Labor rights are human rights.
We know this because labor is the basic way we human beings contribute our capacity to create wealth to the societies in which we live and which keep us alive. Labor is our “product,” the “good” we bring to the marketplace, and our right to determine what we are paid for it (by collective action or otherwise) is as inalienable as the right to determine the cost of any physical good we might produce and bring to market.

But we should think about this one step more fundamentally.

In early December, two members of the Madison Hours Board met with the Director of the Dane County Timebank, a staff member and a Board member to discuss ways that our organizations can work together. We talked about goals in terms of providing better economic options for community members, synergies that can be developed between our organizations and the possibility of formally joining forces.

We have 2 volunteer opportunities coming up. Please use the Contact form if you are able to help with either or both. Each pays 1 Madison Hour (paper or electronic) per hour worked.

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1. Help prepare oven roasted potatoes for La Fete Du Marquette. We do this instead of our July pancake breakfast and receive a donation from the Fete for our efforts.

There are 2 shifts available. This job takes place at Nature's Bakery, 1019 Williamson St.

Thanks to all the members that have emailed me about site errors over the last week or so.

In order to correct the problem we have ask our webhost to move our site to one of their shiny new servers. This will happen soon and then I will be troubleshooting any issues that may come up in the move. I'm also going to be upgrading some of the modules that are used on the site so expect some outages over the next day or so.

Again, thanks for the emails. Very helpful!

We had more interest from members than usual regarding the open Board seats but only two members nominated themselves - both of whom currently serve on the Board.

So, at our Board meeting this evening we decided to cancel the election and we appointed Rob McClure and Jon Hain to 1 year terms. We will keep the Candidate Statement links on members' profile pages and encourage everyone to consider stepping up to the plate and nominating yourself to help govern Madison's local currency system. The Board will review any nominations and hopes to appoint 2 more Directors by this summer.

The Board meets monthly and directors typically volunteer 1 - 4 hours per month. We have a 5 person board. Currently, there are 3 seats open for 2 year terms.

I believe in the power of small-scale, diversified, and a fully engaged, fully employed community. The unemployment rate keeps rising, 10% strong in the United States in January. It’s somewhat a deceiving print. What about the 'under-employed', the part timers, or the disengaged, the undocumented, and those living at the fringe of their 'benefits'. Currently, I am self-employed, yet mostly unemployed, or rather working by virtue without getting paid for my skills and gifts.

Madison Hours Cooperative makes loans available from a revolving fund for our members to use for a wide variety of projects.

These loans are interest-free. We created this fund in order to fulfill our mission to help create and support a community-based ceconomic system. By loaning Hours into circulation we increase the number circulating which helps employ our community members and brings new members into the Hours system.

Loan requests will be evaluated on the following:

* How does this impact the local economy?
* Does it help promote local self-reliance?

When people learn there are both a TimeBank and an Hours system here in Madison, they often wonder why we'd bother having both. The answer? They both fill different, slightly overlapping but very complementary roles and there are lots of reasons to use both.

Here it is mid April, and we haven't seen any fliers. It doesn't look like there are any big festivals or concerts going on. It seems like a few years ago there was always a big river clean up or concert that was a great way to spend a beautiful April day.

At Tinnen Family Chiropractic, we have a contest to help celebrate the most inspirational local environmentalist. The winner will receive a free Chiropractic exam and 6 adjustments. Just stop in and nominate yourself or a friend. We're still right across from the Willy St. Co-op. Have a great Earth Day!