By Kate Sederstrom

International Workers’ Day, or May Day, is rarely recognized in the country where it began: this one. In the late 19th century, May Day was a somber occasion, one to commemorate all those who fought in the international struggle for workers’ rights. But just six years after May Day’s inception, President Grover Cleveland officially severed ties with the international workers’ celebration for fear it would build support for radical causes. Since the 1980s, labor rights in the U.S. have been on the decline, largely thanks to the extremely efficient tactics that big companies use to stamp out unions. Just look at what happened at the Amazon warehouse in Alabama. 

Yet people are still fighting tooth and nail for bathroom breaks and A/C at work. Fortunately, there are people right here in our community with their boots on the ground, trying to change their industries from the inside out in the name of fair labor practices. 

Bed-Stuy Bike Shop is one such organization. They’re more than a bike repair shop: they serve as a hub for Bedford-Stuyvesant’s cycling community, as a space for neighborhood development and a model for fair-labor practices in the bicycle industry. 

It all began at Citi Bike, when dispatchers teamed up with TWU Local 100 to unionize when Citi Bike employees were experiencing horribly unclean working conditions — some without running water, bathrooms, heat or A/C. 

“Our union actually formed the cooperative before we as individuals were involved, as an idea more than anything,” says Bed-Stuy Bike Shop worker-owner Briton Malcomson. ”Once our union rep saw some leaders emerge in the Citi Bike union, he brought us aside and asked if we’d like to join the cooperative with help from the union.” 

As their co-op grew, Malcomson and a team of mechanics left Citi Bike to expand with the continued backing of the union. They now have a brick-and-mortar bike shop in Restoration Plaza and a state contract to repair Stony Brook University's bike share program. 

“At a typical non-union workplace, everything is decided by management, from pay rates to when you eat your lunch to how you even do the work you are meant to do,” Malcomson says. “We see this as a central flaw in our society, [but] when the workplace is owned by the same people who do the work, naturally, it tends to be a less stressful and toxic work environment.” 

Their cooperative is structured much like a corporation on paper. They technically have a board, officers etc., but they split the ownership shares of the company equally between all the co-op workers. Members don’t invest money to “purchase” shares, but rather invest time and responsibility. And for these folks, it's a job with a living wage, even for apprentices. 

Obviously, this setup is quite different from our co-op model at Greene Hill, with our “work a little, get a lot” mentality. But we do embody the same democratic spirit as Bed-Stuy Bike Shop. Our 100 percent working co-op means our members foster a sense of community working alongside each other — and if you read our last Community Post, you know that embodying this spirit of democracy and fairness within our own microcosms is incredibly powerful in creating a better, more equitable world. We’re all doing our part. 

But as we slowly emerge from the languishing hole of life in a pandemic, I think we should be asking ourselves: what else can we be doing for and with our community to keep cultivating equity on all fronts? It’s a question the folks at Bed-Stuy Bikes are asking, too. 

“We are constantly toeing the line between being a vehicle for extraction from the community and being a hub that people can use as a resource, not just buy and consume things,” Malcomson says. 

COVID threw out almost all their plans for hosting workshops, building bike programs for kids, and mechanic training to interns paid to work with them through grant funds, but they kept those plans alive, and will continue to expand these programs this spring and summer.

Can we do that, too? If you have ideas on how else we can connect with our neighborhood, let’s talk about it! That’s exactly the kind of democracy we’re cultivating here: where everyone has a voice, not just the folks up top. 
So this MayDay, think about how you might foster equity and fair labor practices in your workplace and in our community. (And head to Bed-Stuy Bike Shop for your springtime tune up!)

If you're a Co-op member, union member or bicycle delivery worker, you get 10% off anything in the shop, including tune ups!