Union Co-Operative Society in Paddington | Community organisation

Union Co-Operative Society

Locality: Paddington

Phone: +61 7 3369 3407

Address: 301 Given Tce 4064 Paddington, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.ucs.coop

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25.01.2022 Brisbane Workers Community Centre The site of the Brisbane Workers Community Centre (BWCC) is a well established part of paddingtons history and is an ideal venue to host your function. It is a conveniently located venue, situated on a number of key bus routes and a short distance from the Brisbane CBD. It is a fully licensed facility that is ideal for hosting a variety of events ranging from community meetings and fundraisers to wedding receptions and 21st Birthday celebrat...ions. The centre has recently been refurbished and is new and fresh. Exclusive party bookings Fully air conditioned Licensed Catering facilities Competitive rates Recurrent bookings encouraged Audio/Visual equipment available Standing capacity 80 people Car parking available We offer very competitive prices and encourage recurrent bookings. We can help arrange your next function, so please keep us in mind when you are planning your next event. For further details and information, please do not hesitate in contacting us. 2 Latrobe Terrace Paddington Q 4064 Phone: 07 3369 3407 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ucs.coop/bwcc

24.01.2022 The former senator George Georges (1920-2002) had a well-developed social conscience and felt that the community should give more attention to addressing war and conscription, racism, justice for indigenous people, trade union rights, the right to protest, animal welfare, the Great Barrier Reef and other environmental matters. He fought against the deregulation of the Australias financial system and the decision to export uranium to France. His ideological approach and dev...otion to people power meant that he fought long and hard battles within and outside Parliament to improve peoples lives. One of his great achievements was to establish the Union Cooperative Society and be its Secretary for many years. George, and his wife Gloria, committed much of their time to promoting the work of the Union Co-op. Another of Georges initiatives was to initiate a peace rally and march in 1981 in response to increasing nuclear arsenals, the stationing of US troops in the Northern Territory and the election of Ronald Reagan. The tradition of holding a peace rally and march on Palm Sunday in Brisbane continues and many UCS members participate. The UCS Board continues to support an important legacy, the George Georges Research Scholarship at the University of Queensland.

24.01.2022 Cooperative Power is a newly formed cooperative for Australia's energy sector. This new model takes the power back from huge energy corporations, for the benefit of people and our planet. It's a new way for people to buy energy and have a say in how it's created and how much it costs. Cooperative Power Australia was formed by the National Tertiary Education Union, the Australian Services Union, the National Union of Workers, Union Aid Abroad APHEDA, Voices of the Valley, an...d Earthworker Cooperative and Energy Innovation Cooperative, representing many thousands of people who can create a new energy sector. Cooperative Power is a way for us to come together and create an energy sector that is clean and sustainable, affordable and democratic! In conjunction with Energy Locals, Cooperative Power has developed a special Union member Energy offer. The profits from this offer will be directed towards building up a fund to help Union members and their communities to take the power back through the development of new, worker and community-owned renewable energy generation. Cooperative Power is currently available to members in Victoria, South-East Queensland, NSW, ACT, and South Australia but our vision is to empower workers and their communities nationally. > https://energylocals.com.au/pr/cooperative-power-australia/

23.01.2022 Looking for a special Fathers Day gift? Visit The Gentlemens Apartment and choose from a unique selection of timeless treasures, sure to impress even the most discerning Dad! Also, dont forget our members receive complimentary gift wrapping for their Fathers Day presents. #fathersday #paddington #2L #latrobeterrace #giftstoremember #supportlocal

23.01.2022 Much has been written about the phenomenal success that the Mondragon Cooperative Consortium in Spain has been able to achieve in job creation, reducing inequality and the kind of social outcomes impact investors could only ever dream about here. Alan Greig looks at what we can learn from the successful Mondragon model and the impact of employee ownership.

19.01.2022 Former Adelaide Specialist Thinker in Residence and award-winning UK social entrepreneur Dr Guy Turnbull is encouraging South Australia to step up and grow its co-operative movement. The Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, State Government, tertiary education, allied professional stakeholders and the private sector are currently working with Dr Turnbull, on contributing to the development of a blueprint for action in Australias health and social care sector.

16.01.2022 Looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the locals! Come join us for an evening of food, music, shopping and festive fun! #paddington4064 #shoplocal #2latrobe #giventerrace #latrobeterrace

15.01.2022 The UCS building at 2 Latrobe Terrace hosts a range of great businesses. Take advantage of them and various members offers. Book early for an afternoon of pre-Christmas creativity in the Biome Collective space, at Biome's Paddington Eco Store. #getcreative #basketweaving #ucs #wildbaskets

14.01.2022 Vale JackMundey

14.01.2022 The ETU Supports the Global Climate Strike this Friday and urges members to attend if they can. Listen to Stuart Traill (who will also be speaking at the Brisbane Strike on Friday) explain why it is important for Unions like the ETU to be involved.

12.01.2022 In support of the Global Climate Strike, the UCS office will be closed on Friday 20 September, 2019... #climatestrike

08.01.2022 "Worker cooperatives, business models based on mutual aid and solidarity, will likely once again see an explosion of interest and energy as this crisis wears on, just like they did after the 2008 crash. We are heading toward a period of great economic upheaval, and worker-ownership may be one of our most powerful tools in the immediate and long-term aftermath to build economic resiliency for everyday people."

07.01.2022 The Laura Flanders show accompanies The Democracy Collaborative on a delegation to the legendary Mondragon Cooperatives. In Spain they learn how people in two of the regions most brutally repressed under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco built the worlds largest worker-owned co-ops. From the Basque Country to Barcelona, they speak with co-op members who explain how humanist models of business helped their parents and grandparents survive dictatorship. ... They also explore how these models are transforming under contemporary circumstances, including the emergence of digital platforms, the renewal of the regional independence movements, and the growth of the Spanish rightwing.

07.01.2022 Traditional policies and approaches are demonstrably failing to alter deteriorating long-run trends on income inequality, concentrated wealth, community divestment and displacement, persistent place- and race-based poverty, and environmental destruction. As a consequence, we have witnessed in recent years an explosion of interest in and practical experimentation with a variety of alternative economic institutions and models of ownershipfrom worker cooperatives and community... land trusts to public banking and community development financial institutionsthat are capable of fundamentally altering patterns of ownership and producing dramatically better distributional and other outcomes as a matter of course. Taken as a whole, these institutions and approaches form the mosaic of a new democratic economy in the making, suggesting the contours of a next system beyond corporate capitalism and some pathways for getting there. 'Elements of the Democratic Economy' distills this landscape of theoretical exploration and real-world practice into concise summaries. The series is intended as an entry point for all those looking to understand the various building blocks of the democratic economy currently being constructed from the ground up in communities around the world.

07.01.2022 The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) meets the International Labour Organisation (ILO) after signing a new Memorandum of Understanding that reaffirms their century-long friendship. On the table, Anna Biondi, Deputy Director of the Bureau for Workers Activities at the ILO and Hyungsik Eum, Strategy and Statistics Coordinator at the ICA, discuss how cooperatives can foster decent work.

05.01.2022 Watch the video message from the President of the International Cooperative Alliance, Ariel Guarco, for the 2019 International Day of Cooperatives. The theme of this edition is "Cooperatives for decent work". It will be the 25th United Nations International Day of Cooperatives and the 97th International Cooperative day. The International Day of Cooperatives is an annual celebration of the cooperative movement which happens on the first Saturday of July since 1923 by the Inte...rnational Cooperative Alliance (ICA). Since 1995, together with the United Nations, ICA have been setting the theme for the celebration of #CoopsDay through the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC), a multi-stakeholder partnership of global public and private institutions that champions and supports people-centred and self-sustaining cooperative enterprises as leaders in sustainable development. The International Cooperative Alliance is a founding member. See more

02.01.2022 50 years of the Union Cooperative Society 1969 - 2019 In late December 1968, after operating informally for some time from an older-style shopping establishment with no display windows, on Lutwyche Road, Windsor, a group of unionists held a meeting to establish a trading cooperative. The Union Cooperative Society - the UCS was registered on 22 January 1969 and officially began trading. The Co-op purchased 2 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington, which was then the site of Brisban...es first Cash and Carry supermarket. This landmark site has been at the centre of the Co-ops history for its entire 50 years. The Co-ops founders started with a democratic vision to take responsibility for bettering their own economic circumstances and their communities, and not look to the church or the State for assistance. They established a business to supply goods and services to union members and the broader community at fair prices. The members saw their organisation as having a place in the larger struggles of the working people of the political left and provided a community focus for this. They believed unions should fight for wages and conditions, and decency in the workplace; that cooperatives should secure the value of their earnings through fair prices; and the Labor Party should build a just and civil society through political action and public policy. Throughout the 1970s the Co-op expanded from the original store in Paddington to Ipswich, Redcliffe, Maryborough, Gladstone and Moura, and was supplying household goods, groceries, fuel, and running a credit union. And in 1986, the town of Moranbah was added. At its peak, the Co-op had over 6,000 members across seven locations in Queensland. In later times the Co-op built up a stock of social housing units and other property in Latrobe and Given Terraces, and Mort St. It also provided space for entertainment and gatherings, as well as political discussion on the pressing issues of the times, by opening Workers Clubs in Paddington and Moranbah. The Co-op continues to operate from its headquarters in Given Terrace, operating a mutual investment fund, retail and rental housing properties - and the Brisbane Workers Community Centre on the site of the old grocery store and Paddington Workers Club. The Co-op has a 50-year legacy of furthering the democratic and economic interests of its members and the social change agenda of the labour movement, while keeping true to its cooperative values. These values endure, with plans for development of the historic Paddington site with a new environmentally-built cooperative precinct. The Co-op now stands on the threshold of a new era with a renewed vision of equality, community and sustainability.