Page 20 - C.A.L.L. #29 - Winter 2007

th
Congratulations to Twin Oaks for celebrating its 40 anniversary this summer. Over the
following pages we reprint the thoughts of three of their members about their labor system,
excerpted from FEC's online newsletter, Dirt & Dreams, Winter 2007, followed by an article
about the community from the Richmond Times-Dispatch Newspaper.

Twin Oaks' Labor Credit System:

At Twin Oaks community in Virginia, we each commit to working 44 hours a week in tasks which
we deem "labor creditable" and which we value equally: cooking, cleaning, group child care, tofu
production, hammock production, gardening, dairy work, and the hundreds of other jobs we do
here. (Although we can set the number of hours we work more or fewer than 44, depending on
Twin Oaks' needs at the time.)

We each have a great deal of autonomy over constructing a week's labor scene that fits our
individual needs and desires, as we get to choose most of the work tasks we will do in a given
week. And it's a trust-based system: we keep track how much of which kinds of work we've done
each week. Hours done over or under quota get added to, or deducted from, a member's running
balance for vacation time. Our labor system is central to our community's functioning, and lately
we've been talking about what it means to us.

Pele: Our labor system is a mix of positive and negative, like virtually everything. I genuinely
appreciate its dependency upon honesty, cooperation, and equality. One hour of work is worth one
labor credit regardless of the type of job.

But a system that relies on trust and honor can be easily abused and exploited when communards
refuse to or fail to act with the spirit of the system.

This is disheartening to me. I live here for the trust-based way that we share our work in order to
share the benefits. The labor system's effect on the community is also both positive and negative.
We tend to be very work-focused, which can interfere with cultural pursuits.

However, we are highly productive. Our tofu business and garden are the first two examples that
come to mind of hard work paying off. Even as a work-focused community, our system offers much
more flexibility than the ‘outside.’ Each of us is an owner of several businesses, not an employee.
This gives each of us more power and autonomy over our jobs than someone with a boss.

Personally, I greatly enjoy the freedom that our system offers. It provides me with the opportunity
to hike in the woods for long periods of time. Although getting out of the labor hole (when a
member owes work to the community) is challenging for me due to my physically demanding work
scene, I still wouldn't change our labor system. I live with the consequences of my choices.

Shal: A labor credit is earned per hour of work, no matter how much or little is
accomplished in that hour. On the positive side, it is a very important part of
an egalitarian system to recognize that some people are able to work faster
than others, and slow people should not be punished for what they cannot
help. This is especially important to me since I am a slow person, and I love
that I am not punished for that here. It is one of several major reasons why I
live here. However, although a faster person's range is different than a slower
person's, both have the ability to work quicker or slower. The upper part of
that range requires pushing ourselves hard, and most of us would not want to
be required to do that since we want to enjoy our work, and we own the
place. But much of the range can be done without undue hardship, at least in
repetitive jobs (like most of our work), by looking for ways to work more
efficiently.
Shal

2 2 2 20 00 0