Brit Miller
Customer Service
I’m Brit, my pronouns are they/them/theirs/ she/her/hers, I’m bi and nonbinary and I’ve worked at the Friendship store since 2016. Previous to working at Seward, I worked for two other grocery co-ops, beginning in 2011. I currently serve as a UFCW 663 union steward, and as a representative and agenda champion on Seward’s labor management committee. I was a member of the bargaining committee representing workers, in our very first union contract in 2018.
I have been a part of collaborative improvements in policies at our co-op
including an improved attendance policy, and proposing and helping create a
new policy that allows for a language interpretation credit for workers who are
multilingual, thereby increasing their pay ahead of the wage scale.
Working in customer service and as a cashier, I have my finger on the pulse of
how owners are feeling about the co-op and our community. I have a heart for
justice, advocacy, and reconciliation and I care deeply about the wellbeing and safety of our community.
If elected to the board, I would encourage our organization to champion legislation for the legalization of recreational cannabis. This would be driven by our Ends to explore additional avenues for our co-ops’ growth and longevity, while simultaneously supporting other local, small scale, cooperative, inclusive, and sustainable producers and businesses. My long term vision for Seward involves repurposing the café space as a cooperatively owned dispensary with local and organic products.
Legalization will eventually happen in Minnesota; Seward presently and historically leads in progressive action, and has another opportunity to do so
now, with our Ends to guide us in being a part of making this change equitable. The criminalization and prohibition of cannabis has disproportionately negatively impacted BIPOC communities, so let’s take new intentional steps in promoting social equity in our state and our cooperatives.
Let’s work to create a future that allows us to lift up social, environmental, and economic justice while simultaneously ensuring a secure, enduring future for the co-op, and sharing profits with our community of co-op owners.