Posted by People's Plumbing on May 13, 2024
Cristobal and Emma were working for a nonprofit in Cleveland, Ohio, when a friend vented that they had a huge estimate for a damaged sewer: they were going to be charged over $12,000 for something Cristobal realized they could do in a few days, for a fraction of the cost. Cristobal was a licensed plumber in California for over seven years and offered to help. They were able to do the work of the initial estimate and found that the problems were much more extensive than originally thought. With the help of community members who volunteered to dig, we were able to make all the necessary repairs.
We formed our worker cooperative People’s Plumbing because we believe all people have a right to clean, safe drinking water and working plumbing, no matter their ability to pay. Too many traditional companies - plumbing and otherwise - charge high fees, and unlike cooperatives, the workers and community see little of the profit.
We don’t charge a fee for our services and instead use a gift economics model. For our friend and other participants, we ask for a relationship instead of a fee. Our friend and other participants are responsible for paying for materials, but our labor is a gift. And we replaced most of our friend’s sewer line as a gift of love. Instead of charging them, they gifted us an amount that was sustainable for them. If they went through the other company, they would have needed to take out a second mortgage to pay for the repairs. With the gift economics model, we’ve had jobs that did not pay for our gas, and we’ve had jobs that have paid half a month’s salary.
Cristobal knew from previous experience of running a company in California that they would need help with paperwork and recruited Emma into the newly formed project. Emma has experience doing fundraising, finance, and administrative work for nonprofits. She has a passion for building community by increasing plumbing literacy.
To quote our friend: “I want to be part of a community where we show each other more care, where we go beyond thoughts and prayers and improve actual material conditions. People’s Plumbing is helping to build this community.”
You can see Cristobal below in the trench to repair our friend's sewer line.
Thanks for reading! We invite you to reach out with questions or comments, make a financial gift to support our work, and stay in touch to build community through plumbing.
