a position even exists. Being the coordinator presents a real opportunity to develop leadership skills, and every worker-owner has the right to run for this position. This is just one of the many ways that Equal Exchange provides opportunities to build people up.
So, here’s to building up people – and our business – in our 23rd year. Happy Birthday, Equal Exchange!
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