Co-op News - February 2020

FEBRUARY 2020
CO-OPERATIVE
RETAIL
Ethical challenges in
the modern world
Plus … Credit Unions in
a digital world ... 150 years of
Co-operatives UK ... Interview:
Erskine Holmes ... Co-operative
Commission results
ISSN 0009-9821
9 770009 982010
01
£4.20
www.thenews.coop

9 7
news
news
news Issue #7312 OCTOBER 2019
Connecting, championing, cha lenging
OCTOBER 2019
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
How are co-ops
helping to make
the SDGs a reality?
Plus … ICA Global
Conference preview ...
Meet Fairtrade Foundation’s
Michael Gidney ... positive
impacts of the Preston Model
ISSN 0009-9821
01
9 770009 982010
www.thenews.coop
£4.20
MAY 2019 Connecting, championing, cha lenging
www
news
Issue #7
NOVEMBER 2019
CO-OPS FOR
DEVELOPMENT
gali 2019:
ning how to
better world
andal affecting
... the
erica’s
co-op
news Issue #7310 AUGUST 2019
Connecting, championing, cha lenging
9 770009 982010
£4.20
AUGUST 2019
CO-OP CULTURE
What is it –
and why does
it matter?
Plus … 100 years
of the Channel Islands
Co-operative ... Coop
Exchange: addressing
the issue of capital
ISSN 0009-9821
01
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news Issue #7305 MARCH 2019
Connecting, championing, cha lenging
MARCH 2019
SO, WHAT
HAPPENS NEXT?
Co-operating for
a better Brexit
Plus ... A new generation
of pioneers ... Meet Heart
of England’s Ali Kurji ...
and whatever happened to
the International Summit?
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£4.20
Issue #7309 JULY 2019
ISSN 0009-9821
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JULY 2019
DEVELOPMENT
How can we grow
the global co-op
community?
Plus … a manifesto
for Northern Ireland
… Stephen R McDow II
on US development …
Co-op Congress report
www.thenews.coop
Issue #7306
news
APRIL 2019
EDUCATION
news Issue #7311 SEPTEMBER 2019
Connecting, championing, cha lenging
SEPTEMBER 2019
AGRICULTURE
Can co-ops reduce
the burden down
on on the the farm? farm?
Plus … Preview of the
ICA Global Conference ...
Why co-ops should be like
pirates ... and proposals
for Irish legal reform
ISSN 0009-9821
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AGRICULTURE:
MICRO TO MACRO
£4.20
news Issue #7304 FEBRUARY 2019
Connecting, championing, challenging
FEBRUARY 2019
MODERN RETAIL
REDRAWN
Where do co-ops
fit in the picture?
Plus ... Community
finance in Europe ... new
Pioneers in Rochdale ...
and the lead up to Brexit
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JANUARY 2019 Connecting, championing, cha lenging
FOR ALL
Learning for a
co-operative life
Plus ... Co-operative
Retail Conference u
... Abcul’s annua
Q&A with Gill
ISSN 0009-9

Questions for retail in the 2020s
CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND
CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP
MOVEMENT SINCE 1871
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Rebecca Harvey
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Anca Voinea | anca@thenews.coop
DIGITAL EDITOR
Miles Hadfield | miles@thenews.coop
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Keir Mucklestone-Barnett
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DIRECTORS
Barbara Rainford (chair), David Paterson
(vice-chair), Sofygil Crew, Gavin Ewing,
Tim Hartley, Beverley Perkins and Ray
Henderson. Secretary: Richard Bickle
Established in 1871, Co-operative
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@coopnews
cooperativenews
It’s a new decade, but the issues that have dominated the past few years are still there
– for the retailers as much as the rest of us. “Tough trading conditions” and “competitive
markets” are phrases repeated in every set of financial results, and since 2016 they’ve
been joined by the refrain of “Brexit uncertainty”. This hasn’t changed, and retail
analyst Kantar painted a gloomy picture of the recent Christmas trading figures.
But there’s a notable exception to those Christmas stats: the UK’s
retail co-ops bucked the market to grow their sales (p6-7). It’s a testament to the
member-led, community retail model which has played smart with the trend for
frequent convenience shopping – and also to the sector’s capacity for innovation.
Issues affecting the sector will be discussed at the Co-operative Retail Conference at
the end of this month (preview, p28-29), and this edition we’re taking a close look
at some of these. Chief among them is the rapid pace of digital innovation, which is
transforming the retail landscape, and we look at some of the exciting developments
taking place in Italy and Sweden (p42-43).
In the UK, the growing ethical concerns of shoppers has sent them towards co-ops,
which have been working to improve worker conditions in supply chains, reduce
plastic and food waste and tackle the root causes of crime in communities – which
affects retailers and their staff directly (news, p10). There’s also a renewed emphasis
on local community, as shown Midcounties Co-op’s work on Regional Communities
(p44-45). And we catch up with Chris Matthews, a store manager and director at East
of England Co-op, for his perspective on the retail world.
The need to innovate and deliver for the bottom line doesn’t always meet with
universal approval in the co-op movement, as with the Co-op Group’s recent
link-up with Deliveroo. But the Group is doing commendable work on issues like
modern slavery, and its work in communities has prompted supermarket rivals to
attempt similar initiatives. These corporate entries to the ethical consumer market
pose fresh challenges. With vegan and wholefood diets becoming mainstream,
can pioneers like Suma and Unicorn keep their competitive advantage? The co-op
difference is a selling point here, and also points to new fields for co-operation,
like Town Cooperation, a network of food co-ops being created for people affected
by austerity – an initiative that recalls the work of the Rochdale Pioneers (p38-41).
This month, we also report from a conference on the digital trends affecting credit
unions (p30-31), and look back on 150 years of Co-operatives UK (p46-47). And we
look at the co-op response to inequality, from those suffering from poverty in the
UK (p34-35) to trans women fighting workplace discrimination in the USA (p36-37).
Finally, as he gets ready to celebrate his 80th birthday, we have an interview with
Erskine Holmes, a powerhouse of co-operation in Northern Ireland and a good friend
to Co-op News (p25-27). Happy birthday, Erskine!
MILES HADFIELD - DIGITAL EDITOR
Co-operative News is printed using vegetable oil-based
inks on 80% recycled paper (with 60% from post-consumer
waste) with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC
certified sources. It is made in a totally chlorine free process.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 3

a digital world ... 150 years of
Co-operatives UK ... Interview:
Erskine Holmes ... Co-operative
Commission results
ISSN 0009-9821
01
9 770009 982010
THIS ISSUE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
The Latina trans beauty co-op being set
up in New York (p36-37); Phil Ponsonby
speaking at Midcounties’ Regional
Communities event (p44-45); Co-ops rally
around those affected by Australia’s bush
fires (p16-17); Ethical challenges for co-ops
in the modern retail world (p5, 38-41)
news Issue #7316 FEBRUARY 2020
Connecting, championing, challenging
FEBRUARY 2020
CO-OPERATIVE
RETAIL
Ethical challenges in
the modern world
Plus … Credit Unions in
COVER: It’s a new decade, but the
issues that have dominated the past few
years are still there – for the retailers as
much as the rest of us. How are co-op
retailers responding the new ethical
challenges of the 2020s?
Read more: p38-45
£4.20
www.thenews.coop
22-23 MEET ... CHRIS MATTHEWS
The East of England store manager
and director who is passionate about
member engagement
25-27 INTERVIEW: ERSKINE HOLMES
We speak with the Northern Ireland
co-operative stalwart as he turns 80
28-29 CONFERENCE PREVIEWS
What’s in store at the Co-operative
Futures event and Co-op Retail
Conference?
30-31 CREDIT UNION
CONFERENCE 2020
Keeping up in a digital world
32-33 A CO-OPERATIVE GREATER
MANCHESTER
The results of the recent co-operative
commission calls for support for workers,
housing transport
34-35 FIGHTING INEQUALITY
An alternative campaign looking to create
a more equal society
36-37 TRANS WOMEN’S WORKER
CO-OPERATIVE
The Latina trans women starting a beauty
co-op in New York
38-41 RETAIL & ETHICS
Ethical challenges for co-ops in the
modern retail world
42-43 RETAIL & INNOVATION
Reinventing retailing: case studies from
Coop Sweden and Coop Italia
44-45 RETAIL & COMMUNITIES
How Midcounties’ Regional Communities
work is making a local difference
46-47 150 YEARS OF CO-OPERATIVES UK
Celebrating a century and a half of the
UK apex body
REGULARS
5-13 UK updates
14-21 Global updates
24 Letters
48 Reviews
4 | FEBRUARY 2020

NEWS
GROUP
Co-op Group announces home delivery expansion
and launches new vegan range
The Co-op Group is planning a major
expansion of its same-day delivery
services across the UK, alongside its big
rollout of vegan products.
The retailer will offer same-day online
city-centre deliveries from 650 stores
and has taken a bite out of the growing
meat-free food market with an exclusive
new brand, Gro, which launched in early
January and is available at up to 6,000 Coop
and independent stores.
The vegan range meets the growing
demand for vegetarian and plant-based
alternatives, as research from the Group’s
Ethical Consumerism report reveals
that the market has topped £1bn for
the first time ever and has more than
doubled in the last 20 years, up from
£452m in 1999. In just 12 months, vegetarian
product sales have risen by over 12% and
non-dairy milk alternatives have seen a
14% growth.
Jo Whitfield, CEO of Co-op Food, said:
“At Co-op, we make it easier to get products
when you need them and we stay close to
our customers’ changing requirements.
“We have to provide fantastic products
and services with strong ethics and a
purposeful focus on convenience. Our
new vegan range taps into the latest
consumer trends and our online services
meet the growing appetite for fast
home deliveries.”
Over the next 12 months, the Group’s
online same-day delivery services will be
available across almost 100 towns and
cities. The rollout includes services from
the retailer’s online shop.coop.co.uk
store, which uses low emissions transport
including eco-friendly bikes.
The service is currently available in
London and Manchester and is now
expanding to cities including Brighton,
Bournemouth and Southampton.
The online shop will available from
around 250 stores.
The Group will also expand its
partnership with Deliveroo, which
provides on-demand delivery of
convenience grocery essentials in under
30 minutes. Ordering through Deliveroo
will be extended to 400 stores, reaching
around 100 major towns and cities.
The Gro vegan range will be included in
the online offer. It features over 35 plantbased
products and will be stocked in
2,000 stores and up to 4,000 independent
retailers through the Group’s wholesale
operation, Nisa.
It is believed to be the largest ever
product rollout of own-brand vegan
products by a supermarket and takes the
Group’s total food and wine vegan range
to over 1,000 products.
In addition, all of the retailer’s beer
and cider range will become vegan
in 2020; it already offers almost 120
vegan wines.
Gro dishes include plant-based versions
of chilli con carne, sticky toffee pudding,
steak bake, a Kashmiri pizza featuring
cauliflower and vegan cheese.
u Read more on the state of co-operative
retail: p38-45
FEBRUARY 2020 | 5

p Central England Co-operative colleagues celebrate after more than 40,000 items were donated as part of the Christmas Food Bank Appeal
RETAIL
Co-op retailers buck the market for a successful Christmas
Industry analysts have painted a gloomy
picture of Christmas trading for the
grocery sector but retail co-operatives
have produced more upbeat results.
Market researcher Kantar said year-onyear
supermarket sales grew marginally
by 0.2% in the 12 weeks to 29 December.
Overall, retailers took a record £29.3bn
through tills in the final quarter – up
£50m on the previous year, but 2019 saw
the slowest rate of growth over Christmas
since 2015.
But Kantar adds that the Co-op Group’s
3% growth was ahead of the market,
enough to increase its share by 0.2
percentage points to 6.1%. Much of its
success was fuelled by chilled products,
with fresh poultry sales up 10% and
convenience items like pizza up 9%.
The picture was similar elsewhere in
the retail co-op sector. Midcounties Co-op
reported a 3.3% increase in like-for-like
food sales in December, with its busiest
ever Christmas Eve and sales of locally
sourced products up 28% in the week
before Christmas. A dozen first-time local
suppliers, including Beau’s Bakehouse,
Cottage Delight & Godminster Cheese,
were popular additions to the range.
Rupert Newman, Midcounties’ chief
retail officer, said: “Our excellent seasonal
performance is a credit to the hard work of
our colleagues and suppliers.
“They include all of the valued
suppliers that contribute to our Best of
Our Counties range. Our stores offer a
number of products that are sourced from
within the store’s home or neighbouring
county, which reduces food miles and
means that our customers know exactly
where their food comes from and how it
has been produced.”
Midcounties supports 40 local food
banks and donated 100,000 grocery
products by the end of December –
enough to provide meals to more than
2,500 families.
Lincolnshire Co-op also reported figures
ahead of the national trend, with food
store sales rising 7.2% in the period from
14 December to 4 January.
It also beat the market in terms of certain
traditional items; while Kantar reported
that overall, UK sales of Christmas
puddings fell 16%, Lincolnshire Co-op
saw sales of the dessert rise by 35%. Sales
of mince pies up rose 36% with nearly
three quarters of a million sold.
Each food store stocks the Love Local
range, featuring goods from Lincolnshire
Co-op’s trading area, and sales increased
by 9.5%. Local products from suppliers
including Lymn Bank Farm, Cote Hill
and Lincolnshire Poacher contributed to
overall cheese sales going up by 22%.
Lincolnshire paid out a dividend bonus
of £1.9m to its members on 1 December.
Dividend Card holders further boosted
their balance with 10% extra dividend
vouchers, which contributed to another
£391,679 in dividend being shared during
the month.
During December, members redeemed
more than £1.3m of dividend from
their cards to pay for their shopping in
food stores.
Chief retail officer Mark Finn said: “It’s
a great achievement in a tough market. It
shows that our customers appreciate our
colleagues and the service they provide
and the quality of our products, especially
those sourced locally.”
East of England Co-op reported strong
sales over the three weeks ending 4
January, with a 5.4% like-for-like increase
in its Food division.
Throughout December the society
achieved a 4.8% sales increase, supported
by a strong marketing campaign including
two Christmas themed door-drops. Roger
Grosvenor, joint chief executive, said:
“Despite the poor weather and intense
competition, sales of Christmas goods was
6 | FEBRUARY 2020

excellent, with 90% sell through. Other
standout areas included fresh foods and
Deli to Go.
“For the first time, all East of England
members were able to earn double
dividend points on qualifying spend
throughout December. This was supported
with an offer for 15% off four bottles of
wine. We also traded on Boxing Day, as
we have for the past four years, achieving
a 46% like-for-like sales increase.”
Southern Co-op reported a 4.7%
increase in like-for-like sales in the four
weeks to 29 December.
The sales increase was seen across a
range of products including core lines as
well as seasonal food and drink.
Mark Smith, Southern chief executive,
said: “Our teams across the business have
worked hard to ensure that stores offer
our communities a reliable place to pick
up their essentials as well as those festive
treats over the holiday period.
“We’re pleased with the sales growth
over Christmas this year which builds on a
solid sales performance through 2019. This
reflects on going improvements in store
operations and the growing popularity
of the Co-op range of products we offer.”
Heart of England Co-operative said
Christmas Eve was the most successful
trading day ever for its food division, while
overall sales for the festive period bucked
the trend with an increase of 6.86% in the
three weeks to 4 January, and like for like
sales over the same period up 5.18%.
Steve Browne, general manager of the
society’s food division, said investment in
the appearance of stores and the quality
of food ranges had paid off, as the Local
@ Heart campaign to encourage members
and customers to buy local produce
He added: “Weak consumer confidence
resulting in shoppers reining in their
spending may also be a factor, with
people preferring to watch their pennies,
spending little and often close to home
rather than overspending in supermarkets
and throwing unused goods away.”
Central England Co-op announced a
3.5% increase in sales over three festive
trading weeks ending 4 January. Increased
sales were achieved in fresh produce and
protein ranges, food to go sandwiches and
party food such as pizzas and ice cream.
The stores also saw an overwhelming
public response to the retailer’s first ever
Christmas Toybox Appeal, with more
than 12,000 brand new toys donated by
customers and members. These presents
were distributed to children in need by
25 organisations such as food banks and
hospitals. The society’s Christmas food
bank appeal saw more than 40,000 items
donated, – creating over 20,000 meals.
CEO Debbie Robinson said: “Our
Christmas success, alongside a solid
performance during 2019, will ensure that
during 2020 we will be able to continue
to share our success by supporting great
local good causes and making a positive
impact in our local communities.”
Channel Islands Co-op said a slow start
to the season trade started to pick up on
the final weekend before Christmas and
grew steadily on the Monday and into
Christmas Eve.
There was a strong like-for-like
performance over the 12 weeks to 29
December, reporting 2.46% (inc Fuel) and
2.53% (Food only).
The society said its smaller
stores performed particularly well,
supplemented by a great performance
across its PFS Estate. Although slow to
take off, its large stores still reported
excellent sales in the final two weeks.
John Lewis bonus looks doubtful after poor Christmas results
John Lewis Partnership has warned that
staff may not receive a bonus this year
after a disappointing set of Christmas
sales results, with annual profits for the
year expected to fall.
The worker-owned retailer added that
Paula Nickolds, managing director of
department store business John Lewis and
Partners, is to stand down. Gross sales for
the business were £1,134m, down 2.3% on
last year and down 2% on a like-for-like
basis. Its online sales increased by 1.4%.
At food business Waitrose & Partners
gross sales (excluding fuel) were £1,033m,
down 1.3% versus last year (due to shop
closures) but up 0.4% on a like-for-like
basis. Online sales increased by 16.7%
and in the seven days to Christmas online
grocery orders were up 23.4%.
Gross sales across the whole Partnership
for the festive period were down 1.8% on
last year, to £2,167m.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, chair of the John
Lewis Partnership, said he expected
profits at Waitrose to be broadly in line
with last year, but at John Lewis profits
will be substantially down on last year.
He added: “The board will meet in
February to decide whether it is prudent to
pay a partnership bonus. The decision will
be influenced by our level of profitability,
planned investment and maintaining the
strength of our balance sheet.”
The departure of Ms Nickolds, the
first female managing director of the
Partnership, has surprised industry
observers. She had been expected to
become executive director of brand next
month, when the executive teams behind
John Lewis and Waitrose are merging into
a single team.
A spokesperson for John Lewis
said: “After some reflection on the
responsibilities of her proposed new
role, we have decided together that the
implementation of the future partnership
structure in February is the right time for
her to move on.”
p Paula Nickolds stands down next month
(Photo: Greg Funnell/ John Lewis)
She will leave the partnership next
month, when Sir Charlie, who paid tribute
to Ms Nickolds’ “brilliant” leadership, is
also due to step down; he will be replaced
by former civil servant Sharon White.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 7

POLITICS
Co-op Party writes to Labour leadership contenders
The nominations process for the Labour
leadership race has closed, with Keir
Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy,
and Emily Thornberry the final four in the
running for the top job.
Each candidate will now require either
5% of CLPs or at least three affiliates (at
least two of which shall be a trade union)
compromising 5% of affiliated membership
to be included on the ballot. The final date
for CLPs and affiliates to submit their
nomination is Friday 14 February, with the
election held on 4 April.
Joe Fortune, general secretary of
Labour’s sister organisation, the
Co-operative Party, has written to the
candidates to ask their position on the
co-operative movement.
He writes: “The thousands of
Co-operative Party members and tens
of thousands of supporters are often
Labour Party members too ... I am
sure they will want a clearer idea of
the next generation of Labour leaders’
co-operative vision – both in terms of their
co-operative ideas as well as how they
hope to strengthen the relationship with
the co-op movement’s political party.”
He added: “The Co-operative Party
has been part of Labour’s broad church
longer than most of us have been alive,
and we fervently believe that this church
is strongest when its constituent parts are
valued parts of the congregation – not
just on the value of what they contribute
when the plate is passed round but on the
experience, richness and ideas they bring
to the community.
“Like me, I suspect co-operators were
heartened by the ambition of policy
commitments made over recent years,
the focal point of which was a serious
commitment to work to double the size
of the co-operative sector. However,
we believe there is scope to be more
ambitious, and that there is much more
to learn from the ideas, people and cooperatives
we seek to faithfully represent.
“Their example points to the way
forward for a fairer economy where
wealth and power are shared, and where
communities and activists are empowered
p Joe Fortune, Co-op Party general secretary
to make change happen from the
bottom up.”
Mr Fortune said Labour faces a raft of
challenges, including “the need to earn
trust; to build genuine relationships in
every community; to develop an enabling
policy framework; and to demonstrate
a wider value and narrative around the
importance of common ownership”.
He added: “We hope that, through the
coming period and when the results of
this important contest are announced, cooperation
and co-operators have a bright
future to look forward to as we build
towards government once again.”
EDUCATION
Co-op College to provide training for
new CCIN members
The Co-operative College will deliver an induction programme
for new members of the Co-operative Councils Innovation
Network (CCIN), including introductory online training and a
more in-depth programme.
The College is also commissioning training programmes
tailored specifically to a co-op council.
The online training programme will also be available as a
refresher to individuals from existing CCIN members.
Participants will learn about the co-operative values and
principles adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance
and how these
might be applied
to the workings
of co-op councils.
The programme
will be developed
with input from
CCIN member
councils during
an eight-week
p Cllr Sharon Taylor, chair of CCIN, and Dr consultation and
Cilla Ross, principal of the College
design period.
COMMUNITY
Co-ops on the agenda at Sheffield
Festival of Debate
Sheffield’s Festival of Debate will feature two events by Principle
5, a co-operative resource centre for Yorkshire.
The festival explores politics, economics and society with
a series of panel discussions, debates, Q&As, artistic responses,
keynote speeches and other public events across the city.
On Friday, 8 May, worker co-op expert Cath Muller will
present an introduction to the co-operative model. She
will share her experience of living and working in a co-op as
well as the basics of how co-ops work.
On Saturday, 9 May, an event will explore ethics and change
within the co-operative movement. Academic and author Tony
Webster will examine why some Co-op Group stores have closed
while Cath Muller will talk about her recent low-carbon tour of
co-ops in Europe and the Americas. She will focus on some of
the alternative co-operative economies, radical worker co-ops
and strategies for social change discovered during her journey.
u Both events take place at One Space, at Union Street
co-working space
in Sheffield. For
more information
contact: steve@
sheffield.coop
8 | FEBRUARY 2020

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Belfast worker co-op seeks funding for its work on social exclusion
Loveworks, a Belfast worker co-op
which offers skills and job opportunities
to people at risk of social exclusion,
is running a loanstock offer to grow
its business.
The social enterprise, based in the
Macrory Centre in the New Lodge area,
aims to build dignity and wellbeing
for people with issues such as past
convictions, addiction, poor mental
health and housing issues.
Workers gain skills and experience in
gardening, bike repair, and baking, while
providing a useful service to the wider
community – including a free, familyfriendly
community dinner on the third
Sunday of every month.
It currently employs a core team of seven
workers, backed by 10 regular volunteers.
Tiziana O’Hara, from Northern Ireland’s
Co-operative Alternatives, which is
supporting the offer, said: “A loanstock
offer is practically an unsecured, fixedterm
and fixed interest loan to Loveworks
from individuals and organisations
interested in supporting their work.
“This is an interesting tool often
adopted by worker co-operatives to raise
finance from their community of interest.”
She added: “Loveworks is growing
p Loveworks is looking to raise £10,000 to increase the capacity and offering of its bakery
and needs more equipment to run its
operations. It made business sense to
issue a loanstock offer
“We have had great interest with
many supporters, customers and friends
pledging towards it.”
The loanstock offer was prepared under
the Get Ready to Grow programme, funded
by the Co-op Foundation – the charity run
by the Co-op Group – and delivered by
Co-operative Alternatives.
It is looking to raise £10,000 to increase
the capacity and offering of its bakery, with
the purchase of new coffee equipment, an
additional oven, mixers, bannetons, and
other kitchen equipment.
The minimum individual loanstock
is £100; the maximum is £2,000. The
loanstock offer runs until Saturday, 7
March, and gives potential investors
options regarding rate of interest and
payback date.
u The application download is available
at: tinyurl.com/s9mp8ms. For more
information contact Richard Higginson on:
loveworkscoop@gmail.com
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
Aberdeen drilling supplier transferred to staff
A Scottish company which specialises
in the supply and refurbishment of
industrial drill bits has made the switch to
full employee ownership.
Established in 1987 by Greg Henderson
and Bill Bowie, Aberdeen-based Tricore
provides a refurbishment service for
new and used roller cone drill bits in
the oil and gas, construction, horizontal
direction drilling and mining industries.
The firm has refurbished thousands of
units for North Sea drilling operations
from its facility in Blackburn Industrial
Estate in Aberdeen, which is currently
the largest bit refurbishment and
maintenance facility in the UK.
Following the death of owner Greg
Henderson, the company had to think
about the future ownership structure.
Operations manager Wallace Hay said:
“We had to come up with an ownership
solution that allowed equity to be released
to Greg’s estate, and Bill to retire, but
also ensured the future security of the
company and safeguarded jobs.
“Many options were considered
but when our accountants suggested
employee ownership we soon realised
it ticked all of our boxes. It protects the
ethos of the company and the existing
team as well as providing a satisfactory
solution for the previous owners.”
An employee ownership trust has
been formed and holds 100% of the
shares on behalf of the employees.
The transition was supported by
Co-operative Development Scotland
(CDS), with the process managed by
p The late Bill Bowie, managing director
of Tricore, pictured last year with operations
manager Wallace Hay (right)
Ownership Associates UK, legal services
by Blackadders and accountancy services
by Anderson Anderson Brown (AAB).
FEBRUARY 2020 | 9

AWARD
Co-op of the Year 2020:
It’s time to submit
your nominations
Nominations are open for the Co-op of
the Year Awards 2020, with the winners
announced on 19 June as part of the
Festival of Co-operation.
The awards, organised by Co-operatives
UK, will see three prizes for co-ops based
on turnover, an award for the co-op
council of the year, and several individual
awards presented to people who have
helped shape the co-operative movement.
The awards will be presented at
Rochdale Town Hall, during a celebration
of the 175th anniversary of the Rochdale
Pioneers and the 150th anniversary of
Co-operatives UK.
For the first time, the winners will be
chosen through a combination of judges
scores and a public vote – while several
individual Co-operator of the Year Awards
will be selected by the judges alone.
“Last year’s Co-operator of the Year
Awards were so popular that we’re
p The winners of the 2019 awards celebrate
planning to hand out several individual
awards, honouring an inspirational group
of people who embody the co-operative
values,” said Ed Mayo, secretary general
of Co-operatives UK. “It doesn’t matter at
what stage you are in your co-operative
career, we’re expecting to see a diverse
range of awards.”
In a new move for 2020, the judging
panel will include up to six Co-operatives
UK members
“The judges will have the power to
select the people and co-ops that they
feel are deserving of an award from those
nominated, which will be combined with
a public vote to ultimately choose the
winners,” said Mr Mayo.
The awards, sponsored for the second
year running by the Co-op Bank, are free
to enter and open to all Co-operatives UK
members. The closing date to apply for the
judging panel is 30 March and the closing
date to nominate a co-op, co-op council or
individual co-operator is 20 April 2020.
u For more information on the awards,
visit uk.coop/COTY
CO-OP FORTNIGHT
Join a co-op: Movement’s call for 2020
For this year’s Co-op Fortnight (22 June-5J July) apex body
Co-operatives UK is encouraging people across the country to
join a co-op.
Coordinated by Co-operative UK, the Fortnight aims to raise
awareness about the co-operative business model. This year the
campaign will be looking to recruit new co-operators.
Wendy Carter, head of communications and marketing,
said: “Co-ops are so diverse, but the one thing that binds us
all together is that we all have members who have a say in
how our organisations are run. This Co-op Fortnight we’re
shining a spotlight on who our members are and why they join
co-ops, with a strong call to action to encourage more people
to join a co-op.”
Co-operatives UK is calling on co-ops and other organisations
to start planning membership recruitment and engagement
activities for the two-week summer campaign.
It is also offering free promotional resources to its members,
including stickers, posters, a campaign video, template press
releases and
images for social
media. Co-ops
can also take it
to social media
using the hashtag
#JoinACoop
CRIME
Retail society offers offender rehab
Shoplifters are being given the chance to turn their lives around
through a scheme supported by Central England Co-operative.
In attempt to tackle shoplifting the retailer has teamed up
with West Midlands Police to help offenders rehabilitate by
addressing their addictions.
Among the first to benefit were James Kelly and Paul Brookes
who joined the Offender to Rehab programme after years of
prison sentences. Between them, the two carried out nearly 200
known offences, including shoplifting to sustain their heroin
and crack cocaine addictions. Under the recommendation of
PC Stuart Toogood, from Erdington Neighbourhood team, they
were admitted into Livingstone House, a residential drug rehab
programme in Small Heath.
In addition to making a financial donation to support the
scheme, the Central England Co-op is providing mentorship to
those admitted, helping them with their CVs and encouraging
them to look for education opportunities.
The society has introduced several measures to tackle crime,
which led to a 30% reduction in robberies during the past two
years, including product GPS trackers, additional ATM anchors,
gas suppression systems and stringent cash controls.
Central England is now talking with several other police
forces covering across its trading region – including
Staffordshire Police – about implementation and support for
similar schemes.
10 | FEBRUARY 2020

Southern Co-op to stock specialist tea range with a mission
pSouthern Co-op helps Society of St James
launch its new Pay It Forward initiative
RETAIL
Southern Co-op puts
£100k into new scheme
to prevent knife crime
The Southern Co-op is intensifying its
efforts to tackle knife violence with a new
fund to support prevention initiatives.
The Safer Neighbourhood Fund builds
on the society’s work to tackle crime from
every angle including causes, prevention,
reporting and justice.
The retailer has identified five areas
which would benefit from community
programmes – Portsmouth, Southampton,
South London, Bournemouth and Bristol.
It has called for funding applications
from local charities that are delivering
innovative programmes to help residents to
build a secure future and reduce offending.
This can include tackling the underlying
causes of offending behaviours, increasing
opportunities for employability skill
development, and overcoming specific,
practical and personal barriers.
Gareth Lewis, Southern’s loss prevention
and security manager, said: “We commit
a lot of time and money to protecting our
colleagues and customers from violent
offenders but the stark reality is, it’s getting
worse. Every retailer is affected and we’ve
personally seen a 69% increase in crime
across our estate from 2018-2019.
“Our colleagues deserve to work in a safe
environment free from harm and the fear
of harm. We hope this new funding will be
a step towards achieving this.”
Southern has also partnered with
the Hampshire-based homelessness
charity, Society of St James, which helps
those facing multiple disadvantages
such as homelessness, poverty and/or
substance misuse.
The Southern Co-operative is adding a
new specialist tea range, which is supplied
in biodegradable and plastic-free teabags.
The tea is provided by Nemi Teas, a
London-based social enterprise, which
provides employment and leadership
opportunities for refugees. The enterprise
allocates 20% of its budget towards
the hiring, training and upskilling of
the refugees.
Channel Islands Co-op joins green project for its centenary
Volunteers from Channel Islands Co-op
have planted 1,233 trees and shrubs as part
of the society’s centenary celebrations.
The project is part of Jersey Trees for Life,
an attempt to create a living corridor
around the island. The society planted 100
trees and hedgerow whips, to celebrate
its centenary, paid for by a £1,000
donation from the co-op’s 2019 Eco fund.
New store opening for Midcounties Co-operative
Midcounties Co-op opens a new Your
Co-op Food store in Southmoor, near
Abingdon, Oxon, on 6 February. The society
says the new store will sourcing more than
260 locally sourced products and create 15
new jobs, following a £620,000 investment.
Eco-friendly features include plastic
waste recycling bins, compostable carrier
bags and energy-efficient fridges.
NHS Credit Union sets 10-year record with its divi
Last month, more than 18,500 NHS Credit
Union members received their highest
ever dividend payment in a decade, set at
1.5%. This is the sixth year in succession
the dividend payment has risen – taking
it to its highest figure in 11 years, with the
total sum paid out to members totalling
more than £200,000.
Lincolnshire gets green light for new store development
Fifteen jobs are to be created at a new
Lincolnshire Co-op store after the local
authority granted planning approval. The
society says the new shop, in Keelby, near
Grimsby, will open in early 2021, and will
include a 25 space car park. Grocering
will include the Love Local range, which
features goods sourced from our area.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 11

EDUCATION
Youth power fuelled by new co-operative project
January saw the launch of a project across
England to empower young people in
their communities.
The programme, led by the
Co-operative College, is launching in
Hartlepool, Rochdale and Bury, with
a focus on youth activism, inspiring a
new generation to use co-op values and
principles to make a change where they
live. Supported by a £170,000 grant from
the Co-op Foundation’s #iwill Fund, each
cohort is encouraged to think differently
to solve problems in their community and
understand the real power of their voice.
Those involved will learn new skills,
meet new people and have fun, using
team work and problem solving to
tackle the issues that matter to them,
such as loneliness, highlighted as a
key issue among young people and
emphasised using the project’s hashtag
#TogetherNotAlone.
The project builds on the success of
the College’s previous scheme in Greater
Manchester which saw young care leavers
to tackle loneliness in their community
through a unique theatre production.
Gemma Obeng, UK programme
manager at the College, said: “We know
the difference that youth social action can
make in tackling loneliness and have seen
first-hand the transformational impact
that our original programme had across
Greater Manchester.
“By spreading the message of
co-operation across England, we’re
empowering a new generation to tackle
the issues that matter to them, utilising
co-operative values and principles
just like the original pioneers did 175
years ago.”
The #iwill Fund supports the aims of the
#iwill campaign – to make involvement
in social action a part of life for young
people, by recognising the benefit for both
young people and their communities.
u Young people can get involved in the
project by visiting www.co-op.ac.uk/yca
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Free events for Welsh
entrepreneurs wishing
to set up co-ops
Wales Co-operative Centre starting 2020
with a series free events to encourage
aspiring entrepreneurs to set up new
social businesses.
The January events were hosted by the
Social Business Wales programme, led by
the Wales Co-operative Centre and part of
the Business Wales service.
Funded by the European Regional
Development Fund, the project aims to
create 200 brand new social businesses
in Wales over the next three years,
providing jobs and services anchored
in communities.
The events featured presentations from
entrepreneurs who have successfully
established social businesses, including
representatives from PeopleSpeakUp
(Llanelli), Canolfan Beaumaris (Anglesey)
and Riverside Market Garden (Cardiff).
Those attending also got to engage
with their local Social Business Wales
team, which also provides free specialist
support, such as advice on different legal
structures, writing business plans and
governing documents and developing an
investment strategy.
Glenn Bowen, enterprise programme
director at the Wales Co-operative Centre,
said: “At the Wales Co-operative Centre
we’ve been right at the heart of Wales’
vibrant social economy since the 1980s
and have helped to create hundreds of
new businesses, providing important
services and creating much needed jobs
for some of our poorest communities.
“We know what’s needed to start
a successful social enterprise and
with over 150 individuals signed up to
attend our New Start events over the
next two weeks, we can already see the
appetite from entrepreneurs to join this
growing movement.”
Carly McCreesh, project manager for
new start support within Social Business
Wales, said: “At Social Business Wales
we want to work with passionate and
ambitious social entrepreneurs that
want to start strong and sustainable
social businesses.”
12 | FEBRUARY 2020

AGRICULTURE
Co-operatives UK calls
for clarity on farming
after Brexit
The UK government has released an
updated version of its legislation for
farming after Brexit, promising a radical
overhaul of the sector.
Plans include the replacement of
EU subsidies with a new system which
rewards farmers for protecting the
land, addressing issues such as habitat
protection, soil conservation, animal
welfare and climate change.
But farmers and environmentalists are
both concerned that there is no promise
that UK food standards will not be lowered
in any trade deal with the USA.
From a co-operative point of view,
the new draft of the bill has had a
mixed reception from sector body
Co-operatives UK.
Policy officer James Wright said: “The
new Agriculture Bill has the same effect as
the 2017-19 bill after its committee stage.
This is positive.
“But on its own the Agriculture Bill
provides for narrower competition
exemptions than currently in force under
EU and UK law.”
Writing on Co-operatives UK’s website,
he added: “We need government to
give greater clarity and certainty on its
longer-term intentions for competition
and co-operation.”
Mr Wright welcomed the bill’s proposal
for a new system of support for farmer
co-operation, via new UK-specific
Producer Organisation (PO), Association
of Producer Organisation (APO) and
Inter-Branch Organisation (IBO) schemes,
across a wide range of sectors.
“Crucially, the new Bill effectively
incorporates an amendment to the 2017-19
Bill, which we secured in committee stage,
so that co-operatives serving farmers in
more than one sector could in principle be
given PO or APO status,” he said.
The Bill also changes the UK
Competition Act, added Mr Wright, so the
competition exemptions for co-operating
farmers will only protect arrangements
registered under one of the new PO,
APO or IBO schemes, where the activity
involves concentrating supply.
Furthermore, reference to policy
objectives such as productivity, farmer
earnings and food security (CAP
Objectives), have been removed from the
bill, he said.
“This is a narrowing of the exemptions
currently in place through UK and EU
law, which protect co-operation in every
sector and in areas such as inputs,
research and development, innovation
adoption and data, as well as downstream
market concentration via POs, APOs and
IBOs. And crucially, the law currently
provides these exemptions with reference
to policy objectives such as productivity,
farmer earnings and food security
(CAP objectives).”
Mr Wright said this makes it “essential”
that the new PO and APO schemes include
a broad range of farmer co-operatives, and
welcomed measures in the new bill that
“allow for multi-sector co-operation in the
high-level design of these schemes”.
But, he added: “We remain concerned
that the bill only provides competition
exemptions for co-operatives involved in
concentrating supply.
“While this is obviously a sensitive
activity from a competition perspective,
we would also like co-operation in areas
such as inputs, R&D, innovation adoption
and data to be covered by the competition
exemptions in this bill.”
He said farmer collaboration in areas
such as R&D and innovation should
enjoy competition exemptions, because
“the more such collaboration occurs,
and the more valuable it is, the greater
the risk and the need for protections
will be”.
Co-operatives UK has now written to
the farming minister, asking for clarity
on government’s intentions regarding the
competition exemptions domesticated
from EU law.
“We hope government will provide this
when the Bill gets its second reading in
Parliament,” said Mr Wright.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 13

GLOBAL UPDATES
13
EUROPE
Report looks at worker co-op response to world of casual jobs
p An illustration from the All For One report published by CECOP
ddressing decent work deficits in NSE
ocial Rights (EPSR) jointly proclaimed
mmission in November 2017, set out 20
ning labour The markets European and welfare Confederation systems. of Industrial
rdless of the and type and Service duration of Co-operatives their
(Cecop)
parable conditions, has published the self-employed a report on how co-ops
t of the implementation respond to of issues the EPSR, related the to non-standard
Council Recommendation employment, on such access to as precariousness,
. Following low the proposal, income, the insufficient Employment, social security
PSCO) agreed coverage on a recommendation and workers’ and isolation.
in November The 2019. report features case studies from
countries including Belgium, Finland,
tandards in the field of social protection
France and Spain where co-ops are
e Commission recommends to member
helping to tackle decent work deficits.
mployed to adhere to social security
res allowing It them also to looks build up at and the take challenges up faced by
dequate effective independent, coverage) and freelance facilitating workers, arguing
mes; increase that transparency they are regarding not sufficiently social covered by
that the EU political recognizes and the precarity institutional and risk debates on
urity is a basic non-standard human right, employment.
regardless of
In the UK 30 actors’ co-operative
agencies are organised in the Co-operative
ddress decent
Personal
work deficits
Management
in NSE,
Association
ore solutions are urgently required at the
(CPMA), which was founded and
ne of the traditional approaches, the role
supported by Equity, a national actors’
en (re)emphasized. As the CICOPA, the
ooperatives
union.
states in
The
the Strategic
co-ops,
Paper
which connect workseekers
stand?” to (CICOPA, employers, 2018) are states, run by the actors
ce cooperative
ratory, experimenting themselves, innovative who often and work in the office
ometimes become on a voluntary institutionalized. basis. But
to the NSE decent In work Belgium, deficits? Smart co-operative
enables freelancers, organisations and
entrepreneurs to develop their activities
by mutualising various services,
offering them the best social protection
while being autonomous. It provides
administrative, financial and accountancy
management services, insurance services,
legal and consulting services, information
and training, co-working spaces and
tection for workers mutual and the financial self- employed tools (2019/C 387/01) to freelancers who
are mainly active in the creative sector
tandard employment and recently to people working through
online platforms.
In Finland, Lilith, a co-operative of
independent workers, takes care of all
of the legal duties faced by employers.
It also provides training courses,
workshops, working spaces, tools
and equipment, discounts on various
products and services, networking
opportunities, informal, social and
recreational gatherings.
And in France, business and
employment co-operatives (BECs)
offer similar services. Today, there are
around 150 BECs, with 7,000 employeeentrepreneurs
(entrepreneur-salarié)
and 3,000 project holders with a
support contract.
A similar model can be found in Spain
with business impulse co-ops, which
channel the entrepreneurial initiatives
of their members and provide common
services, creating an environment in
which they are able to carry out their
professional activity on a regular basis.
Platform co-ops such as CoopCycle in
Spain are also on the rise. Coop Cycle has
developed software that connects bikedelivery
workers, clients and sellers. The
software can only be used commercially
by social and solidarity economy
organisations such as co-ops, and these
organisations must provide employment
contracts to worker-members instead of
simplified form of self-employment.
Cecop’s report says these examples
point to a better future of work in Europe,
in close collaboration with trade unions,
public authorities and other actors.
Cecop urged member states to adopt
adequate legal frameworks for workerowned
co-operatives, and to create a
worker member status based on standard
employment.
It also says non-standard workers
should be guaranteed access
to adequate social protection regardless
of the type and duration of their
employment relationship, while
dependent self-employed persons should
be reclassified as employees.
Cecop also wants the European
Commission and its member states to
promote co-op responses and experiments
as vehicles for decent work, to give special
attention to the work and employment
of independent workers, and to provide
an adequate legal framework in favour
of workers in the platform economy.
14 | FEBRUARY 2020

USA
Co-op development funding increases under US 2020 spending bills
Two bipartisan appropriations bills to
fund the federal government for fiscal
year 2020 were passed by the US Congress
and signed into law by President Trump.
Under the 2020 appropriations
packages, US$5.8m is allocated to USDA’s
Rural Cooperative Development Grant
(RCDG) – the same figure granted in 2019.
The deal also includes $17m for the US
Agency for International Development
(USAID)’s Cooperative Development
Program (CDP), a $5m increase. The
competitive grants programme funds
US-based co-operative organisations
running international co-operative and
credit union development projects. These
include apex body NCBA CLUSA and the
US Overseas Cooperative Development
Council (OCDC).
OCDC executive director Paul Hazan
said: “The CDP enjoys bipartisan
support in Congress because of the
demonstrated impact on building
sustainable co-operatives leading to
self-reliant communities.”
Over the past 18 years, CDP activities
have supported more than 500
co-operatives and credit unions with a
combined savings of nearly half a billion
dollars. OCDC members run projects in
70 countries.
“Co-operatives give millions of
otherwise marginalised people the
opportunity to own a piece of economic
prosperity and join the mainstream of
economic and social development,”
added Mr Hazen. “With their one member,
one vote governance, they also introduce
and strengthen democratic principles at
the grassroots level.”
The funding bills passed by congress
also provide US$1.7bn for USAID’s Food
for Peace programme in which NCBA
Clusa is also involved. Food for Peace
promotes food security through long-term
economic development.
The US Department for Agriculture’s
Rural Energy Savings Program will
receive $12m, some of which will go
to rural energy co-operatives in the
form of zero-interest loans for energy
efficiency schemes.
Kate LaTour, government relations
manager at NCBA CLUSA, commented in
a post on NCBA’s website: “NCBA CLUSA
advocated vigorously for funding increases
for federal cooperative development
programs with the support of our members
and co-operative community members
throughout 2019. We look forward to
monitoring the implementation of these
important programmes.”
The bipartisan spending deal was
agreed after two months of discussion in
Congress. Reaching a compromise meant
that Congress was able to avoid a repeat
of last year’s 35-day partial government
shutdown.
u Electric co-ops in tax victory - p19
FEBRUARY 2020 | 15

AUSTRALIA
Co-ops and
credit unions respond
as bushfire crisis
spins out of control
Co-ops in Australia and around the world
have stepped up their response to the
bushfires devastating the country.
The fires have killed at least 33 people,
destroyed more than 2,600 homes,
burned an estimated 46 million acres of
land and, it is feared, killed more than a
billion animals, with some species facing
extinction as a result.
Credit Union Journal (CUJ) has reported
that a number of organisations have been
impacted by the crisis, with at least eight
credit unions forced to close one branch
or more because of power cuts and smoke
hazards. It reports that some credit union
staff have lost homes and been sleeping in
cars or on the beach.
Among those affected are Horizon Credit
Union, based in Wollongong, New South
Wales (NSW), which has seen 50 members
lose their homes, with one member
confirmed dead, said the Customer Owned
Banking Association (COBA).
The destruction of members’ homes
could impact the credit union’s loan
portfolio, but for now the focus is on
helping those members. Staff are deferring
loan payments, helping members file
insurance claims and promoting public
health and temporary accommodation
services from the government .
Staff have also been working to help
rescue wildlife from the fires, with one
staff member bringing orphaned joeys to
the office with her to care for.
The bushfires have had a devastating
effect on Australia’s agricultural sector,
with the government expecting livestock
deaths at more than 100,000, and farmers
struggling to get fodder and feed to
animals. This is expected to have a knockon
effect for the dairy industry, which is
already suffering from market uncertainty
and price fluctuations.
Apex body the Business Council for
Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) has
thrown its weight behind the Australian
Mutuals Foundation’s (AMF) appeal.
Co-operatives UK, which represents
the UK sector, is partnering with BCCM on
the appeal, which also has the backing of the
Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions.
From the USA, apex body NCBA Clusa is
raising funds through its own charity.
BCCM said it has been “heartened by
the solidarity shown by the international
co-operative movement”.
Ed Mayo, secretary general of
Co-operatives UK, said: “It will be hard
for those affected to rebuild their lives
and their homes. We hope, by standing
together with the Australian co-op sector,
we can help play a role in supporting relief
efforts and future reconstruction.”
A number of co-ops, credit unions
and mutuals in Australia are responding
to the crisis, donating to relief efforts,
giving assistance to affected members
and offering extended leave to staff
volunteering for fire fighting efforts.
COBA – which represents 72 financial
institutions on the World Council of Credit
Unions – said it will help customers as
they rebuild their lives and properties.
Grain-handling co-op CBH has teamed
up with oat and grain company Blue
Lake Milling on a AU$50,000 donation to
BlazeAid, a volunteer-based organisation
that works with families in rural Australia
after natural disasters, rebuild destroyed
infrastructure. It is supporting local
firefighters with packs of sunburn cream,
lip balm, hydrolyte and dust masks.
Rabobank, which provides co-op
banking to Australia’s farmers, has
announced measures including deferral
of loan payments, waivers of fees on early
redemption of farm management deposits,
and loan increases for rebuilding work.
The farmer members of the Organic
& Regenerative Investment Co-operative
are being supported by volunteers and
have raised over $20,000 through their
appeal to support impacted organic
farmers across Australia with emergency
fodder and for farm rebuilding.
The Cobargo Co-op rural supplies store
in Bega Valley Shire, NSW, re-opened two
days after the fires decimated the small
community. Operating without power
they took orders and supplied goods to
local farmers, businesses and community
members. Staff are working to help the
community rebuild.
16 | FEBRUARY 2020

Bowral Co-operative Ltd & Saddleworld
in the Southern Highlands of NSW have
been donating products including stock
feed and are helping affected members,
alongside fundraising efforts.
Australian Unity mutual has made
a $100,000 donation to Australian Red
Cross to assist relief and recovery efforts
and will also match dollar-for-dollar any
contributions its 7,000-plus employees
make to Red Cross and a number of
organisations supporting wildlife and
the environment.
It has introduced measures to financially
support members, customers and
employees affected by the fires, is carrying
out wellbeing checks on home care and
disability customers in affected areas,
distributing care packages to displaced
Aboriginal Home Care customers, sending
emergency relief packages to employees
affected by the fires, and offering special
leave arrangements for staff who are
emergency volunteers or reservists.
Insurance mutual HCF has donated
$20,000 to the Red Cross and $30,000
to the Royal Fire Service and is giving
special leave to employees whose families
are affected by the fires. HCF members
suffering financial hardship are being
offered a suspension of their membership
fees for one to six months depending on
their circumstances. For health insurance
members, the group is offering up to three
months free premiums.
Credit Union Australia (CUA) has
donated $50,000 each to the NSW,
Queensland and Victorian fire services.
These donations follow a $25,000
contribution from CUA to the Australian
Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery
Fund in early December, to help volunteers
continue to support communities
impacted by the bushfires.
CUA is helping members affected by
the fires by waiving fees and repayments
and supporting staff members who are
performing duties as volunteer firefighters
or emergency services directly involved in
the bushfire response.
Queensland Country Credit Union
is offering similar assistance to those
affected, as is the WAW Credit Union
– which is among those organisations
forced to temporarily close some sites
because of the fires.
The Geraldton Fishermens’ Co-operative
has allocated funds from its Christmas
fund for the bushfire appeal and has
called out to its members to donate to the
cause from their fishing payments.
Go Vita has over 140, member-owned
stores Australia wide. Many are located
in small regional communities that have
been impacted by the bushfires and some
members including stores in Tenterfield
and Bateman’s Bay have been affected.
Go Vita, on behalf of store owners, has
pledged at least $500 per day for January
to support those affected, contributing to
both the Red Cross and Wires. Go Vita is
working with health product suppliers
to further
The orchards of three member growers
of the Lenswood Apples – Lenswood
Cold Stores Co-Operative Society Limited
have been affected by the bushfires in the
Adelaide Hills and the co-op is assessing
its response.
The AMF said: “The support from
individual members of credit unions and
mutuals has been great and we have
received donations from members far and
wide: Western Australia, Queensland,
Victoria and all parts of New South Wales,
including Bathurst, Orange, the Central
Coast and Sydney. Thank you to Unity
Bank, G & C Mutual Bank and Move Bank
for making corporate donations.”
All donations are being passed to the St
Vincent De Paul Society (Vinnies) to help
those affected to rebuild their lives.
On its website, BCCM said: “Co-ops and
mutuals are embedded in local, and often
regional communities, and some may be
directly impacted by the fires. Many co-ops
and mutuals are already leveraging their
local connections to support communities
to manage during the crisis and to recover
and rebound in the aftermath.
“We are a community of enterprises
committed to co-operation and mutual
support. Throughout this crisis, we will
continue to work together to support each
other and our community.”
BCCM is asking members to share their
own stories of the bushfire crisis, to help
it direct support to where it most needed.
u To support the Australian Mutuals
Foundation Appeal, visit the AMF website
australianmf.org.au
FEBRUARY 2020 | 17

EUROPE
Co-op banks welcome EU green
investment rules despite red tape concerns
The European Parliament and the
European Council have agreed a
classification system for sustainable
economic activities, to help investors
check their portfolios against the EU’s
goal to become carbon neutral by 2050.
The system sets out six environmental
objectives: climate change mitigation;
climate change adaptation; sustainable
use and protection of water and marine
resources; transition to a circular
economy; pollution prevention and
control; and protection and restoration of
biodiversity and ecosystems.
To qualify as sustainable, economic
activities must provide a substantial
contribution to at least one of these
objectives; avoid significant harm to any
of the other objectives; comply with robust
and science-based technical screening
criteria; and have in place social and
governance safeguards.
The Commission’s executive vicepresident
for an economy that works
for people, Valdis Dombrovskis, said:
“This piece of legislation will be a gamechanger
in terms of tackling climate
change, because it will enable billions in
green investments to flow.
“Investors and industry will for the first
time have a definition of what is ‘green’,
which will give a real boost to sustainable
investments. That will be crucial for the
European Green Deal to become a reality.”
The European Association of
Co-operative Banks (EACB) welcomed the
taxonomy but said it had concerns about
potential red tape for SMEs. It said its
members would apply their knowledge
and experience to make the taxonomy
work in practice and help organisations
complete the technical screening stage.
“Co-operative banks support the new
dynamic approach with the inclusion of
transition activities and different shades
of green,” said Hervé Guider, EACB
general manager. “However, the final
negotiations have led to a rather complex
and bureaucratic regime compared to the
simple framework necessary to accelerate
the shift to sustainability.
“The use of the new taxonomy,
especially if indirectly applied to
loans, seems to raise challenges for
enterprises, especially SMEs, in terms of
providing the necessary ESG data to their
financing partners.”
EACB says the climate-related data of
listed companies should become publicly
available so bank and other financial
institutions can differentiate between
different shades of green, transition
activities and enabling activities.
The new rules are expected to take
effect at the end of 2021.
EUROPE
Agri co-operatives voice
worries over Green Deal
Agri co-ops in Europe have asked the
European Commission to clarify aspects of
its new Green Deal, voicing concern about
proposals to curb the use of pesticides
and fertilisers.
The Commission says its Farm to Fork
Strategy for Sustainable Food will be
presented this spring, as a key component
of the European Green Deal.
In a statement published in December,
Copa-Cogeca, the organisation for
European farmers and agri co-ops, said
its members were ready to play their role
in fulfilling the vision but called for a
“concrete and realistic project” that does
not leave anyone behind.
The apex body noted that many farmers
across Europe had taken to the streets to
call for coherent policies, a decent income
and the end to what they see as an unfair
depiction of the agricultural sector.
European farmers and co-ops are also
asking the Commission to clarify certain
aspects of the Green Deal, such as how
the European budget would factor in
the ambitions of the Green Deal, as
well as those of the upcoming Farm to
Fork strategy. The sector is requesting
details about how these policies will be
taken into account when setting out the
Common Agricultural Policy, which is in
the process of being reformed.
The Green Deal mentions a “significant
reduction” in pesticides and fertilisers
without giving specific targets. It also states
that the potential role of new innovative
technologies will be considered” without
further details about these.
18 | FEBRUARY 2020

USA
Ohio newspaper issues shares to become
a reader-owned co-operative
An alternative weekly paper in Akron,
Ohio, has launched a bid to become
a reader-owned co-operative.
The Devil Strip, which covers the
city’s culture, music and arts scene, has
launched its fundraising campaign with
NewsMatch — a national matching-gift
campaign for newsrooms. It set itself an
initial target of US $20,000 but passed this
within a week of its 1 November launch.
By law, the offer is only open to Ohio
residents. Readers who contribute will
become shareholders, giving them a say
in the strategic future of the publication.
The Devil Strip team said: “We believe
that community news is best equipped
to serve readers when it is owned by the
community. When all of you have a vested
interest – literally – in The Devil Strip, we
believe our journalism will be closer and
more vital to the community than ever.”
Readers can become shareholders for
as little as US$1 per month. Once they
have invested $330, their share is fully
vested and they are a shareholder for life.
Membership tiers are available for readers
who want to donate more.
Shareholders will meet annually to vote
on new board members, broad budget
issues and programming questions, and
to select editorial projects to prioritise.
The move comes after more than 20
years of financial pressure on news
media around the world, with the loss of
classified and other advertising income
to the internet. Figures suggest US
newsrooms have cut staff by a quarter
since 2008.
The crisis has led other titles around
the world to attempt the co-op route to
survival. In Canada, several Francophone
city papers owned by Groupe Capitales
Médias are facing closure and are running
a co-op fundraising bid.
At the end of last year, the Je coopère
pour mon journal (I co-operate for my
newspaper) campaign received a boost
when Quebec’s provincial government
put its support behind the model.
USA
Member power pays off as electric co-ops win fight for tax exemption
Last month, US Congress passed the Rural
Act, protecting the tax-exempt status
of more than 900 electric co-operatives
across the country.
Recent law changes had meant electric
co-ops would lose their tax exemption
if they accepted government grants for
disaster relief, broadband service and
other programmes that benefit members.
The Rural Act, signed into law as part of
a sweeping tax and spending package, is
designed to remove this risk – which had
threatened the survival of many of the notfor-profit
co-ops.
It was the top priority for sector body
The National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association (NRECA), which organised
campaigning efforts from tens of
thousands of co-op leaders, employees
and members across the country.
“This package preserves the
fundamental nature of the electric co-op
business model and will save electric
co-ops tens of millions of dollars each
year,” said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson.
“Moreover, it protects co-op members
from unfair increases in their electric
rates and provides certainty to co-ops
that leverage federal and state grants for
economic development, storm recovery
and rural broadband deployment.”
The bill fixes a problem created in 2017
when Congress passed the Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act, which redefined government
grants to co-ops as income rather than
capital. That change made it difficult for
many co-ops to abide by the 15% limit on
non-member income to keep their taxexempt
status. The Rural Act once again
exempts grants from being counted as
income and is retroactive to the 2018
tax year.
NRECA lobbyist Paul Gutierrez said:
“This was an amazing NRECA team and
membership effort, including co-op
members at the end of the line.
“We had great legislative champions in
the House and Senate, and they worked
tirelessly to get this included in the final
tax package.”
FEBRUARY 2020 | 19

GLOBAL
Woccu calls for nominations for Distinguished Service Award
The World Council of Credit Unions
(Woccu) is now accepting nominations
for its 2020 Distinguished Service Award
(DSA), for people and organisations who
have worked on credit union development
outside their own country.
The awards are aimed at individuals
and organisations who have “furthered
Woccu’s vision to expand financial
inclusion worldwide through credit
unions”, and nominations can
be submitted by Woccu member
organisations. Credit unions affiliated
with Woccu member organisations
can also nominate individuals or
organisations with the endorsement of
a Woccu member organisation.
Individual awards go to people who
have significantly benefited global credit
union development beyond their national
boundaries. Institutional awards go to
organisations that have provided financial
or technical assistance to develop
international credit union movements
and their service infrastructures over an
extended period.
“The Distinguished Service Award is
the highest honour one can receive in
the global credit union community,” said
Woccu president and CEO, Brian Branch.
“We are pleased to recognise and celebrate
those who have gone above and beyond,
leaving an impressionable footprint in our
global movement.”
The awards are presented based on
the proven achievements and worthiness
of candidates, according to the World
Council Award Committee’s review.
This year’s recipient will receive
a complimentary conference registration
Distinguished Service Award
and one companion registration for the
2020 Joint Credit Union Conference, where
the award will be presented.
At the 2019 World Credit Union
Conference in the Bahamas, the DSA
went to Sylvester Kadzola of Malawi
and the Organization of Brazilian
Cooperatives (OCB).
Nominations for this year’s award are
open until 27 March.
INDIA
“Scheme on voluntary transition of Urban proportion of its existing loan portfolio
Reserve The Distinguished Bank Service Co-operative Award (DSA) Bank is the into international a Small Finance credit was union already system’s classified highest as priority honor, sector.
Bank” issued in September 2018.
The bank’s chief executive, Suveer
of India gives
first
approval
presented by World Council in 1986 to recognize member organizations and individuals for
their outstanding contributions The decision to credit sets union a precedent development – it is the outside Kumar their Gupta, home said: country. “It is a privilege
for conversion of
first time a licence has been issued by and an honour for Shivalik to be the
the RBI to an urban co-op bank (UCB) to first UCB in the country to receive inprinciple
approval from the RBI for
co-operative bank
become a small finance bank. Saharanpurbased
Shivalik Categories
Mercantile Cooperative transitioning into a Small Finance Bank.
2020 Nomination
On 6 January the Reserve Bank of India Bank has 18 months to comply with all the The significant efforts put in by the team
World Council member organizations may submit nominations in the following categories:
gave its ‘in principle’ approval for the criteria required to obtain the small finance at Shivalik over a period of time have
Shivalik Mercantile Cooperative Bank bank licence.
led us to this momentous day and I’m
DSA Individual:
to convert into a Small Finance Bank Small finance banks in India face excited by the motivation this provides
(SFB). The transition Individuals is allowed under who have the provided lending exemplary restrictions, service unlike to the urban international us to credit move union forward movement to furthering and our
have positively influenced co-operative credit union banks, development which operate outside as their growth home ambitions. country qualify for the
individual category. universal banks and can undertake all “We will continue to service our goals
activities permitted to commercial banks. of financial inclusion and supporting
DSA Institutional: They are also required to extend 75% of the growth of small businesses through
their loans to priority sectors, such as a differentiated technology focus. We
Organizations that have provided financial and technical assistance over an extended period
agriculture, micro, small and medium believe these are essential to the growth
of time to develop international credit union movements and their service infrastructure may be
enterprises, education or housing. of our nation and technology adoption is
nominated in the institutional
These banks
category.
need to have 50% of their allowing us to leap frog into previously
loan portfolio as small loans of up to Rs under explored segments.”
2.5m (£27,000).
Indian urban co-operative banks have
2020 Nomination Criteria
Shivalik Mercantile Cooperative Bank been in the spotlight over a scandal
The World Council awards operates committee 31 branches reviews all across nominations Uttar Pradesh, and selects involving the DSA one recipients. of the sector’s Only World largest banks.
Council member organizations Madhya may Pradesh make DSA and nominations. Uttarakhand. Individuals nominated The Maharashtra for the Co-operative award should Bank was
demonstrate some or all of March the following: 2019 it had total deposits of Rs taken over by RBI last year after concerns
• Personal history of commitment 10.051bn (£110m), to international while credit its loan union book development about the outside accuracy the nominee’s of its home financial
country.
stood at Rs7.15bn (£7.6m).
statements. More than 20 co-op banks are
• A record of technical service
In
to
a
the
statement
development
on the
of other
RBI’s
credit
approval,
union movements
now under
beyond
RBI’s
their
administration.
own national
boundaries.
Shivalik Mercantile Cooperative Bank RBI has recently also revised its
said it was well placed with respect to Supervisory Action Framework to initiate
• Ongoing institutional development by playing a leading role in advancing World Council.
compliance to the operating guidelines prompt corrective action for urban co-op
• Ability to locate and mobilize resources needed by World Council and
for Small Finance Banks with a large banks
its affiliates
facing financial
to establish
stress.
strong
p Reserve Bank of India Building at Dalhousie
credit union movements wherever they are sought.
Institutions nominated for the DSA must meet the following qualifications:
20 | FEBRUARY 2020• Ongoing commitment to international credit union development for more than three years.
• Technical assistance provided beyond the nominee’s borders has led to measurable results within the
region receiving it and has an ongoing history following the end of the period of assistance.

Nominations open for NCBA CLUSA board elections
CANADA
Co-operators
insurer supports
wildfire prevention
Communities are organising a Wildfire
Community Preparedness Day as part of
a national effort to reduce wildfire risk.
Launched by FireSmart Canada, the
programme offers advice on protecting
properties, with measures such as the
creation of non-combustible zones around
houses and fire-resilient landscaping.
It has the backing of co-operative
insurer The Co-operators, as well as the
National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) and the Institute for Catastrophic
Loss Reduction (ICLR). It is hoped this will
help people protect themselves and their
neighbourhoods from the 8,000 wildfires
that break out in the country every year.
As part of the scheme, individuals, fire
departments, organisations, community
groups and municipalities will submit
applications for CA$500 (£292) for
projects to protect their communities
from wildfire. Last year $60,500 (£35,415)
was awarded to communities across the
country. This year will see 150 groups
receive $500 towards wildfire prevention
and preparedness efforts.
“It is encouraging to see people
across the country getting together to
make their homes and communities
safer,” said Ray Ault, executive director
of FireSmart Canada. “Managing wildfire
risk is a shared responsibility and today
the spotlight is on individual property
owners and communities. Wildfire
Community Preparedness Day projects
show that simple things like clearing
brush and moving combustible material
away from your home can make a real
difference in protecting your property.”
The Co-operators has been a partner
of NFPA and FireSmart Canada since 2014,
helping to lead wildfire resiliency efforts
across the country.
European Parliament renews Social Economy Intergroup
Turks and Caicos joins Woccu
Nominees interested in running for the five
available seats on the 2020 NCBA CLUSA
board of directors have until 14 February
to submit their name. Those looking to
stand should complete and submit the
nomination form along with the requested
supplemental material to the Nominating
Committee by the deadline, contact Sherry
Goss at: sgoss@ncbaclusa.coop.
The European Parliament has approved
the list of parliamentary intergroups
for the next term, including the Social
Economy Intergroup. The decision was
welcomed by apex body Cooperatives
Europe as “a positive signal” that the
EU will support the social and solidarity
economy. Intergroups are formed by MEPs
to hold informal exchanges with civil
society on particular subjects.
Turks and Caicos Islands Government
has joined World Council of Credit
Unions (Woccu) as an associate
member to initiate the development
and introduction of credit unions to its
people. Turks and Caicos passed a suite
of 2019 legislation that permitted the
licensing of credit unions in the country
for the first time.
Ireland’s first co-housing project looks for finance
Ireland’s first co-housing project,
Common Ground, is being launched in
Co Wicklow. The project consists of 26
households – comprising 35 adults and
24 children – who will repay one common
loan on, and own shares in, the estate. The
model is based on Lilac (low impact living
affordable community) in Leeds, UK.
Angolan co-ops could have their diamond licences removed
Around 260 Angolan co-operatives
that were granted industrial diamond
exploration licences in 2019 could lose
them. The government has recently
warned that the co-ops could lose their
licenses if they are inactive for more than
six months. Ghana is currently the fourth
largest diamond producer in the world.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 21

MEET...
Meet … Chris Matthews
Store manager and director,
East of England Co-operative
Chris Matthews was one of East of England’s youngest store managers when
he was first appointed. He was elected to the board in 2016 and is also on
the Co-op Group National Member’s Council, representing East of England
on one of the Independent Society Member seats.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN EAST
OF ENGLAND?
I started with a paper round for my local Co-op
Group shop when I was 13. When we moved to
East Anglia, I got a job as a customer service
assistant at an East of England store, and moved
up to supervisor, then store manager when I was
18. I was elected to the board in May 2016, when
I was 26, after seeing the position advertised in
a local store. The society was doing a push on
director positions – I decided to find out a bit more
about it, applied and people voted for me. I think
people appreciate the fact that as a colleague, you
understand the shop floor aspects of the role. You
talk to a lot of people – to customers, members,
people outside shop – and you understand
their worries and concerns. You’re in a position
where you’re better enabled to understand the
challenges and wishes of members and customers.
Ultimately in co-operative retail
– whether you’re doing a paper
round, are in customer service,
managing a store or being a
director – your aim is making
sure customers have an
enjoyable experience
The East of England board currently has 16
directors, of whom up to two can be colleagues
(there’s no minimum).
HOW HAVE YOU BEEN SUPPORTED IN
BOTH ROLES?
Since being elected director, I have received a lot
of professional development through attending
courses, workshops, and events where specialists
come in and teach around specific subjects, such
as finance, digital or property. Conferences like
Congress and Co-operatives UK’s Co-op Retail
Conference helped too, as have other directors,
who provided an outline of the role and took me
under their wing. East of England is also supporting
me through an executive MBA programme – I’m
currently in the second year of a three-year course.
In terms of the store manager position, the retail
side of the business has been very understanding
of the time I need to do the director part of the
position. It’s a fine balance – I have many hats.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE?
The balancing act between keeping the
fundamental confidentiality of the boardroom
and the practical activity of the store manager day
job. You can have an advanced understanding of
both roles, but the challenge is where you apply
the knowledge; I very much have to have a board
hat and a store manager hat, and I think the
ability to interchange them is really important.
The role of a board is to be strategic – and if you
don’t have different hats you could very easily slip
into operational decision-making mode when you
should be strategic, and vice versa. You need to
have respect for the relevant authority chains.
Having said that, I have found adapting to
the two roles easier than I thought I would,
22 | FEBRUARY 2020

in part because they are separate; one is
very hands on, the day-to-day running of a
business and stacking beans on a shelf; the
other is strategic, making decisions based on
the information that you’re given. The crossover
has positives too, especially in terms of providing
a different perspective in the boardroom, utilising
my retail knowledge to the advantage of the
business. I can give a certain viewpoint based on
personal experiences. In the same way that the
accountants and lawyers on our board can provide
specialist knowledge, my strength is giving the
grassroots perspective.
WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENTS?
As a store manager, it was when our Woodbridge
store was accredited with a Gold Award from
the Suffolk Carbon Charter (SCC), which looks
at carbon reduction measures made by Suffolk’s
small and medium businesses. It was one of the
first retail stores to be accredited at gold standard,
and recognised things like the local supplier
visits we organise for staff, where colleagues go
to visit the farms where the products they sell
come from. We’ve had staff in welly boots picking
up oyster nets, and in fields picking strawberries.
Through doing that, SCC saw the real field-to-fork
philosophy within the store. They were impressed
with that, as well as the other sustainability work
we do, like recycling and the Co-op Guide to
Dating initiative, which sells goods cheaply after
their best-before dates. – and the way these are
applied at store level.
As a director, it was when I was appointed
chair of the Member and Community Engagement
Committee, which includes overseeing the
strategy for member participation and community
engagement. It’s my proudest moment because
ultimately in co-operative retail – whether you’re
doing a paper round, are in customer service,
managing a store or being a director – your aim
is making sure customers have an enjoyable
experience in your co-op and want to come
back. That’s what I came into the job for, to
serve customers.
WHAT DO YOU THINK 2020 HOLDS FOR
CO-OPERATIVE RETAILERS?
There has been a lot of benefit from Co-operatives
UK’s work to look at legislation regarding the
co-op retail sector – and the fact that we’re now
identified as co-ops, not just like any other retailer.
I think that’s the first step in what could be a really
successful period for co-operative retail.
In terms of the retail market, there has obviously
been a big push on fresh sales, free-from and vegan
products. The quality in these areas has really
improved. It also appeals to people that we have
a lot of local, quality free-from options. There’s
also a sense of local premium choice too – both
our Framingham and Woodbridge stores sell fresh
oysters that are supplied from less than 10 miles
away. It’s something different and interesting to
offer our customers. The FRTS chilled range has
improved greatly over the last few years, and the
Co-op Irresistible range is one of the premium high
quality ranges on the high street that people trust.
The new vegan Gro range is very popular with
customers too, offering a good point of difference.
Of course Brexit is always an uncertainty, but
what better answer than co-operation? If we all
work together, we’re going to be a lot stronger.
WHERE IS EAST OF ENGLAND CO-OP GOING TO
BE IN 5-10 YEARS’ TIME?
We are a healthy growing business. A few of our
recent successes have been our security business
– and our flagship food store model. These stores
have increased in-store decoration, and a greater
choice of products across our ranges, in turn
helping us to diversify our target market, making
us more available to more customers. We wouldn’t
have been selling oysters five years ago – but now
people are engaging with our premium products,
while still coming to us for the basic milk, bread
and eggs weekly shop offering.
Hopefully that trend will continue. With the
flagship stores, we have found a model that works
for us, but we need to be continuously mindful
of how the retail grocery market is changing;
for example, shoppers do tend to revert to local
products and embrace home-grown and locally
produced goods in uncertain times.
At East of England we are also seeing the age of
members falling. There are more younger people
coming into our stores, attracted by our increased
fresh, vegan and free-from ranges. We have been
targeting younger shopper demographics, and are
starting to see the benefits of that.
Chris will be speaking at the Co-operative Retail
Conference (Cheshire, 28 Feb – 1 Mar) on the
future of membership. What are the biggest
membership challenges for retail consumer
co-ops? Are conventional membership offers
the answer or should retailers be diversifying
what they are doing to change the way members
perceive their co-op? For more info, visit
uk.coop/co-operative-retail-conference.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 23

YOUR VIEWS
CO-OP POLITICS
I see the Co-op Party lost six seats in
the general election and I note from
your annual review that four Co-op Party
MPs left the Labour Party and joined the
Independent Group. Is it not time to realise
that the interests of the co-operative
movement would be best served by a less
sectarian approach?
The odds are that we will have a
Conservative government throughout
the 2020s. With Labour in a state of total
collapse in Scotland the chances of a
majority Labour government are, to put it
charitably, rather slim.
I believe that the interests of the
movement would be best served by
reaching out to politicians in all parties
who are believers in co-operative
principles. There are certainly a few in the
Conservative Party, including my good
friend Lord Horam who I first knew as a
Labour Co-op MP in the 1970’s. I have also
discussed co-operation with SNP and Lib
Dem MPs.
So let co-ops end sectarianism and
spend their members’ money supporting
all parties and their representatives who
advance co-op principles.
Lord Richard Balfe
A Co-op member for over 50 years
Have your say
Add your comments to our stories
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Letters may be edited and no longer
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Manchester M60 0AS
letters@thenews.coop
@coopnews
Co-operative News
CO-OPERATIVE COLLEGE’S MOVE TO
STANFORD HALL
Can I comment on two possible
misconceptions in the recent Co-op News,
both related to the Co-operative College’s
move to Stanford Hall, Loughborough.
One said the move was due to bomb
damage on Holyoake House. This was
undoubtedly a factor but I believe
there were others. The College was
residential with students attending
classes at Holyoake House but sharing
accommodation in two college hostels
some distance away. (Details in My Life
by Basil Loveridge, a student at the
College 1941/2). It became an aim to
integrate teaching and living facilities in
one location. Another was to celebrate
peace in 1945 and commemorate past
students who had fallen in the war.
A name mentioned as a strong
proponent of the move to Stanford Hall
was Arthur Hemstock. I never met him but
he was a figure still revered when I joined
the co-op.
The other misconception was the date
of the move to Stanford Hall. It occurred in
1946, not 1948 which is stated elsewhere
in the latest edition of Co-op News. This
was the year that Robert Marshall became
an outstanding principal of the college
and the head of the Co-operative Union’s
Department of Education.
A residential college soon produced
benefits including courses for overseas
students funded by the Colonial Office and
the British Council. Given its track record
in overseas co-operative development
these should have been mounted by
the Plunkett Foundation but it lacked
residential facilities so they came to the
Co-operative College at Stanford Hall.
A notable benefit of a move with a lot
of thinking behind it.
Rita Rhodes
Via Facebook
RE: CO-OP GROUP SWITCH TO 100%
OWN-BRAND RECYCLABLE PACKAGING
Suma actually did this quite a few years
ago, working with packagers to produce
a printable PET film. PET is closed cycle
reusable. I don’t know if any Suma
products still use it, though, because
local authorities wouldn’t co-operate in
collecting PET film like they do PET bottles.
Let’s hope the Co-op changes the scene.
But let’s acknowledge the pioneering role
of Suma in showing it was possible.
Bob Cannell
Via Facebook
24 | FEBRUARY 2020

ERSKINE HOLMES
Born into co-operation
Erskine Holmes is a stalwart of the co-operative
movement in Northern Ireland and beyond. He
was instrumental in growing the region’s housing
co-op sector, has sat on the Co-op Group’s National
Member’s Council and has chaired Co-op Press –
and he is still passionate about developing co-ops
and social enterprises today. As he turns 80, we
speak with him about education, politics and the
state of co-ops in 2020 – and what lessons he has
learned in over six decades as a co-operator.
“Apparently I was conceived in a co-operative bed.
I was born into that bed, and when I got married,
my mother gave me the bed to take with me.”
In his broad Belfast accent, Erskine Holmes has
plenty of stories to tell from his time living, working,
building and promoting co-operation in Northern
Ireland. He was born on 4 February 1940, to a
family of active co-op shoppers. “My mother would
never have allowed you to shop without giving you
the old co-op number and getting the dividend,” he
says. “At that time the Belfast Co-operative society
(BCS) was a very big general business. Just about
everything you could get in Northern Ireland, you
could get co-op – co-op coal, co-op milk, co-op
furniture, co-op groceries, co-op funerals … It’s a
sad state of affairs now that since the Group sold
their (NI) funeral business, you can't even be
buried co-op in Northern Ireland.”
The BCS was formed in 1888 by 200 people, and
by 1969 had over 192,000 members, the country’s
largest single dairy, and was one of the largest coal
distributors. In 1972 an IRA bomb started a fire
that destroyed its headquarters in the converted
Gallaher’s tobacco factory on York Street.
In November the following year, the foundations of
a new store were laid – but in January 1977, a week
before its official opening, three bombs went off in
the new building and in 1983 it was taken over by
the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS).
One of BCS’s former employees was Lord William
‘Billy’ Blease (1914-2008), who became the first
Northern Ireland officer of the Irish Congress
of Trade Unions. “He was once asked what he
considered to be his best qualification for the
House of Lords,” says Erskine. “He said: ‘Ten years
working behind a co-op bacon slicer’. He was
saying that working in a co-op shop in a working
class area of Belfast was probably the best training
he ever had.”
Erskine has been a school teacher, a lecturer
and a politician, and is currently active in a project
– the Lagan Navigation Trust – that is trying to
reconnect the Irish waterway system from Belfast
to Limerick, which closed in the 1950s. “Belfast
City Council has begun a £4m scheme to reopen a
lock and put a new bridge in,” he says. “Lisburn &
Castlereagh City Council are doing a £4m scheme
in the borough of Lisburn. And there's another
scheme near to Lough Neagh – so we're beginning
to see progress on reuniting the waterway
system again.”
☞
By Rebecca Harvey
FEBRUARY 2020 | 45 25

HOUSING
But he is most proud of his work setting up 45
housing associations. He founded and served as
the first chief executive of the Northern Ireland
Federation of Housing Associations in the 1970s,
and in 1982 received an OBE for this work.
“All the associations that I established were
industrial and provident societies,” says Erskine,
“and I also promoted self-building co-operatives.
From a standing start in 1975, today the movement
has around 50,000 houses in co-operative, or
industrial provident society ownership, or shared
ownership.”
He thinks the key to their success was an
early recognition that they should use private
finance. “That gave us an advantage in Northern
Ireland because the Treasury was looking at the
housing expenditure and any money raised by the
housing associations towards the development
of housing was regarded as private funding –
and not counted for public funding purposes. At
the moment, there's a temporary derogation by
Treasury to the housing movement in Northern
Ireland, to allow them to still have private
status. But the National Audit Committee had
recommended that they be treated as public; if this
happens it could seriously damage housing finance
in Northern Ireland.”
He is still active in housing today, chairing the
development committee of the Grove Housing
Association passive housing scheme, which
is currently building 36 houses that will be
completely energy neutral. He is involved with
Ulster Garden Villages, an enterprise that funds
a variety of projects, including the refurbishment
of one of Belfast’s old housing estates, Merville
Garden Village. And he chairs Home Options,
which is trying to establish a not-for-profit, ethical
alternative to the vulture funds that have been
buying up the stress mortgages in Ireland. “Many
of the vulture funds themselves are American,”
he says “but there are pension funds in the United
States who would invest in Irish housing if they
could do so through an ethical bond”.
Another social enterprise he is active in is the
Ulster Community Investment Trust, a charity
which provides loans exclusively to other third
sector organisations such as community groups,
charities, sports clubs and social enterprises. Since
2001 it has committed more than £80m for 380
organisations in Northern Ireland and the Republic
of Ireland.
“The Ulster Community Investment Trust (UCIT)
in the north is developing a big head of steam,”
says Erskine. “I formed UCIT 19 years ago with
Father Myles Kavanagh of the Flax Trust in north
Belfast. He’s the actual originator of it.” For over
40 years the Flax Trust has been committed to the
reconciliation of a divided community through
economic and social inclusion, aiming to bring
peace to communities through one opportunity at
a time. “I do feel that Northern Ireland owes Father
Myles something special. He just never took no
for an answer. He raised an awful lot of money for
social enterprises.”
POLITICS
Erskine was a Belfast City Councillor from 1973-77
and also stood for Westminster elections. Today he
chairs the Labour Party in Northern Ireland (LPNI).
26 | FEBRUARY 2020

“We don’t have the right to stand in the election and
we can’t yet organise in constituencies, but we do
have 1,600 paying members and a large number
of young, new members attending the meetings,”
he says. In Northern Ireland, the Labour Party
supports the Social Democratic and Labour Party
(SDLP) which has informally taken the Labour
whip in the House of Commons. Another issue
is that, between the political levy paid by the
trade unions and the membership dues paid by
members, the Labour Party takes around £300,000
out of Northern Ireland, and they only give back
£3,000 to run the region with.
“I think we’re in a completely new era where the
centre is growing again in Northern Ireland, and
I think the whole question of proper organisation of
labour in Northern Ireland isn’t going to go away,”
he says. “I intend to make sure that it doesn’t
go away.”
Erskine ran the Northern Ireland in Europe
campaign 1975 with Douglas McIldoon, but thinks
that today the hard edge of debating Brexit is
over as far as Northern Ireland is concerned.
“We’re actually used to north-south co-operation
here – and Brexit might have an unexpected
positive effect going forward. It will force more
co-operation north-south.” Following the UK’s
general election in December and the restoration
“THERE IS FERTILE
GROUND HERE. GIVEN
THE STRENGTH OF
CO-OPERATION IN
NORTHERN IRELAND,
THERE'S SOMETHING
SOLID TO BUILD ON”
of the Northern Ireland Assembly (the devolved
government that collapsed in January 2017 due to
policy disagreements), Erskine believes there is
particularly “fertile ground here”.
“I think new ideas produced by the co-operative
movement will take hold if the effort is made,” he
says. “Given the strength of the co-operation in
Northern Ireland, through the credit unions and the
agricultural sector and the many social enterprises
that are organised as industrial and provident
societies, there’s something solid to build on.”
DEVELOPMENT
But despite all the good work on co-ops, he believes
there is a lack of development expertise in the
country. “We don’t have a full Northern Ireland
co-operative development agency (CDA), and
I don’t think that Co-operatives UK has ever fully
faced up to the challenge of providing Northern
Ireland the little bit of extra help that it would need
in view of the fact they don’t have a CDA.
“The Northern Ireland Co-op Forum (which
was set up with the aim to further develop the
co-operative model across the country) is still in
existence, and at the moment is actually involved
in setting up a community benefit society for a big
£4m project to develop Riddles Warehouse, a listed
building in the middle of Belfast which has got an
amazing cast iron structure inside.
“You can do things like this without actually
having a CDA, but the CDA would guarantee
continuity. If I was unable to continue with this kind
of work, who else would pick it up? In the Republic
you have the Irish Co-operative Organisation
Society (ICOS), based in Plunkett House in Dublin
– it has a development agency as part of its remit,
but it tends to work very closely with agricultural
communities rather than urban areas.”
He believes the future of agriculture is another
growing issue for the co-operative movement,
especially as there have been some cross-border
mergers of societies.
“Southern Ireland will be part of the European
agricultural funding arrangements, but Northern
Ireland will be out of that. There is no organisation
in Northern Ireland for agricultural co-operatives.
Maybe ICOS or Co-operatives UK need to look at,
for example, a part time person to represent the
interests of societies in the north.”
He sees the establishment of the new Assembly
in Northern Ireland as a time of great opportunity
for the sector, “especially as Treasury wants to see
Northern Ireland develop alternatives to the public
model. The mutual model ticks all the boxes”.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 27

Conference previews
for 2020
It’s shaping up to be a busy year for the UK
co-operative movement, with several conferences
already under preparation.
Co-operative Futures
On Friday-Saturday 7-8 February, Co-operative
Futures hosts 20/20 Vision, where co-operators
will be asked to look at the next two decades of
the co-op movement – with a special emphasis on
young co-operators.
The event poses a series of questions:
• What’s going to happen in the next 20 years?
• What’s going to happen to internationalism and
co-operation 20 years after Brexit?
• And more to the point, what do co-operators in
their 20s want to happen?
The event starts at 5pm on 7 February, with
a review of the last 20 years of the movement,
followed by dinner, drinks, birthday cake and quiz.
The following day will ask what the world will
look like in 2040, with experts discussing the
effects of climate change, IT developments, artificial
intelligence and how the demographics of society
will affect the future.
Next – with the event promising to put younger
members of the movement “in the driving seat”,
co-operators in their 20s will share their hopes and
aspirations for the next 20 years, with the rest of the
day dedicated to “working out what we can do to
bring about the future they want”.
The event, at the Beeches, Bournville, near
Birmingham, is open to supporters, members, board
members and executives of co-ops of any form. For
details of price and accommodation, and to book,
visit futures.coop/2020-vision.
with the British shopper as consumers become more
health and environmentally conscious.
Andrew Mac, from wholefoods co-op Suma,
will look at the how co-op retailers can adapt to
the growing demand for plant-based diets and
refill stations.
Michael Fletcher, commercial director at the
Co-op Group, will look at local and ethical sourcing
as a way of demonstrating the co-op difference, to
demonstrate how, as ethical retailers, they do more
for their communities.
There will also be sessions on the future of
membership as markets become more competitive
and the growth of digital alters the landscape, with
Chris Matthews from East of England Co-op and
Melody Aguero from Midcounties Co-op, and on
employee engagement and motivation.
Looking overseas, Nick Matthews from
Co-operatives UK and Peter Hunt from Mutuo will look
at the work of Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide
(CCW), which represents 28 national consumer
co-op networks around the world. CCW is undertaking
work to assess regulatory, legislative and policy
barriers for co-operatives.
For more details and booking for the event, held at
De Vere Cranage Estate in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire,
visit uk.coop/co-operative-retail-conference
Co-operative Futures
More info:
futures.coop
Dates:
7-8 February 2020
Left: Vanessa Henry speaking at Co-operative Retail Conference 2018
Below: Jo White of Co-operative Futures
Co-op Retail Conference
More info:
uk.coop/co-operativeretail-conference
Dates:
28-1 February/March 2020
Co-operative Retail Conference
From Friday 28 February to Sunday 1 March, the
Co-operative Retail Conference, organised by
Co-operatives UK, will look at how the sector can
move forward in a tough economic climate, with
a fast-changing retail landscape and continued
Brexit uncertainty.
Sessions include Rhian Thomas, from industry
analysts IGD, on how co-op retailers can keep pace
28 | FEBRUARY 2020

FEBRUARY 2020 | 29

Credit unions discuss ways
to keep up in a digital world
With new tech trends continuing to transform and
disrupt all sectors of the economy, delegates from the
credit union sector met to discuss the implications
of open banking, social networking and IT systems.
The conference, held in Manchester, was organised
by the Centre for Community Finance Europe, an
organisation which generates academic research to
help credit unions keep up with the latest changes –
following a model based on the Filene Research
Institute in the USA.
Rob McIntosh, communities lead at the Dozens
fintech, said that until the rise in the 1960s of chain
retailers and big brands which sell identical products
to a mass audience, the consumer experience had
been a personal one. This personal experience
is being revived in a digital landscape, making it
important for businesses to build communities for
their customers or members.
“A community is a group of people with a shared
identity or interest,” he said. “Credit unions have the
common bond but that’s not enough. You can be part
of a common bond by default.”
Credit unions require that members share
something in common, a ‘common bond’ that could
be anything from an employer to a location. This
effects who is eligible to join. But, says Mr McIntosh,
credit unions building a digital community must also
identify shared values and needs – and then give
that community something to do.
He gave the example of his time building
digital communities at the Wine Society co-op,
which enabled members to talk to each other.
Positive comments on wine serve as valuable
recommendations; negative comments are useful
feedback for buyers and growers.
“People don’t just want to talk about your product,”
he added. “They want to talk about what their issues
and needs are – the conversation is about them.”
For credit unions this means issues such as
financial wellness. Positive comments can be used
for testimonials on literature – and even negative
comments can help a credit union identify and act
on a problem. “One online comment can save you
from a lot of phone calls,” said Mr McIntosh.
Marloes Nicholls, head of programmes at the
Finance Innovation Lab, gave a presentation on
the implications of open banking – which gives
third-party financial service providers open access to
bank data to drive competition. This means the nine
largest UK banks and building societies must share
data with FCA-regulated third parties.
It is hoped this will benefit consumers by £125bn
a year, by enabling them to switch accounts more
frequently and access new financial products.
“It’s a huge experiment,” she said. “We have
never before seen technology used on this scale to
rebalance power in the market.”
Open banking could help credit unions, she
said, by making it easier to check affordability and
credit risk among customers, by improving their
understanding of members’ financial health and
enabling more proactive support for those with
problems, by reducing the time and cost of lending,
and enabling the tailoring of financial products.
There are also risks, she warned: data is still
open to misinterpretation; there is a danger of
financial exclusion for people without access to
online banking; and organisations are liable for data
breaches by third parties.
Ms Nicholls also highlighted the need for full
review of the impact of open data on decision
making. And there are people issues – such as the
“A community is a group of people
with a shared identity or interest.
Credit unions have the common
bond but that’s not enough. You
can be part of a common bond
by default”
effect of automated decision making previously
taken by skilled staff; the ability of members to
understand new apps; and the question of public
distrust when it comes to use of financial data.
“But we are seeing credit unions use open banking
with some success,” she said. “Open banking
is changing the financial landscape – it’s here.”
CFCFE Conference
More info:
cfcfe.eu
Dates:
17 January 2020
30 | FEBRUARY 2020

Top: Marloes Nicholls,
head of programmes
at the Finance
Innovation Lab
Middle: Rob McIntosh,
community lead Dozens
Right: Todd Proulx,
owner of Minneapolis
-based f64
In the next presenttion, Todd Proulx, owner of
Minneapolis-based f64 business services, which
provides advice on core IT systems to credit unions
and other IT providers, said more than 600 credit
unions in the US have switched core IT provider in
the past five years.
It is important to do this “as soon as the pain of
staying with an outdated system is greater than the
pain of making the switch,” he said, warning that
problems could mount if an old core system is no
longer capable of adding new features and relies on
patches; if it doesn’t allow a credit union to keep its
systems open and connected; or if its support team
does not respond to requests for help.
But switching core providers is not an answer to all
problems, said Mr Proulx; people and processes are
more significant factors, and it is important to bear
in mind the effect a change of core will have on staff.
If it leads to some processes becoming automated,
this can leave employees displaced – but can also
free them up to spend more time on members with
financial problems who need assistance.
Making the switch is also a difficult process.
Likening this to “rebuilding an aeroplane in the
sky”, Mr Proulx warned credit unions to “expect
the unexpected” and make preparations – for instance
by having extra staff on at the time of transition to
help members having difficulty accessing services.
But having the right core system is crucial, he
said, for credit unions to maintain seamless services
across all delivery channels, from mobile to branch,
and centre their operations on the needs of members
rather than separating them into different silos.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 31

Greater Manchester
Co-operative Commission
A new report is calling for further support for
co-operatives in Greater Manchester to ensure the
city region stays at the forefront of co-operative
development and bring even greater economic
benefits to the local community.
Measures suggested in the report, A Co-operative
Greater Manchester, include calls to support workers
in precarious employment, and bodies to drive
community led housing and transport solutions.
The report is the work of the Co-operative
Commission, announced in the summer of 2018, by
Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, and
tasked with developing a policy for co-ops in the
city region.
James Wright, policy officer at apex body
Co-operatives UK, called it a “golden opportunity
to make devolution work for co-ops in one of the
UK’s most high-profile cities”. The commission
called on co-ops across the country to respond, to
inform a series of learnings that could be shared and
replicated across the country.
The independent commission was formally
established in February 2019 and was tasked with
making evidence-based policy proposals for how
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)
could support co-op development in three specific
sectors: housing, the digital economy and transport.
These were chosen because of their fit with the
Greater Manchester Strategy and were accompanied
by the a fourth cross-cutting focus, on what GMCA
could do to enhance support for co-operative
business development in Greater Manchester.
There were nine commissioners chosen to
oversee the work, who met throughout 2019: David
Batten (chief executive, Hoot Credit Union); Mike
Blackburn OBE (chair, Greater Manchester Local
Enterprise Partnership); Kellie Bubble (director,
Unicorn Grocery); Shaun Fensom (Tameside Digital
Infrastructure Cooperative); Paul Gerrard (campaigns
and public affairs director, Co-operative Group);
Cliff Mills (consultant, Anthony Collins Solicitor);
Simon Parkinson (then chief executive and principal,
Co-operative College); Jo Platt (Labour & Co-operative
Party MP for Leigh, until Dec 2019) and James Wright.
The Commission was chaired by Cllr Allen Brett,
with Cllr Angeliki Stogia as vice-chair.
Over 160,000 people in Greater Manchester are
already members of a co-operative, and collectively
these co-operatives contribute £73 million to the
local economy. “As the home of the co-operative
movement, it’s vital we harness those values and
put them at the centre of everything we do, working
with co-operatives and social enterprises to build a
stronger, fairer Greater Manchester where nobody is
left behind,” said Mr Burnham.
“Through the work of the Commission, we have
an opportunity to do things differently and explore
new and innovative ways to nurture, grow and work
more closely with the co-operative sector so it plays
a central role in making Greater Manchester one of
the best places in the world to grow up, get on and
grow old.”
Now, as the movement marks the 175th anniversary
of the Rochdale Pioneers setting up shop, the
Commission’s report has been published, and was
officially launched on Monday 27 January.
The report has set out a number of
recommendations to support the development of the
co-operative sector in Greater Manchester and make
the most of the social, environmental and economic
benefits co-operatives bring.
The Commission has recommended Greater
Manchester is designated as a Co-operative Zone
with a dedicated resource to offer business advice
and support for both existing co-operatives
and those who wish to start or convert to a
co-operative approach.
Other recommendations include:
• Partners from across all sectors in Greater
Manchester should come together to enable
an increase in community-led, place-based
approaches to co-operation, community
ownership and economic development
• Greater Manchester should lead on developing
a city-region version of pioneering work in
Europe, drawing together ‘freelancers’ and
people in precarious employment into a
powerful and functional economic unit
• Greater Manchester should set up a Greater
Manchester Community Housing Hub to address
By Miles Hadfield
32 | FEBRUARY 2020

a gap in the housing market and enable the
establishment of co-operative and communityled
housing projects
• Greater Manchester should carry out a placebased
pilot programme for the development of
community-owned ‘total transport’ business
models / community transport to link up with
shared modes and mainstream network as part
of the ongoing work around bus reform.
Mr Burnham said: “The building blocks of
co-operation in Greater Manchester are already
strong and more than 160,000 people in the city
region are already members of a co-operative,
with co-operatives contributing £73m to the
city-region’s economy.
“The commission has been crucial in drawing
on the work that needs to be done to continue and
further the success of co-operatives in Greater
Manchester. I would like to thank them for all of
their efforts in preparing this important report,
and hope these recommendations can steer the
co-operative community to bring even more benefits
to our economy.”
Chair of the Greater Manchester Co-operative
Commission and leader of Rochdale Council, Cllr
Allen Brett, said: “Our vision for Greater Manchester
is one where people collaborate, communities are
empowered and co-operatives grow and thrive.
“The pioneers set up their first co-operative shop
in Rochdale and we believe that Greater Manchester
should continue to lead the way in co-operative
innovation, applying the principles and values to
create an economy based in maximising impact and
productivity for all.
“That is what this report is all about, using
this innovation and harnessing the power of
co-operatives for the good of everyone in Greater
Manchester. I hope that the co-operative community
will use it to help build on all of the success they
have already had as we look to build co-operation for
a new decade.”
FEBRUARY 2020 | 33

Co-operatives
UK joins campaign
to fight inequality
When world leaders and global businesses met in
Davos for the World Economic Forum, an alternative
campaign was highlighting pathways towards
a more equal society.
Co-operatives UK, the apex organisation for
co-operatives across the United Kingdom, has
joined the Fight Inequality Alliance’s annual global
campaign, held on 18-25 January.
By joining the campaign, Co-operatives UK
hopes to showcase the ordinary people who
are coming together to create solutions in their
local communities.
Secretary general Ed Mayo said: “We’re working
with organisations in six local communities to
tackle inequality with home-grown solutions
to local problems, through the Empowering Places
programme. This provides support for organisations
and people to generate and retain wealth locally,
and create greater access to health, work, social
and cultural opportunities.”
Abram Ward Community Co-operative in Wigan
is one of the six organisations taking part. Over
the past three years the co-op has been running
the project Made in Wigan, which provides
seed funding, training and support so Abram
residents can successfully manage and grow their
own enterprises.
It has also set up Men’s and Women’s Sheds,
where groups of local residents learn about
woodworking, gardening and other projects that
interest them. And through two community cafes
they engage with pupils at local schools using
the cafes’ gardens to grow produce and educate
youngsters about food production.
“It’s all about creating a bottom-up approach
to reducing inequality via community enterprise.
Instead of outside organisations parachuting in
and taking the money – local people are coming up
with solutions, taking action and generating wealth
that stays in the area,” said David Baxter, principal
officer of Made in Wigan.
Similarly, in Grimsby, Empowering Places
Programme is backing a charity called Centre 4,
which is working to boost local social and economic
regeneration. Centre 4 is based in Nunsthorpe, a
suburb and housing estate among the top 3% for
multiple deprivation, where just 49% of its 16-74
year olds are employed.
The charity runs an innovative ethical employment
agency, called ERA that helps local people to gain
skills and find jobs.
“There’s been a lot of research into the barriers
to employment in our area. We’ve consulted with
the community and created a model of ethical
recruitment,” said programme officer Rachel
Button. “When someone comes to us, we have a
conversation about their skills and the support,
training, education or work experience they may
need. We can signpost people to training with
other organisations.”
Locals are given help securing permanent jobs
instead of temporary ones and are provided with
two weeks training before going on a two week work
trial to see if the job is a fit for them.
In addition to the agency, Centre 4 is collaborating
with local allotments to build a team of volunteers
who regularly work there and has set up a digital
buddies scheme, training people to help others to
fill out forms and complete daily tasks online. The
charity is also running a points exchange scheme
for volunteering. Points are amassed and turned
into vouchers to use in the local area.
In Braunstone, Leicester, where some districts
fall within the bottom 1% of the 2019 indices
of deprivation, a charity called B-inspired is
working to tackle inequalities. It also runs a
trading company that reinvests money into the
community to counter the entrenched socio-
By Anca Voinea
34 | FEBRUARY 2020

economic issues that local people face. It provides
low-cost and no-cost sports activities and sports
leadership training; neighbourhood support via
a food bank; befriending schemes and social
groups; an open door advice centre and foodgrowing
schemes.
B-Inspired also supports local community
businesses. For instance, it helped to set up a
community owned football club and developed
a former youth centre into a vital community hub.
Another programme participant, the Real
Ideas Organisation, is promoting a commercially
driven regeneration approach in Devonport and
Stonehouse, Plymouth, and Liskeard, southeast
Cornwall. In collaboration with Plymouth
City Council, Real Ideas is setting up community
businesses in parks across the city. It has helped
to set up or support local businesses like honey
producer Pollenize CIC; Snapdragons, which is
developing a community creative kindergarten
play area in one of the parks, and the Soap Box
Theatre, which turned a disused mustard gas
decontamination centre from WWII into a children’s
theatre space. Following the same principle,
Real Ideas is working with partners on another
innovative project – to turn a derelict market hall in
Devonport into an immersive, 360° dome.
“There is no other attraction of its kind in the
country,” said Ed Whitelaw, head of enterprise
and regeneration for Real Ideas. “So we have big
ambitions for Devonport by putting a UK first in one
of the more deprived areas in England. We’re turning
a derelict market hall into something innovative,
exciting and with great potential to be a catalyst
for real strategic change. Locally, it has huge public
support. It’s bringing belief, opportunities and jobs
to an area that has been overlooked.”
Likewise, in Manningham, Bradford, which is in
the bottom 10% of deprived UK neighbourhoods,
the Carlisle Business Centre works to tackle
social inequality.
One of its projects, Made in Manningham, offers
enterprise coaching and support to local people
to start and grow community businesses. The
initiative is funded by charitable trust Power to
Change and helps economically inactive women
to gain an income independently from their
partners or families.
“There’s a correlation between health and work,”
community business manager Katherine Wyatt
told Co-operatives UK. “Communities with more
employment tend to enjoy better health. There’s
poor health in this area. And for the women without
work, there can be knock-on effects for the whole
family. It doesn’t just affect the individual.”
Made in Manningham is redressing these issues
by empowering local women to work together to
create businesses. “We’ve discovered that many
women have expertise in Bangladeshi, Pakistani
and Afro Caribbean cuisines – and that they want
to create that food with other women and sell it,”
says Ms Wyatt.
Co-operatives UK’s Empowering Places
programme is funded by Power to Change and
delivered in partnership with the Centre for Local
Economic Strategies and the New Economics
Foundation. This programme aims to demonstrate
the role that concentrated clusters of community
businesses can play in creating better places and
reducing inequality in local areas.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 35

form a beauty co-operative in NYC
A group of trans Latina cosmetologists are forming
a beauty co-op in Queens, New York City, to
provide a safe working environment for themselves
and others facing discrimination due to their
gender identity.
The project started in 2014 when Lesly Herrera
Castillo and other transgender cosmetologists
decided they wanted to set up their own business
after years being bullied at work.
“I have been discriminated and harassed at work
because of my gender identity. I am one of many
other transgender, immigrant women of colour
who need a solution,” said Lesly, who left her
native Mexico in 1999. She started setting up the
co-op when was diagnosed with cancer and was
unable to time off work for her treatment.
Securing funds to get the project off the ground
was a huge hurdle and some of the original team
abandoned the project, but Lesly was determined to
continue, and found new allies in Jocelyn Mendoza
and Jonahi Rosa.
They chose the co-op model thinking it would
best suit their needs. Having worked in the
industry for many years, they had all experienced
discrimination from former employers and
colleagues. This meant bullying on a daily basis,
sometimes coupled with physical aggression,
which affected their mental health and made it
impossible to stay in their jobs.
“Mirror Beauty Co-op is a worker co-op which
aims to create a safe space to provide opportunities
for the transgender community to be worker owners
of their own business,” say the three women.
“We provide affordable, high-quality beauty
services for all communities across the city of New
York. As an enterprise set up by women from the
transgender community, Mirror aims to reflect
a vision of a world that is more equitable and
inclusive, in which all people have the freedom to
fully express all that which makes them beautiful
inside and out.
“We want a safe place to work happily and be
able to help our families out, make our contribution
to society and be economically sustainable.”
Setting up a co-operative was not without
challenges, and none of the trio had any previous
involvement with the co-op sector.
“We had to learn about new technologies,
marketing, PR, how to develop a business plan
to secure loans and the rules we needed to follow
to ensure all members worked in harmony. We
launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funding
and attract other transgender women who may
want to join us,” they say.
They have received support from local
co-operative development professional Daniel
Puerto and Saduf Syal, coordinating director
at the New York City Network of Worker
Co-operatives. Green Worker Academy gave
them five months worth of training while the
US Federation of Worker Co-operatives helped
them get better acquainted with the specificities
of co-operative model.
For now, the three members are working
collectively in homes or at events. They are
seeking a loan to set up their own salon, and
are taking on two new members through the
recruitment process. They hope to grow the venture
to a maximum of 10 members.
If they raise the US$150,000 needed, they plan
to secure a physical location – ideally, an existing
hair salon – for rent in Jackson Heights, a busy
neighbourhood of Queens known for its ethnic
diversity and large LGBTQ community. The funding
By Anca Voinea
We want a safe
place to work
happily and
be able to help
our families
out, make our
contribution to
society and be
economically
sustainable
36 | FEBRUARY 2020

would also be used for renovations, the purchase
of quality beauty equipment and supplies, and
ensuring the site meets their needs. The co-op also
plans to develop a website and create a mobile app
to help grow the business.
Ana Martina, membership director at the
US Federation of Worker Co-operatives, says
immigrants face a lot of challenges when trying
to start a business. For immigrant transgender
communities the challenges are even greater.
Last year, the federation organised a training
day for co-ops set up by immigrant communities,
exploring some of the best practices around
co-operative entrepreneurship, with the founders
of Mirror in attendance.
In 2015 the Worker Cooperative Business
Development Initiative was launched, a local
council programme which provides funding to
co-operative incubators to help New Yorkers set
up co-ops.
As a result, over the last couple of years the
city has witnessed an increase in the number of
new worker co-ops, particularly in sectors like
domestic work or childcare. However, some clients
are reluctant to hire transgender persons for
these roles.
According to the 2016 US National Transgender
Discrimination Survey, 26% of trans people lost
a job due to bias, 50% were harassed in their jobs,
and 20% were evicted or denied housing.
Obtaining licences and work permits can also
be difficult. Many transgender women lack formal
training and education, having dropped out
of school early on because of bullying.
By setting up a co-op as a limited liability
company, immigrants get to be owners of their
own business, which means they do not need
work permits.
Current legislation prevents denying someone
employment based on their sex, which has
been interpreted by the US Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission as including gender
identity and sexual orientation.
“We are realistic, we know that when these laws
are made, sometimes rights they simply exist on
paper and are not being respected,” say the Mirror
team. “Fortunately, we live in the state of New York,
a sanctuary city that respects the rights of every
person, whether undocumented or legal citizen.
“There are many organisations that work to
help those who need it, if a woman will need to be
defended for any injustice, she will surely receive
free legal help from these organisations … that’s
what they are for.”
The three women add they cannot do it alone
and are asking the wider co-operative movement
to support the initiative and help them open New
York’s first trans beauty co-op.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 37

Co-op retailers are operating in a fast-changing and
competitive environment, with constant shifts in
consumer demand creating pressure to keep pace.
These pressures come from all directions;
consumers are demanding more choice and
convenience but at the same time are more ethically
aware in their shopping decisions. And there is
increased competition in the retail market, with
low cost disruptors and a volatile economy putting
pressure on the bottom line. Meanwhile, the leading
supermarket chains are taking a leaf from the
co-op sector’s book with their charity fundraising
and community support programmes. Asda, for
instance, now runs a network of more than 350
community champions who work with local groups
and charities.
This makes it important for co-op retailers to
work harder to assert their difference. High-profile
examples include the Co-op Group’s network of
member pioneers, its modern slavery campaign,
its commitments on single use plastic and work
developing compostable carrier bags. And there are
continued efforts across the retail sector to build
the latest energy-efficient technology into stores.
The co-op movement also made a strong
commitment to the Fairtrade movement after
Sainsbury’s broke away with its own certification.
These efforts continue: as Co-op News went to
press, the Group’s policy director Paul Gerrard, one
of the key players in its modern slavery campaign,
was attending a roundtable session in Brussels,
organised by EuroCoop, the European federation
of consumer co-ops, to discuss ways to build ethics
into supply chains.
Where the Group has drawn flak, it has responded
with campaigning work – for instance, after staff
protested that one-on-one shifts in its stores posed
a security risk, it launched its Safer Colleagues,
Safer Communities campaign. Similar initiatives on
crime and anti-social behaviour have been carried
out elsewhere in the retail co-op movement.
The demands of a fast-moving retail market has
pushed co-ops to form partnerships with other
businesses. The most recent to be announced by
the Co-op Group is a deal with sushi brand YO! to
supply its customers with Japanese food on the go.
The deal runs at the Group’s new store in
Moorgate, London, and meets the growing demand
for fresh fare. It will see the store stock more than
10 YO! products including vegan sushi, chicken
katsu bites and crispy salmon rolls. The store is the
third in the Group’s “on the go” format, following
launches at Manchester Piccadilly and London’s
America Square. It features the retailer’s newest
ethical innovations, including a free water refill
station and Gro vegan range.
But another growing area of consumer demand –
home shopping – has seen the Group form a
partnership with gig economy platform Deliveroo
on a grocery delivery scheme.
The advantages of partnering with Deliveroo,
which has gone through the costly business of
developing a workable app and has a ready-made
national network, is clear – but it is also one of a
number of platform operators to be criticised for
their employment practices. This has spurred the
rise of the platform co-op movement, extensively
covered by this magazine, which creates workerowned
alternatives. This includes CoopCycle,
a European federation of bicycle delivery
co-ops, some of which were formed by disgruntled
Deliveroo riders.
Dom Sztyber, a spokesman for the Independent
Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), who has
worked as a Deliveroo rider, said: “There are huge
problems with Deliveroo and plenty of news articles
highlighting their appalling treatment of riders.
We’re very disappointed the Co-op has chosen to
BY MILES HADFIELD
"WORKING WITH COMPANIES LIKE DELIVEROO,
THAT EXPLOIT FREELANCE WORKERS BY
DENYING THEIR EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS,
IS THE ANTITHESIS OF PRINCIPLE 6"
38 | FEBRUARY 2020

A DELIVEROO RIDER
partner with them as it seems to be in direct conflict
with their values.”
He says IWGB has been challenging Deliveroo
over the employment status of its riders; he says
they are currently classed as self-employed. IWGB
wants riders to be classed as self-employed,
dependent contractors who are entitled to holiday
pay, the minimum wage and pension contributions.
Changes to Deliveroo’s terms have led to pay cuts,
adds Mr Sztyber. “When including costs like vehicle
maintenance, insurance, tax and holiday pay, a lot
of riders won’t be making minimum wage.”
He also repeats allegations which have been
made by riders in the platform co-op movement that
Deliveroo’s algorithms, determining delivery times
and costs, are “opaque”, and that the company has
penalised riders who complain.
Oliver Sylvester-Bradley from Open Co-op, which
is working to develop a collaborative economy
in the UK and has taken part in platform co-op
initiatives, adds: “Co-ops have a duty, under
Principle 6, to support other co-ops – we strengthen
the movement by working together.
“Working with companies like Deliveroo,
that exploit freelance workers by denying their
employment rights, is the antithesis of Principle 6.
“Its primary objectives are profits, completely
at odds with the co-op ethos. Co-ops should avoid
getting into bed with any business that undermines
the rights of its workers and should seek to support
co-op alternatives instead, and establish these
where they do not exist.
“In Barcelona, Madrid, Bordeaux and Berlin,
riders have started delivery co-ops after negative
experiences of working for Deliveroo, but it is not
easy work. The Co-op Group, with its significant
resources, is in a unique position to help kick-start
a delivery co-op here in the UK.”
Chris Conway, head of digital and e-commerce,
at the Group’s Food division, responded: “The
way we do business matters and our commitment
to co-operative values can be seen in the ongoing
work we do to protect endangered spaces, provide
outstanding educational opportunities for young
people and promote safer communities.
“It is vital to our continuing success that we look
at ways to evolve our offering and that our ranges
reflect the ever-changing needs of our customers
and members.
“We have recently launched our first-ever plantbased
range, Gro, and are rapidly expanding the
Co-op’s e-commerce proposition so that we can
stay ahead in a very competitive retail landscape.”
He adds that the Group often works with trusted
external partners who have the expertise and scale
to help it achieve its goals.
“In turn, this can drive greater sales, create
jobs and help us to deliver our social goals and
community-led programmes.”
The Group says it prides itself on treating its
colleagues fairly and expects the same of its
suppliers and partners.
“Deliveroo is committed to working with us as
a preferred partner and we aim to support them
and share our knowledge of how we treat our
colleagues, and they have also agreed to support
our 1% community fund,” it says.
“Deliveroo has confirmed that all its 15,000
self-employed workers in the UK earn on average
£12 an hour on its fee per delivery model, which is
above the National Living Wage.”
Deliveroo says is “proud to offer flexible work to
more than 30,000 self-employed riders”, adding:
“Riders who choose to work with Deliveroo tell
us that they want the freedom to decide when, u
FEBRUARY 2020 | 39

u where and how often they work with us, balanced
with security,” it says, adding that it provides free
insurance for riders. “Our riders have a strong voice
within the company and our flexible model is based
on their direct feedback.”
But the co-op retail sector also faces challenges
from other directions. When the vegetarian, vegan,
organic and wholefood movements were in their
infancy, co-ops were leading the way, with notable
success stories such as Yorkshire-based Suma
Wholefoods and Manchester’s Unicorn Grocery.
But, just as corporate supermarkets have tried to
steal some of the co-op sector’s ethical clothes, the
growing popularity of plant-based diets, bolstered
by concerns over the global environmental crisis,
means they are now growing their presence in a
market previously led by niche independents.
Kellie Bubble, from Unicorn, says: “It is wonderful
that social and environmental considerations are
influencing customer behaviour.
“The fact that people and planet matter more
than profit should be headline news. We can
hardly complain that values we hold dear are
now mainstream but competition will be more
challenging and co-ops need to communicate what
they give to communities unlike the corporate
competition which largely takes.
“Money from worker co-ops stays in the local
economy, there are no offshore accounts or
distant shareholders. We contribute to the local
economic ecosystem in a very positive way. Maybe
this is a new message we should focus on – with
communications around the local economic
contribution of co-ops and paying a Fair Tax to
contribute back into the wider economy.”
At Suma, Giles Simon says: “The last few years
have been pretty transformational, with a huge
increase in the number of people changing their
buying habits for ethical reasons. As a vegetarian
business founded on principles of sustainability
and co-operation, that’s a fantastic thing, and the
more it becomes mainstream the better.”
Mr Simon adds: “As retailers come to offer more
plant-based ranges, that’s a real boost too. The
Co-op’s new range of fresh vegan food, Gro, for
example, makes Co-op stores a destination for
people wanting meat free meals, so they can go instore
and get their Suma vegan range on one aisle
and their fresh produce on another.
“Because we’ve been supplying ethical products
for over 40 years, we know the market well, as
well as which new products are coming through.
And we’ve got a strong reputation, and that goes
a long way. We’re a worker co-op with equality
and integrity at our core, so we’ve got great
relationships with our customers, many of whom
are co-ops – food co-ops, wholefood shops and
cafes, and co-op retail stores too – and it’s being
"THE IDEA IS TO MOVE FROM CHARITY
TO SOLIDARITY, CREATING AN
INFRASTRUCTURE FOR PEOPLE
TO ORGANISE THEIR OWN FOOD.”
part of this wider family of organisations trying to
do good that makes the difference for us.”
Meanwhile, new areas of ethical business are
opening up for co-ops. Concerns over austerity and
food poverty have prompted a range of responses
from the co-op movement, including support from
the retail sector for food banks, commitments by
societies such as East of England to cut down on
food waste with new initiatives to see food after its
best before date, the growth of urban community
farms such as the Lambeth GP Food Co-op. And,
in an initiative supported by the Co-op Group, the
Rochdale Pioneers Musuem is running the Pioneers
Pantry, a pop in shop which sell affordable food and
other grocery essentials to people living in poverty.
Now, a new grassroots initiative, Cooperation
Town, is looking to establish a series of food co-ops
on housing estates and community centres across
Britain. The initiative was started by political
organisers and activists active in areas such as
trade unions, renters unions and women’s strikes.
One of the group, Shiri Shalmy, told Co-op News:
“We started organising in November; we knew that
we had to organise with people where they are,
in their communities – and we knew people are
struggling with food costs.”
Their idea was to create an alternative to food
ONE OF A NUMBER
OF SUMA PRODUCTS
BEING STOCKED AT
CO-OP GROUP STORES
40 | FEBRUARY 2020

MEMBERS OF
COOPERATION TOWN,
WHICH IS STARTING
A NETWORK OF FOOD
CO-OPERATIVES
ACROSS THE UK
banks, which “treat people as charity cases”;
the scheme will avoid barriers such as checks on
benefit status and is community-led, based on selforganisation,
education and solidarity using nonhierarchical
structures.
“These are co-op principles, they sit very neatly
with what we are doing,” says Shiri. “The idea
is to move from charity to solidarity, creating
an infrastructure for people to organise their
own food.”
She adds: “In practical terms, we can access
free food through the existing community
infrastructure, and it can be hyper local – based
on one estate, neighbourhood, at a single church
community infrastructure.”
This can be supplemented with other essentials
that can’t be sourced for free, such as nappies and
toilet paper, which the co-ops will buy jointly in
bulk to reduce price. “We will be organising with
our neighbours,” says Shiri. “That is the main
point. They will be members’ co-ops – not shops,
they’re not open to other people; to be in the group
you have to pay the subs and pay for the product,
and also to put in your time, helping with booking,
delivery, packing and unpacking.”
This sharing of work also applies to “collectivised
childcare so women are freed up do those jobs”.
This is practical and political, she adds: “I want to
see men holding the baby.”
The first co-op, in Kentish Town, north London,
is being joined by others around the country, in
places such as Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham,
Bristol, Hackney, Falmouth and Tower Hamlets.
“There’s so much interest,” says Shiri. “We want
to see it as a network of autonomous co-ops, each
adapted to its area but all support each other.”
She says Cooperation Town fits in with a
wider movement of community co-ops, such as
Kitty’s Laundrette in Liverpool. “It doesn’t matter if
the output is food or something else, like education
– people organise together, it’s not about asking
for permission.”
A full day workshop for participants looking to
start a Cooperation Town co-op takes place on 22
February, organised with Radical Routes. More
details on its @CooperationTown Facebook page
FEBRUARY 2020 | 41

Some of Europe’s largest retailers are funding tech
projects to address the needs of customers. From
joint ventures to discover and develop start-ups,
to digital business opportunities, here are some
examples from retailers in Sweden and Italy.
COOP SWEDEN
Retail innovation in Sweden does not begin and
end with do-it-yourself furniture. As technology
transforms the retail landscape, a Swedish co-op
retailer is looking for new ways to make the most of
the nation’s tech powerhouse status.
Dating back to 1918, Coop Sweden is today at the
forefront of food retail innovation. In recent years,
it has embarked on a digitisation mission with the
aim of using tech to benefit its 3.5 million members.
New initiatives include using software to create
better store offerings, based on local shopper
requirements, in order to reduce waste.
In September Coop Sweden launched a new
digital unit to develop the business opportunities
through digitisation. It is also launching an
innovation team.
Jessica Wolf, senior strategic business developer,
says the retailer is driven by the vision to be “the
force for good in the food sector”. This includes
ensuring data and tech are optimised for people
and the planet.
Coop Sweden realised early on that embarking
on a digitisation journey required working in
partnership with others, she adds. “We knew we
could not innovate enough for consumers and
our planet on our own. We needed to find a way of
working together with others.
“As the proverb says, if you want to go fast,
go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We
really need to go far in order to reshape the food
system in the extent we need to, in order to tackle
the significant challenges we are all up against
and contribute enough to save our planet. Hence
we need to go together, we need to co-operate.
That’s why we initiated the work to embrace more
co-creation and open innovation.”
As part of this approach, Coop Sweden launched
a tech innovation incubator, Bloomer, which targets
food tech entrepreneurs who have developed a
solution and want to test it on the market. Coop
Sweden provides them with the capital, mentorship
and platform to implement their innovation. They
will also be able to access anonymous data from
Coop Sweden members and customers.
The main partners on this project are Norrsken,
a foundation which supports and invests in
businesses that have a positive impact on society,
and Sweden Foodtech, a consultancy firm working
with foodtech start-ups.
“We do have a lot to offer in terms of our rich
knowledge and data, our 817 stores and online
channels – assets which could be very valuable
for start-ups and other large companies and for
innovating together with them,” says Ms Wolf. “I
am proud that we do not only have assets which
could help – we are helping others as well. That is
what the innovation platform we have initiated is
all about, and the Bloomer will be the first initiative
aimed to prove this”.
Coop Sweden’s innovation team will not be
driving the platform but will act as an enabler
connecting the different players involved.
The retailer has allocated SEK 10m (£808,153) for
the programme, which will select eight start-ups in
its first year. Bloomer is not the first project of this
kind in Sweden. In 2018 Ikea launched the start-up
programme IKEA Bootcamp, a similar drive to find
20 growth stage start-ups and work with them.
“IKEA is another inspiring actor embracing open
innovation for sustainability,” says Ms Wolf. The
BY ANCA VOINEA
"IF YOU WANT TO GO FAST, GO ALONE.
IF YOU WANT TO GO FAR, GO TOGETHER.
WE REALLY NEED TO GO FAR IN ORDER
TO RESHAPE THE FOOD SYSTEM"
42 | FEBRUARY 2020

furniture business focuses more on earlier stage
entrepreneurs who need help developing ideas,
whereas Bloomer is looking for those who have
already developed a solution, particularly start-ups
providing technology that addresses the need for
reducing waste and sustainable health.
Coop Sweden is keen to support other startups
addressing global sustainability issues such
as climate change, with solutions or servicesto
minimising waste, nudge consumers towards
more sustainable consumption, minimise carbon
emissions or enable better soil-to-table traceability.
Applications are open until 14 February. Coop
Sweden thinks the programme could not only help
tech companies make a difference but also inspire
colleagues and members.
COOP ITALIA
In Italy, retailer Coop Italia is partnering with tech
start-ups. The largest supermarket chain in the
country, Coop has been at the forefront of retail
innovation for many years – notably through
its “supermarket of the future” store at Bicocca
University campus, which offers an innovative
shopping experience with large interactive tables
and real-time data screens that provide product
information and personalise the customer visit.
Last year the retailer presented ShoppY, a virtual
shopping assistant, which uses machine-learning
algorithms to learn on its own, from shopping
receipts, to give customers a helpful service.
To use it, customers simply need to like the
Supermercato del Futuro Coop page and drop a
message. The chatbot recognises if it has already
had a conversation with the user.
Coop Italia is now exploring the use of blockchain
to enable customers to trace the supply chain
of products, starting with its eggs sold under its
private-label brand, Coop Vivi Verde.
The initiative is the result of a partnership with
IBM, which enables Coop Italia to implement
‘Hyperledger Fabric’ technology, a Linux
Foundation framework hosted on IBM Cloud.
By scanning the QR code on the packaging,
customers can find out more about the journey of
the product, from farm to store. They can scan this
in store or at home using www.coopchain.coop.it.
Consumers can identify not only the territory from
which the egg originates, but also the incubator
where the hen was born. They can find out that the
eggs were produced in full compliance with animal
welfare requirements, never closed in a cage, and
without the use of antibiotics.
The technology allows full transparency of the
various actors in the Coop brand egg production
chain, which involves a total of 2 million hens
producing more than 200 million eggs a year.
In July Coop Italia asked 1,000 customers who
had tested the feature what they thought it. All those
who used the QR Code expressed very high levels of
satisfaction and interest, both for the scanning test
done in the shop and at home. Around 83% of the
sample said they had been incentivised to buy the
product again.
“Applying blockchain to the egg supply chain
is a further step forward in a path of transparency
that distinguishes Coop brand products, and also
demonstrates best practices related to eggs,”
says Chiara Faenza, responsible for the values ​of
sustainability and innovation at Coop Italia. “For
the commitment shown on this supply chain, Coop
obtained in 2010 an international recognition from
Compassion in World Farming.”
Stefania Asti, consumer industry leader at IBM
Italy, adds: “The very nature of the blockchain, and
the intrinsic trust it offers, is an ideal platform from
which to build a network for food transparency.
“Built on open standards, it is also a platform
for innovation and collaboration, which brings
together different professionals with the common
goal of building consumer confidence.
“The egg chain developed with Coop Italia is a
great example of how blockchain can better inform
consumers about the food they choose, buy and
eat, and demonstrate transparency along the
whole chain.”
A CO-OP SWEDEN
STORE AND THE
CO-OP ITALIA
OWN BRAND EGGS,
UOVA VIVI VERDE
EGGS
FEBRUARY 2020 | 43

Five years ago, Midcounties Co-operative changed
some of the ways it supported its trading communities.
The biggest change? Moving from having one
large charity partner to supporting hundreds of
organisations, chosen by members, customers
and colleagues.
“In 2015 we set up a programme called Regional
Communities. Regional Communities helps us help
members on a local basis,” said Pete Westall, chief
values officer at Midcounties.
“It would be quite easy for an organisation of
our size to just support one national charity. We’ve
done that really successfully in the past with
charities such as Teenage Cancer Trust, Dogs for the
Disabled and Women’s Aid. We’ve raised fortunes
and have spent a lot of time and effort helping to
promote the message of those great organisations.
Nobody would knock us for doing that. But our
members and our colleagues said they wanted us
to do something different. They wanted us to make
a local difference in the communities where we
trade and where we live. So that’s why Regional
Communities was set up.”
Regional Communities is a focused, measured
approach to supporting communities in an
identified geographical location where the society
has a strong trading presence. Mr Westall was
speaking at Midcounties’ Regional Communities
celebration, held annually to acknowledge the
colleagues and charity partners involved in the
initiative. Following a day of practical workshops
on subjects such as media engagement and
fundraising, the evening gala dinner showcased
some of the work being done and saw awards
being presented to colleagues across the society’s
different trading areas.
“We’re a member-owned organisation. And
as a member-owned organisation, we live and
breathe what our members wanted us to do,” he
added. Over 11,000 of those members have told the
society which causes they want to support. Since
2015, Midcounties has raised over £430,000 for
charity partners in its six regional communities:
Oxford, Swindon, Shropshire, West Midlands, Wyre
Forest and Gloucestershire.
One of those charity partners is Aspire, which
helps over 2,000 people facing homelessness
and disadvantage across Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire to find employment and housing.
The support is focused around each individual’s
needs, and provides work experience, one-to-one
employment support, work placements, housing
and homelessness prevention support and links
to paid jobs – all of which is directly reducing
homelessness, reoffending and poverty.
Helen Mariner from Aspire explained how
Midcounties’ Oxford Regional Community
provided work experience placements and took
part in fundraising. “Colleagues have taken part
in sponsored challenges,” she said. “We have
benefited from the carrier bag funds and have
raised money in stores too, which helped raise
our brand. A Midcounties team also took part in
a sleep-out last July, which was a really powerful
way to give people even a very small insight to the
realities of sleeping rough.”
The partnership has raised over £10,000, which
for small to medium charity “makes huge impacts”.
“This has gone directly towards supporting more
people into employment supporting more people
into housing, really creating that sustainable
difference to people’s lives,” added Ms Mariner.
The event heard other powerful stories
too, from charity partners such as Riding for
the Disabled and Mase Groups (The Monthly
Alzheimer’s Support Evening Groups). The Mase
Groups offer carers friendship and helps them
BY REBECCA HARVEY
"I THINK THE WORLD AROUND US IS
CHANGING, AND IT'S CHANGING FAST.
IN SOME RESPECTS IT'S CHANGING FOR
THE BETTER. IN OTHER WAYS, IT'S NOT.”
44 | FEBRUARY 2020

to build up networks of support to help them on
their journey with dementia, and are run totally
by volunteers.
The different Regional Communities also work
with several schools, including Codsall Community
High School in South Staffordshire. Megan Stoves
and Kelly Ornsby are the school’s ambassadors of
community and are part of Midcounties’ Young
Co-operators Network, an interactive group of
young members coming together digitally and in
person to answer questions about the society which
would benefit from a young person’s opinion.
“We deal with bridging the gap between the
school and the community, attending the co-op’s
meetings, talking about charity events that we
can do to raise money for the community,” says
Ms Stoves.
Ms Ornsby adds: “Midcounties then supports
us at events such as the tea parties we hold every
Christmas, Easter and summer that bridge the gap
between the generations. Midcounties provide us
with tea, coffee and raffle prizes, which really help.
They are also supporting the school’s period poverty
campaign, and provide foodbank collection bins.”
Midcounties chief executive, Phil Ponsonby,
said at the event: “I think the world around us is
changing, and it’s changing fast. In some respects
it’s changing for the better. In other ways, it’s not.”
He highlighted how there are now 2,000 foodbanks
in the UK – more than the number of McDonald’s
restaurants – and how in the last five years there
has been a 75% increase in food parcels distributed.
There are up to 6,000 people night sleeping rough
while 330,000 people are technically homeless,
including 135,000 children.
“Some of these are social challenges that
businesses can help to face into,” said Mr
Ponsonby. “One of the fundamental points for us as
a business is that we must be brave. I think we are
being brave and I think some of the things we’ve
done as an organisation over the last few years
really accentuate that, but we’ve got to go further.”
For Midcounties, creating the platform, and the
opportunities for colleagues to get involved and
help people, is important. “The one thing that I’ve
learned going out and about with our colleagues
is that they don’t do this work because of KPIs,
policies, targets or job descriptions, they genuinely
want to. I’ve been truly humbled by some of the
things I’ve seen,” said Mr Ponsonby.
He called on colleagues and charity partners
to continue to “work with us to be more strategic
and truly make a difference for long term. How can
we create opportunities and legacies? How can we
work with your communities to help people, using
the resources that are there?”
TOP: PHIL PONSONBY,
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF
MIDCOUNTIES CO-OP
ABOVE: AARON
GEE, MANAGER AT
MIDCOUNTIES' ROSE
HILL FOOD STORE IN
OXFORD, ATTENDING
THE EVENT. MR GEE
WON INDIVIDUAL OF
THE YEAR AT THE
OXFORDSHIRE LOCAL
BUSINESS AWARDS
FOR WORK WITH
ASPIRE
FEBRUARY 2020 | 45

As it enters its 150th year, Co-operatives UK
is planning a series of events to celebrate
co-operation and thank its members for one and a
half centuries of support.
The UK’s apex body, which has over 800 members
across the UK, grew from the resurgence in
co-operation following the successes of the
Rochdale Pioneers and the Co-operative Wholesale
Society (CWS) in the mid-19th century. But this
success also brought anxiety for the movement's
leaders as they began to fear that, in the face of
their commercial success, co-op societies might
forget their values and principles.
The first national Co-operative Congress, held
in 1869 saw the establishment of the Co-operative
Union (initially known as the Co-operative Central
Board) in 1970, as a national organisation to
hold the movement together and emphasise
the role co-ops could play in wider society.
Its purpose was described "propagandist and
defensive action" and it listed the objectives of
establishing and organising co-operative societies
and provided advice and instruction on the
co-operative principles.
The 1880s saw a split in the worker and consumer
sectors of the UK movement (prompted by the
CWS's rejection of the idea of profit-sharing with
its employees), and for a long time focused on the
consumer movement. The worker co-op movement
was represented from the early 1960s by the
Society for the Democratic Integration of Industry
(Demintry), which began with five employee-owned
businesses as members, before being transformed
into the Industrial Common Ownership Movement
(ICOM) in 1971. ICOM merged with the Co-operative
Union in 2001 to form Co-operatives UK.
Ed Mayo, secretary general, is the ninth
head of the organisation. “This year is a double
celebration,” he says, “as it is also 175 years since
the Rochdale Pioneers founded their co-operative
store that is widely recognised as the model for the
modern day co-operative movement that spread
around the world.”
To mark this historic milestone, a free Festival-of
-Cooperation will be held in Rochdale outside the
town hall in June.
“During our 150th anniversary year, we’re
shaking up the format of Co-op Congress, which
has traditionally been held on this weekend in June.
We’re looking forward to going back to our roots in
Rochdale to showcase all that’s great about today’s
co-op movement, and inspire the next generation,”
says Mr Mayo.”
Sponsored by The Co-op and Power to Change,
the festival will celebrate Rochdale as the home
of co-operation, sharing the remarkable story
of its working class co-operative founders and
challenging public perceptions of co-ops. It will
feature interactive demonstrations and activities
showcasing a diverse range of co-ops, free family
activities, heritage actors, public debates on
today’s big issues, live music and entertainment,
and much more.
By Rebecca Harvey
Holyoake House,
the headquarters
to Co-operatives UK
46 | FEBRUARY 2020

The weekend will also see the launch of
a new pilot ‘Co-op Champions’ programme,
which has the ambitious aim of training 100
grassroots ambassadors in one day, giving them
the skills, knowledge and confidence to spread
the word about co-ops in their own communities
and networks.
The tenth annual Co-op of the Year Awards will
take place the evening before the festival, while the
celebration of all things co-operative will continue
with the annual awareness raising campaign,
Co-op Fortnight (22 June - 5 July), which this year is
calling for people to #JoinACoop (see p10).
But before all of this, celebrations will kick off at
the Co-operative Retail Conference (28 Feb-1 March)
where founding member co-ops will be presented
with an illustrated print celebrating 150 years
together, everyone will receive a commemorative
pin badge, ‘Spirit of Co-operation’ gin miniature,
and a slice of birthday cake featuring the 150th
anniversary branding.
“It’s a perfect opportunity at the start of the year
to thank the retail co-ops who together founded
the co-operative union which later became
Co-operatives UK, all those years ago and who’ve
worked with us to champion co-ops for an amazing
150 years,” added Mr Mayo.
(This is drawn by Co-operatives UK, with
many thanks, from work by the Co-operative
Heritage Trust.)
Co–operatives UK: A potted history
1869—
The first modern Co-operative Congress is held
in London, with 63 delegates – and messages of
support from Florence Nightingale and prominent
co-operative activist George Holyoake. A proposal
is approved to form a Co-operative Central Board.
1870—
The Co-operative Central Board is formed as a
national organisation to emphasise the important
role that co-operatives play in society. It soon
changes its name to the Co-operative Union.
1884
To formalise its advice and instruction activities,
the Co-operative Union forms the Co-operative
Union Education Committee.
1903—
The letters of Robert Owen – a founder of
the co-op movement – are deposited with the
Co-operative Union by George Holyoake. This
marks the beginning of a co-operative archive.
1911—
Holyoake House in Hanover Street, Manchester,
is opened as the headquarters for the Co-operative
Union. A plaque is placed outside the building
dedicating it to the memory of George Holyoake,
who died in 1906.
1940—
A WWII Christmas blitz on Manchester destroys the
training centre on the top floor of Holyoake House.
1971—
The Industrial Common Ownership Movement
(ICOM) is founded as a national umbrella and
lobbying organisation for worker co-operatives.
2001—
ICOM merges with the Co-operative Union to
form Co-operatives UK.
2013—
At its world conference in Cape Town, the
ICA launches the Global Co-op Marque – an
international co-op logo designed by London
graphic design co-operative Calverts. The
marque is incorporated into Co-operatives
UK’s logo in 2015.
2017—
A National Co-operative Development Strategy
(‘Do it ourselves’), led by Co-operatives UK, is
launched after two years of consultation with
the movement.
2018—
UnFound, the world’s first business accelerator
programme for platform co-ops, is launched by
Co-operatives UK and Stir to Action.
2020—
Co-operatives UK celebrates its 150th anniversary,
the ICA celebrates its 125th year and it's also 175
years since the Rochdale Pioneers opened their
first shop.
FEBRUARY 2020 | 47

REVIEWS
How can co-operative university models reform
higher education?
Reclaiming the
University for
the Public Good
– Experiments
and Futures in
Co-operative
Higher Education,
Edited by Malcolm
Noble and Cilla
Ross, (Palgrave
Macmillan, £97)
Warsaw Housing
Cooperative
Magdalena Matysek
-Imieliñska
(Springer, £35.99)
Higher education is in crisis due to unaccountability
and lack of control by the majority, according to
Malcolm Noble and Cilla Ross. Their solution?
It’s time to apply co-operative principles to our
university system.
Reclaiming the University, edited by the pair,
explores alternative models for higher education,
arguing that, at universities in the UK, the notion
of education as a public good is being driven out
by neoliberalism.
By contrast, they say co-operative higher
education is being underpinned by values including
active learning based on participatory approaches,
solidaristic, not competitive, practice and inclusivity.
Here’s a fascinating case study from Polish
academic Magdalena Matysek-Imieliñska, which
takes Warsaw Housing Co-operative as an example
of modernist architecture and social change.
Primarily aimed at academics and researchers, the
book explores how the housing co-op turned passive
residents into active citizens. It also examines the
influence of social reformers such as Charles Fourier
and Robert Owen on the development of housing
The book looks at the UK Co-operative University
Project while exploring some of the existing
co-operative university models around the world.
Only eight universities self-identify as co-operative,
and the book looks at three of them – in Kenya,
Tanzania and Basque Country. There’s also a look
at other alternative forms of higher education,
including autonomous learning spaces and the
student housing co-op as a site of pedagogy.
The book forms part of Palgrave’s Critical
University Studies Series, which aims to provide
a forum for a critically informed debate about the
consequences of university reforms. It would be of
interest to academics, researchers and activists.
Turning residents into citizens: Lessons from modernist
architecture and urban collectives in Warsaw
co-operatives. The research could be situated in
the area of critical urban studies, participatory
humanities and utopian studies.
Warsaw Housing Co-operative was built in the
1920s in Zoliborz, a district situated some distance
from the city centre, to address the housing deficit
in the interwar period. The book describes how
modernist architects of the day shaped new urban
lifestyles through the design of the flats.
Initially founded as a workers’ estate for those who
lived off their own labour, the housing co-op soon
started welcoming intellectuals as well. The book
focuses the role of these intellectuals as reformers
and activists who played a key role in the development
of the housing co-op. They lived on the estate and
were members of the co-operative, subordinate to
its management. This meant that they were able
to inspire the estate’s residents while also learning
from them and testing their proposed solutions.
Together, the residents created co-operative forms
of everyday supply, consumption and organisation
of work. The co-operative estate involved residents
in gardening and plant cultivation. It also
provided health care services to residents and ran
a cafeteria.
The book also considers the models of power
structures and the urban culture produced on the
housing estate. The key takeaway from the analysis
is that the city can be a radical space where selfsufficient
urban collectives pursuing common good
can thrive.
48 | FEBRUARY 2020

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DIARY
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
Abcul Annual Conference (13-14 Mar);
CCH Annual Conference 2020 (17-19
Apr); YP Exchange and Global Youth
Conference(9-15 Mar); and 20/20 Vision
- The Co-operative Future in Focus takes
place in Birmingham (7-8 Feb)
7-8 Feb: 20/20 Vision – The Co-operative
Future in Focus
On its 20th anniversary, Co-operative
Futures explores what has happened
over the last two decades, and asks
co-operators in their 20s what they
want their co-operative future to
look like (see preview, p28-29).
WHERE: The Beeches, Birmingham
INFO: futures.coop/2020-vision
12 Feb: Growing the new economy
Organised by E3M, this national
convention brings together key decision
makers with leaders of co-operatives and
social enterprises, funders and investors
to look at how they can support inclusive
economic growth and help “reset the dial
on local economic development”.
WHERE: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham
INFO: e3m.org.uk
28 Feb-1 Mar: Co-op Retail Conference
Organised by Co-operatives UK,
this is the only annual event designed
specifically for co-operative retailers.
It attracts the leaders, managers and
directors of consumer owned retail
co-operatives from right across the UK
(see preview, p28-29).
WHERE: De Vere Cranage Estate, Cheshire
INFO: uk.coop/co-operative-retail-conference
9-15 Mar: YP Exchange and Global Youth
Summit 2020
Some of the brightest minds in the next
generation of credit union leaders will
come together during World Council’s
Young Professional Exchange and Global
Youth Summit 2020, co-hosted by ABCUL.
WHERE: London & Manchester
INFO: tbelekevich@woccu.org
13-14 Mar: Abcul Annual Conference
The Abcul Annual Conference and
AGM is the largest event in the British
credit union calendar. It provides the
opportunity for credit union board
members, staff and volunteers to hear
from a wide range of speakers, discuss
the issues that are important to them and
network with others from the movement.
WHERE: The Midland Hotel, Manchester
INFO: abculannualconference2020.com
17-19 Apr: CCH Annual Conference 2020
The Confederation of Co-operative
Housing gathers to consider key issues
facing the sector.
WHERE: Mercure Haydock, Liverpool
INFO: cch.coop/event
LOOKING AHEAD
15-17 May: Worker Co-op Weekend
19-20 June: UK Co-op Congress, Rochdale
Town Hall
3-5 July: Worker Democracy Weekend,
Hebden Bridge
11-17 Dec: World Cooperative Congress
2020 (Seoul)
50 | FEBRUARY 2020

Holmes Chapel, Cheshire
28 Feb to 1 Mar, 2020
` Only dedicated retail conference for
co-operatives in the UK
` For leaders, managers and directors of
consumer owned retail co-operatives
` Keynote presentations from industry
specialists and best practice from retailers
` Unrivalled learning and networking
Discounts available for
Co-operatives UK members
www.uk.coop/crc