{"id":1331,"date":"2013-05-09T10:17:23","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T14:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2014-03-24T11:55:36","modified_gmt":"2014-03-24T15:55:36","slug":"a-new-era-dawns-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/a-new-era-dawns-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Era Dawns in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

After almost a year in preparation, we are very excited to say that today, the New Era Windows Cooperative is opening its doors for business. \u00a0The Working World has been an extremely proud partner since day one, providing financing and technical assistance to help bring the cooperative to fruition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/a>Most people know the history of this factory, formerly known as Republic Windows and Doors, which was closed in a financial scandal and subsequently occupied by its workers for illegal treatment in 2008. <\/a>\u00a0This struggle captured the imagination of the country which was going through its own financial scandal and economic crisis and seemed to suggest we might not have to take our fates sitting down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In February 2012, the same workers who occupied and won their fight for fair treatment came to The Working World and asked for our help to buy their old factory and re-open it as a worker-owned cooperative. \u00a0In August, we invested $665,000 to buy the needed equipment and start the business. \u00a0We are now proud to officially open under worker-control.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It has taken an incredible amount of work and dedication to achieve this victory. \u00a0To begin, the workers had to fight for the basic right to be at the table and buy the business. <\/a>\u00a0They then had to dismantle the old factory, move it across the city to a more appropriate and affordable space, and put it back together again piece by piece. \u00a0Each of these steps the workers did on their own, and in the process they demonstrated incredible potential that had never been tapped in their old jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>In many ways, this is not the story of a few workers, but of all of America. \u00a0The old window factory was closed despite being profitable, its workers sent into unemployment despite their immense potential. \u00a0As we watch our once proud workforce dismantled and impoverished by forces and motivations not of their own, we ask if these crises present opportunities. \u00a0The workers of New Era want to succeed not just for themselves, but for their country, to show that downsizing does not have to be the end of the story, that there is way forward if we take our fates into our own hands. \u00a0The possibilities that are flowering within the walls of their new factory has potential to flower across the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To the community, we ask your support for worker cooperatives as a viable and dignified solution to our economic challenges; to support finance like The Working World which puts the needs of people and community above that of profit; and in particular, we ask you to support New Era and buy windows made with integrity and pride in the USA.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Browse New Era Windows vinyl replacement windows.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After almost a year in preparation, we are very excited to say that today, the New Era Windows Cooperative is opening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1747,"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theworkingworld.org\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}