Co-op News September 2021
The September edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue we look at Principle 6 - co-operation among co-ops: including a look at how co-ops are coming together to find solutions to the environmental challenges facing the world - whether that means stepping up the war on plastic waste in the UK or helping the clean energy transition in Croatia. We look at efforts to provide co-op housing and community pubs, and speak to Lord Victor Adebowale – Co-op Group director and chair of Social Enterprise UK - about co-operation with other socially led sectors. And there's a look at the co-op environment that helped nurture US Olympian Dalilah Muhammad.
The September edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue we look at Principle 6 - co-operation among co-ops: including a look at how co-ops are coming together to find solutions to the environmental challenges facing the world - whether that means stepping up the war on plastic waste in the UK or helping the clean energy transition in Croatia. We look at efforts to provide co-op housing and community pubs, and speak to Lord Victor Adebowale – Co-op Group director and chair of Social Enterprise UK - about co-operation with other socially led sectors. And there's a look at the co-op environment that helped nurture US Olympian Dalilah Muhammad.
Transform your PDFs into Flipbooks and boost your revenue!
Leverage SEO-optimized Flipbooks, powerful backlinks, and multimedia content to professionally showcase your products and significantly increase your reach.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
CO-OPERATING<br />
FOR A SHARED<br />
FUTURE<br />
Plus … <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s respond<br />
to the IPCC climate report<br />
... The co-<strong>op</strong> beginnings<br />
of a US Olympian ... Meet:<br />
Nepal’s Om Devi Malla ...<br />
Celebrating 150 years of<br />
your <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
ISSN 0009-9821<br />
770009 982010<br />
01<br />
£4.20<br />
www.thenews.co<strong>op</strong>
Telling co-<strong>op</strong>erative stories for 150 years<br />
thenews.co<strong>op</strong>/join
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 3<br />
150 years of your<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong><br />
CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND<br />
CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP<br />
MOVEMENT SINCE 1871<br />
Holyoake House, Hanover Street,<br />
Manchester M60 0AS<br />
(00) 44 161 214 0870<br />
www.thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
editorial@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
EXECUTIVE EDITOR<br />
Rebecca Harvey | rebecca@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR<br />
Anca Voinea | anca@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
DIGITAL EDITOR<br />
Miles Hadfield | miles@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
DESIGN<br />
Andy Bellis | andy@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
DIRECTORS<br />
Elaine Dean (chair); David Paterson<br />
(vice-chair); Sofygil Crew; Victoria<br />
Green; Tim Hartley; Phil Hartwell;<br />
Gillian Lonergan; Beverley Perkins;<br />
Shaz Rahman; Lesley Reznicek<br />
Secretary: Richard Bickle<br />
Established in 1871, <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>News</strong> is published by <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Press Ltd, a registered society under<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative and <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Benefit Society Act 2014. It is printed<br />
every month by Buxton Press, Palace<br />
Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE.<br />
Membership of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Press is<br />
<strong>op</strong>en to individual readers as well as<br />
to other co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, corporate bodies<br />
and unincorporated organisations.<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> mission<br />
statement is to connect, champion<br />
and challenge the global co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement, through fair and objective<br />
journalism and <strong>op</strong>en and honest<br />
comment and debate. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
is, on occasion, supported by co-<strong>op</strong>s,<br />
but final editorial control remains with<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> unless specifically<br />
labelled ‘advertorial’. The information<br />
and views set out in <strong>op</strong>inion articles<br />
and letters do not necessarily reflect<br />
the <strong>op</strong>inion of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong>.<br />
@co<strong>op</strong>news<br />
co<strong>op</strong>erativenews<br />
On 2 <strong>September</strong> 1871, the first issue of The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> was published,<br />
as “A Record of Industrial, Political, Humanitarian, and Educational Progress”.<br />
“What is <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eration?” (p46-47)<br />
150 years later we are still asking – and answering – that question. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
are hugely diverse. They are a tool. And as with any tool, the way they are used<br />
is largely up to the pe<strong>op</strong>le who wield them. But all co-<strong>op</strong>eratives are grounded in<br />
the set of values and principles that guide us within a framework of democracy,<br />
membership and shared wealth. This issue we are looking at principle 6 – co<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
among co-<strong>op</strong>erative – increasingly important as the magnitude of<br />
crises facing the world make it clear they cannot be faced alone.<br />
This was made abundantly clear in the IPPC’s climate report, which highlighted<br />
how climate change is threatening every aspect of our lives. To address this, “co<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
and collaboration will be key,” says Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>’s Gemma Lacey.<br />
“By sharing our plans, progress and solutions we can use our collective voice<br />
and actions to help drive the wide-scale change needed” (p26-29). In Croatia,<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s are helping with the country’s coal phase-out (p30-31) and in the UK,<br />
independent retail co-<strong>op</strong>s have signed up to the soft plastic collection scheme,<br />
launched by the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group in July (p7).<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives know they should work with each other; but what about working<br />
with other ‘for-purpose’ organisations? Lord Victor Adebowale – <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group<br />
director and chair of Social Enterprise UK – firmly believes the co-<strong>op</strong> movement<br />
needs “to spend less time naval-gazing and more time holding hands” with<br />
other types of organisational models (p36-37).<br />
This issue we also look at how co-<strong>op</strong>eratives offer supportive environments in<br />
different sectors (such as housing, p32-33, and community pubs, p34-45) and for<br />
individual pe<strong>op</strong>le (such as American 400m hurdler Dalilah Muhammad, p44-45).<br />
But we also look at how mutuality can go wrong: in August, staff at an influential<br />
left-wing Current Affairs magazine in the US claim they were fired for trying to<br />
organise into a workers co-<strong>op</strong>erative (p42-43); and in Canada, Economical<br />
Mutual Insurance has demutualised after 145 years – a move for which ICMIF’s<br />
Shaun Tarbuck says there “was no business case” (p40-41).<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 pandemic has meant that any in-person celebrations for our 150th<br />
anniversary are on hold, but we are proud to continue sharing co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
stories from around the world with our members, readers and the wider public.<br />
Thank you for coming on this journey with us. We are looking forward to seeing<br />
where we go next.<br />
REBECCA HARVEY - EXECUTIVE EDITOR<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> is printed using vegetable oil-based<br />
inks on 80% recycled paper (with 60% from post-consumer<br />
waste) with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC<br />
certified sources. It is made in a totally chlorine free process.
ISSN 0009-9821<br />
9 770009 982010<br />
4 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
01<br />
THIS ISSUE<br />
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:<br />
The UK’s independent retail co-<strong>op</strong>s have<br />
signed up to the Group’s soft plastic<br />
collection scheme (p7); Plans under way<br />
for a Pe<strong>op</strong>le’s Pub Partnership (p34-35);<br />
Promoting Principle 6 in the USA<br />
(p38-39); Dalilah Muhammad (p44-45);<br />
Om Devi Malla (p22-23)<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
CO-OPERATING<br />
FOR A SHARED<br />
FUTURE<br />
Plus … <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s respond<br />
to the IPCC climate report<br />
... The co-<strong>op</strong> beginnings<br />
of a US Olympian ... Meet:<br />
Nepal’s Om Devi Malla ...<br />
Celebrating 150 years of<br />
your <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
£4.20<br />
www.thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
COVER: Lord Victor Adebowale<br />
shares his thoughts on Principle<br />
6 from a co-<strong>op</strong>erative and social<br />
enterprise perspective<br />
Read more: p36-37<br />
22-23 MEET … OM DEVI MALLA<br />
Vice chair of Nepal’s co-<strong>op</strong> federation and<br />
ICA global board member<br />
26-29 IPCC CLIMATE REPORT<br />
What does the report mean for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives in different sectors?<br />
30-39 PRINCIPLE 6<br />
The importance of co-<strong>op</strong>eration among<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s – and with other organisations<br />
30-31 CROATIA’S COAL PHASE-OUT<br />
The community co-<strong>op</strong>s encouraging<br />
citizens to get involved in clean<br />
energy<br />
32-33 STUDENT HOUSING<br />
SEASALT Housing <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has drawn on<br />
the support of the wider movement<br />
34-35 PEOPLE’S PUB PARTNERSHIP<br />
Plans under way for a national,<br />
community-owned pub organisation<br />
36-37 LORD VICTOR ADEBOWALE<br />
The chair of Social Enterprise UK and<br />
director of the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group on why co<strong>op</strong>s<br />
and social enterprises should work<br />
better together<br />
38-39 PRINCIPLE 6 IN THE USA<br />
NCBA CLUSA explores ways to drive<br />
Principle 6 in the United States<br />
40-41 END OF THE ROAD FOR<br />
ECONOMICAL MUTUAL INSURANCE<br />
Lessons from the demutualisation of the<br />
145 year old mutual<br />
42-43 A CLASH OF VALUES<br />
Staff claim they were fired for trying to<br />
organise into a workers’ co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
44-45 DALILAH MUHAMMAD<br />
The Olympian brought up in the Rochdale<br />
Village <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> in Queens, NYC<br />
46-47 150 YEARS OF CO-OP NEWS<br />
A look back at the past century and a half<br />
of your <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
REGULARS<br />
5-13 UK updates<br />
14-21 Global updates<br />
24 Letters and obituary<br />
48 Reviews<br />
50 Events
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 5<br />
NEWS<br />
RETAIL<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group chief warns<br />
grocery shortages are<br />
the worst he’s seen<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group CEO Steve Murrells has<br />
warned that supply disruptions from<br />
Brexit and <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 are causing the worst<br />
food shortages he has seen.<br />
He told the Times that some ranges were<br />
being reduced because the industry is<br />
struggling to get supplies to sh<strong>op</strong>s, thanks<br />
to driver and other labour shortages from<br />
Brexit migration rules and <strong>Co</strong>vid-19.<br />
Mr Murrells made his comments after<br />
widespread reports of stores and fast food<br />
restaurants running short of supplies,<br />
as labour shortages hit fruit picking and<br />
meat processing capacity, as well as HGV<br />
drivers to transport goods.<br />
McDonald’s hit the headlines after it<br />
removed milkshakes from its menu at<br />
1,250 outlets across Britain, while Nando’s<br />
was forced to temporarily close 50<br />
restaurants because of poultry shortages.<br />
Murrells said the crisis was the result of<br />
“Brexit and issues caused by <strong>Co</strong>vid”.<br />
The Group is retraining staff as lorry<br />
drivers to make up for the shortfall – with<br />
the haulage industry losing an estimated<br />
100,000 overall, including 8,000 EU<br />
nationals who have left the UK.<br />
Mr Murrells’ comments echo those<br />
of other industry figures, with Iceland<br />
managing director Richard Walker<br />
warning that the current situation could<br />
affect this year’s Christmas celebrations.<br />
He told Radio 4’s Today programme that<br />
lorry drivers should be added to the<br />
government’s skilled workers list to help<br />
recruit pe<strong>op</strong>le from overseas.<br />
For the agriculture sector, the picture<br />
is more mixed. A spokesperson for<br />
Openfield, the Lincolnshire-based grain<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>, said it has not yet had any problems<br />
as it goes through its harvest time.<br />
“We haven’t seen any significant<br />
disruption and our haulage fleet<br />
continues to <strong>op</strong>erate normally with a full<br />
complement of drivers.”<br />
But at Scottish farm co-<strong>op</strong> body SAOS<br />
(Scottish Agricultural Organisation<br />
Society), supply chain devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
director Alan Stevenson said: “Labour<br />
resource continues to be a concern for the<br />
sector in terms of processing capacity and<br />
having the right skills available.<br />
“In addition, we are keeping a close<br />
watch on the lorry driver situation as<br />
we approach harvest time where there<br />
is a heavy demand for their services at a<br />
critical point for the farming industry.<br />
“Being part of a co-<strong>op</strong> is a great help in<br />
sharing risk and bringing the <strong>op</strong>erational<br />
elements together to plan ahead as much<br />
as possible. It still may prove challenging<br />
bearing in mind weather factors will come<br />
into the equation as well.”<br />
SAOS has also echoed calls from the<br />
National Farmers Union for scrutiny of<br />
post-Brexit trade deals, such as the one<br />
recently signed with Australia.<br />
Chief executive Tim Bailey said: “We<br />
believe that any and every deal should be<br />
fully scrutinised. Only farming systems<br />
demonstrably <strong>op</strong>erating to equivalent<br />
high standards of food safety, animal<br />
health and welfare and environmental<br />
protection should gain free trade access to<br />
our markets.”<br />
A spokesperson for CQLP, the livestock<br />
marketing co-<strong>op</strong> based in south-west<br />
England, said there had been no logistics<br />
disruption – but echoed concerns over the<br />
Australia deal.<br />
“Farmers work really hard to overcome<br />
lots of challenges within their industry<br />
and are always striving to do things better;<br />
our welfare standards are very stringent<br />
and about to become even more so and a<br />
lot of farmers feel this deal would be very<br />
dangerous for UK agriculture as firstly<br />
Australia’s farmers are allowed to use<br />
some banned products such as growth<br />
promoters, feed additives and pesticides<br />
which doesn’t allow a level playing<br />
field and it could encourage other large<br />
food producing nations to push for their<br />
produce to be allowed onto our market.<br />
Thankfully trade in meat is currently very<br />
small between ourselves and Australia<br />
but if a tariff free deal were to happen it<br />
could threaten our whole industry.<br />
“We need a much stricter food labelling<br />
system so consumers are informed of<br />
their choices. The UK government have<br />
been pushing high welfare and food<br />
standards onto our industry for years and<br />
allowing large volumes of substandard/<br />
cheaper products on to our market would<br />
be very damaging.”
6 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
RETAIL<br />
Midcounties works with local councils to fight school holiday hunger<br />
Midcounties <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has partnered with<br />
three local councils to help feed more<br />
than 7,000 children over the summer<br />
holidays as part of its mission to tackle<br />
food poverty.<br />
The society has joined forces with<br />
Dudley CVS and Dudley, Walsall and<br />
Shr<strong>op</strong>shire councils to create meal boxes<br />
to feed a family of four for up to four<br />
nights, and deliver them to selected<br />
homes, holiday clubs and libraries across<br />
their communities on a weekly basis.<br />
The meals have been designed in<br />
partnership with qualified nutritionist<br />
and in-store chef Judy Cheyne, who has<br />
also devel<strong>op</strong>ed recipe cards and videos<br />
that the children can follow at home.<br />
The initiative follows a series of<br />
commitments from Midcounties to help<br />
p Food from the society ready for distribution<br />
deliver food justice, including a food bank<br />
fund that raised more than £50K during<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 crisis, joining forces with<br />
other co-<strong>op</strong>s to campaign for food justice,<br />
becoming a member of Marcus Rashford’s<br />
Child Food Poverty Taskforce, and<br />
continuing to provide essential support to<br />
food banks across its communities.<br />
Group CEO Phil Ponsonby said: “Food<br />
justice is a real issue and we’re extremely<br />
passionate about driving change to ensure<br />
that no one is left behind. In the current<br />
climate, it’s all too easy for families<br />
experiencing financial difficulties to fall<br />
into food poverty, and we’re committed<br />
to being a leading part of a movement to<br />
st<strong>op</strong> that.<br />
“By working together as a society, with<br />
our members, local stakeholders, and likeminded<br />
organisations and individuals,<br />
we know we can make a difference. I’m<br />
extremely proud that these councils have<br />
come to us as the partner on this initiative,<br />
and we’re delighted we are able to help.”<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group adds<br />
OneBanks kiosks to<br />
three Scottish stores<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group has introduced banking<br />
kiosks from OneBanks to three of its stores<br />
in Scotland.<br />
OneBanks is a community banking<br />
service which offers banking services to<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le in areas where there are no longer<br />
any bank branches, or want face-to-face<br />
services because they have been left behind<br />
by the move to digital. It offers services no<br />
matter who pe<strong>op</strong>le bank with.<br />
Services are already on offer at the<br />
Group’s Denny store, in Falkirk, and a<br />
new kiosk at its convenience store in<br />
Kilwinning, in the west of Scotland, will<br />
enable customers to deposit and withdraw<br />
notes and coins, and manage payments<br />
for utilities and other bills.<br />
An additional kiosk in Lochgelly, Fife, is<br />
also planned for the coming weeks.<br />
The Kilwinning trial will feature an<br />
updated kiosk design which is wheelchair<br />
compatible, with team members equipped<br />
and trained to support those who are hard<br />
of hearing through the SignLive app.<br />
Kilwinning will also test out a new<br />
facility, devel<strong>op</strong>ed in partnership with<br />
G4S, which means customers can deposit<br />
p OneBanks' team at the Denny kiosk<br />
coins as well as notes, and manage<br />
payments for utilities and other bills. The<br />
facility has a touch screen which allows<br />
customers to buy goods and services from<br />
online providers such as Amazon using<br />
cash, and receive change in coins.<br />
Mark Matthews, director of innovation<br />
and formats at the Group, said: “<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> is<br />
committed to connecting communities and<br />
<strong>op</strong>erating at the heart of local life. We are<br />
working with partners to devel<strong>op</strong> added<br />
services and choice, finding innovative<br />
ways to expand access to products and<br />
services locally, and create a compelling<br />
offer to serve our members and customers.”<br />
The OneBanks’ shared branch concept<br />
received a boost in May when UK Finance<br />
and the largest retail banks and building<br />
societies launched the Access to Cash<br />
Action Group, examining ways that<br />
businesses and individuals can continue<br />
to use cash for everyday banking. As<br />
part of its existing co-<strong>op</strong>eration with the<br />
banks’ <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Access to Cash Pilots,<br />
OneBanks is providing data to feed into<br />
the design of possible models that will<br />
meet that objective.<br />
Services are provided free to customers,<br />
whichever bank they use. OneBanks says<br />
the Denny kiosk has proven p<strong>op</strong>ular with<br />
small businesses because it has enabled<br />
them to avoid a round trip of nearly 15<br />
miles to their nearest <strong>op</strong>en bank branch to<br />
bank their cash takings.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 7<br />
ENVIRONMENT<br />
Retail co-<strong>op</strong>s sign up to soft plastic collection scheme<br />
p The recycling scheme offers a way forward for the crisis of plastic pollution<br />
Independent retail co-<strong>op</strong>s in the UK have<br />
signed up to the plastic collection scheme,<br />
launched by the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group at the start<br />
of last month.<br />
The scheme sees the co-<strong>op</strong>s install<br />
collection points at selected stores, where<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le can recycle film and soft plastics,<br />
items that are currently not collected by<br />
all council services.<br />
The collection points will allow pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
to deposit items such as crisp packets,<br />
sweet wrappers, plastic film, pet food<br />
pouches, bread bags and other plastic<br />
bags, which will then be backhauled via<br />
the retailers’ distribution networks and<br />
responsibly recycled.<br />
Estimates from WRAP suggest that just<br />
6% of plastic bags and wrapping from UK<br />
households is recycled each year, while<br />
(by weight) it makes up around a fifth of<br />
all plastic packaging.<br />
Items that cannot be recycled include<br />
hard plastics, plastic bottles, plastic trays<br />
and no compostable elements, however<br />
recycling services for these items are<br />
widely available.<br />
Luke Olly, energy and environment<br />
lead, at Central England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> said: “As<br />
a co-<strong>op</strong>erative, we have a responsibility<br />
to champion sustainability for the good<br />
of our members, consumers and local<br />
communities and plastics is at the<br />
forefront of these efforts.<br />
“We have worked with other retail<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s to provide a network of instore<br />
collection points for film and soft<br />
plastics. Providing collection points<br />
specifically for these types of plastics will<br />
enable customers to easily recycle items<br />
that are currently not collected through<br />
council services, while doing this in<br />
a co-<strong>op</strong>erative manner means all the<br />
communities the co-<strong>op</strong> serves can benefit<br />
from this process, helping to provide a<br />
nationwide solution.<br />
“We h<strong>op</strong>e our customers and members<br />
will make use of the new collection<br />
points and join us in our push to recycle<br />
together.”<br />
Mike Pickering, co-<strong>op</strong>erative social<br />
responsibility manager at Midcounties,<br />
said: “As a society, we’re committed to<br />
making change and encouraging our<br />
members and customers to work with<br />
us to build a better environment for our<br />
future, and recycling is a big part of that.<br />
“We know that many of our customers<br />
and members want to do even more than<br />
they already are to help the planet, and<br />
the new recycling collection points are a<br />
great, convenient solution to help them.”<br />
Other co-<strong>op</strong>s introducing the scheme<br />
include Chelmsford Star, East of England,<br />
Lincolnshire and Heart of England.<br />
Heart of England says plastic can be<br />
taken to its stores in Hinckley, Long<br />
Lawford, Wellesbourne, Balsall <strong>Co</strong>mmon,<br />
and Galley <strong>Co</strong>mmon, Cedar Road and<br />
Attleborough in Nuneaton, and Allesley<br />
Old Road and Earlsdon in <strong>Co</strong>ventry.<br />
Steve Browne, general manager of<br />
the society’s food division, said: “The<br />
environment is an increasingly common<br />
area of concern among our members<br />
and customers. This new scheme will<br />
help make a significant impact. Already<br />
a great many of our stores offer packagefree<br />
zones where customers use their<br />
own refillable containers to buy certain<br />
products, and our water stations too –<br />
allowing customers to refill their own<br />
water bottles – are also a huge hit.”<br />
Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has also told the <strong>News</strong><br />
it is planning to trial it.
8 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
RETAIL<br />
Scotmid launches intervention scheme to get pe<strong>op</strong>le out of crime<br />
A collaborative pilot programme to<br />
help pe<strong>op</strong>le involved in crime to make<br />
positive life changes has been launched<br />
by Scotmid <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>.<br />
Project RISE (Recovering in a<br />
Supported Environment), which will be<br />
piloted in Leith, has been designed to<br />
intervene and support local pe<strong>op</strong>le by<br />
encouraging them to avoid potential<br />
criminal situations, suggesting<br />
alternative choices and signposting<br />
individuals to support services.<br />
It will work in partnership with several<br />
organisations including Cyrenians,<br />
Turning Point, Link-Up, <strong>Co</strong>nnecting<br />
Circles and Police Scotland.<br />
Scotmid h<strong>op</strong>es to roll the programme<br />
out across other areas of the city, where<br />
additional resources and support would<br />
help make a difference.<br />
Nick McGuirk, project manager for the<br />
scheme, said: “As a retailer based in the<br />
heart of our communities, we are in a<br />
fortunate position to be able to identify<br />
and reach some of the most vulnerable<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le in our local areas. We’re pleased to<br />
work collaboratively with some fantastic<br />
charities to ensure we can support as<br />
many pe<strong>op</strong>le as possible, helping them<br />
to make more positive life choices.”<br />
Carmen McShane, Scotland service<br />
manager of Turning Point, said: “It<br />
has never been so important to make<br />
mainstream services more accessible for<br />
those who suffer from alcohol and other<br />
drug use.<br />
“Accessing support and treatment<br />
can be a protective factor in reducing<br />
overdose, therefore, outreach work in<br />
Leith, and other local communities<br />
like this, is vital if we want to prevent<br />
drug-related deaths. I’m so pleased to<br />
work with Scotmid, <strong>Co</strong>nnecting Circles,<br />
Cyrenians and Link Up in this initiative<br />
to deliver the support to pe<strong>op</strong>le in our<br />
community who need it.”<br />
A spokesperson at Police Scotland<br />
said: “Police Scotland is looking forward<br />
to working alongside our partners<br />
in this pilot programme, designed to<br />
make positive changes for those who<br />
require support and help. We h<strong>op</strong>e the<br />
programme will expand its work to<br />
other areas, so that pe<strong>op</strong>le can avoid<br />
potentially dangerous circumstances,<br />
whilst flourishing in their communities.”<br />
In other news from Scotmid, the<br />
society has joined up with devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
agency Scottish Enterprise to invest in<br />
the Alcoholic Water <strong>Co</strong>mpany, a hard<br />
seltzer business set up by a team of<br />
drinks industry entrepreneurs.<br />
The business, set up in 2019, wants to<br />
devel<strong>op</strong> the “world’s most sought after<br />
portfolio of hard seltzers” – alcoholic<br />
flavoured waters. It is a collaboration<br />
between Glasgow-based Start-Up Drinks<br />
Lab and London’s Whitelabel Group.<br />
Scotmid has purchased a minority<br />
stake, and says it will bring trade<br />
expertise from its grocery network,<br />
alongside mentoring and business<br />
support. CEO John Brodie said: “This is<br />
a fast growing sector of the market and<br />
there are <strong>op</strong>portunities to establish a<br />
brand at the premium end.”<br />
RETAIL<br />
Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> continues efforts to help young pe<strong>op</strong>le off the dole<br />
Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> is taking its third cohort of<br />
Kickstarters – 16 to 24 year olds at risk of<br />
long-term unemployment – next month.<br />
The government scheme was set up to<br />
help young pe<strong>op</strong>le off universal credit and<br />
the new recruits will bring the number on<br />
placement at Southern to nearly 40.<br />
The placements are spread across the<br />
independent retail co-<strong>op</strong>’s head office in<br />
Portsmouth and a number of its food and<br />
funeral sites.<br />
Sarah Kavanagh, the society’s business<br />
transformation and HR director, said:<br />
“Unemployment has been higher in<br />
younger age groups for some time and<br />
unfortunately this has been exacerbated<br />
by the pandemic. It is clear to us that they<br />
need additional help now to get back into<br />
work or to take the first step toward full<br />
time employment.<br />
“The Kickstart Scheme means we look<br />
for pe<strong>op</strong>le aged 16 to 24, with the right<br />
attitude, and give them the <strong>op</strong>portunity to<br />
learn new skills while being paid.<br />
“We expected it to take a bit of time<br />
for some to find their feet and get into<br />
the routine of work but, after about three<br />
weeks, we have been getting some great<br />
feedback. One manager described their<br />
new starter as ‘100% amazing’, ‘flexible,<br />
keen and willing to try anything’.”<br />
The placements are funded by the<br />
Government for 25 hours per week for six<br />
months and referrals are made on to the<br />
scheme via local Jobcentres.<br />
The job placements provide <strong>op</strong>portunities<br />
to young pe<strong>op</strong>le who may have been<br />
overlooked before due to lack of experience.<br />
Southern’s programme is also giving<br />
young adults a chance to gain a Level<br />
One Certificate in Employability Skills at<br />
Havant & South Downs <strong>Co</strong>llege.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 9<br />
AWARDS<br />
Finalists named for the Social Business Wales Awards<br />
recognising those organisations which<br />
have pivoted, grown and thrived in these<br />
most challenging conditions.<br />
“We wish all the businesses shortlisted<br />
the best of luck at the awards. We h<strong>op</strong>e<br />
that, whatever the outcome, their success<br />
will inspire a generation of future social<br />
entrepreneurs.”<br />
The full list of categories and shortlisted<br />
finalists is as follows<br />
Social Enterprise of the Year<br />
• Creating Enterprise<br />
• The <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Impact Initiative<br />
• Therapeutic Activities Group CIC<br />
• One to Watch<br />
Wales <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Centre has unveiled<br />
the list of finalists for this year’s Social<br />
Business Wales Awards.<br />
This year there are two headline<br />
categories – Wales Social Enterprise<br />
of the Year, which looks for excellent<br />
vision and strategic direction as well as a<br />
clearly evidenced social, environmental<br />
and community impact, and Wales<br />
One to Watch, which looks for new and<br />
innovative social enterprises with an<br />
impressive initial impact and strong<br />
vision for the future.<br />
The other categories are Tech for Good;<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Impact; and Social Enterprise<br />
Team of the Year.<br />
The Social Business Wales Awards are<br />
being held virtually for the first time on<br />
5 October. The awards, which have run<br />
since 2010, are part of the Social Business<br />
Wales project which is funded by Welsh<br />
government and the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean Regional<br />
Devel<strong>op</strong>ment Fund.<br />
Derek Walker, CEO of Wales <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Centre and delivery lead<br />
for the Social Business Wales project,<br />
said: “Trading conditions have been<br />
significantly disrupted for a lot of<br />
businesses over the last 18 months, so<br />
for this year’s awards we are looking<br />
to celebrate the resilience and the<br />
entrepreneurial spirit of the social<br />
business sector.<br />
“The <strong>2021</strong> awards will also be a moment<br />
to celebrate the incredible contributions<br />
made by social businesses in Wales,<br />
Amathanon CIC (Carmarthen Food)<br />
• Drosi Bikes<br />
• Prom Ally<br />
• Tech for Good: Technology Social<br />
Enterprise<br />
Cardiff Cleaning Services (APP UK)<br />
• Empower – Be the Change<br />
• Denbighshire Music <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
• <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Impact<br />
PTAWA Enterprises Ltd<br />
• Green Willow Funerals Ltd<br />
• Iorwerth Arms<br />
• Glyn Wylfa<br />
•<br />
Social Enterprise Team of the Year<br />
• Creating Enterprise<br />
• Empower Be The Change<br />
• Llangefni Town Football Club<br />
HOUSING<br />
Government launches £4m fund for community housing<br />
The Ministry of Housing, <strong>Co</strong>mmunities<br />
and Local Government (MHCLG) has<br />
made £4m worth of grants available to<br />
eligible community organisations.<br />
The scheme, which runs in England<br />
(outside Greater London), is funded<br />
through the <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Housing Fund<br />
Revenue Programme <strong>2021</strong>/22. It will help<br />
cover the revenue costs of project-specific<br />
activities to support the devel<strong>op</strong>ment of<br />
community-led housing pr<strong>op</strong>osals.<br />
The programme is managed by<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Led Homes, a partnership<br />
of four leading community led housing<br />
organisations: <strong>Co</strong>nfederation of <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Housing, Locality, National<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Land Trust Network and UK<br />
<strong>Co</strong>housing Network.<br />
It is aimed at schemes which can prove<br />
their deliverability and are at the later<br />
stages of pre-devel<strong>op</strong>ment, and will fund<br />
pre-devel<strong>op</strong>ment work so that schemes<br />
can complete the work required to<br />
progress the scheme towards:<br />
• submitting a planning application,<br />
and/or<br />
• submitting a capital funding bid, and/o<br />
• getting to start on site.<br />
The pre-devel<strong>op</strong>ment work funded<br />
must be completed by the end of March<br />
2022 so applications are recommended to<br />
be made as soon as possible.<br />
MHCLG adds that the programme will<br />
not be suitable for groups who are just<br />
forming and need start-up support, or<br />
schemes that are at an early stage of predevel<strong>op</strong>ment.<br />
• Email grants@communityledhomes.org.<br />
uk or visit bit.ly/3zkQM6V
10 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
EDUCATION<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>llege awards honorary fellowship to Dr Cilla Ross<br />
Dr Cilla Ross has received an honorary<br />
fellowship award from the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>Co</strong>llege, an organisation she joined six<br />
years ago as vice principal.<br />
Dr Ross is the first woman to be awarded<br />
an honorary fellowship in the <strong>Co</strong>llege’s<br />
history. She was appointed its first ever<br />
female principal in 2019, and has recently<br />
stepped down from the role.<br />
At the <strong>Co</strong>llege, she worked across<br />
multiple areas including teaching,<br />
learning and global research, leading on<br />
both co-<strong>op</strong>erative higher education and<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong>erative university project. As a<br />
fellow of the <strong>Co</strong>llege, she will continue<br />
to work with the education co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
that the <strong>Co</strong>llege has helped to establish.<br />
In 2019, she sat on the Centenary<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmission on Adult Education, and has<br />
recently been appointed to a three-year<br />
honorary professorship in co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
education at the University of Nottingham.<br />
Dr Ross said: “I am truly honoured by<br />
this award. It has been a privilege being a<br />
custodian and steward of the <strong>Co</strong>llege and<br />
in helping to ready it for its future.<br />
“The <strong>Co</strong>llege has a magnificent record<br />
in empowering pe<strong>op</strong>le through education<br />
and this imperative is as critical as ever.<br />
As a fellow, I will contribute in any way I<br />
can to support the <strong>Co</strong>llege’s commitment<br />
to relevant, high quality and distinctive<br />
learning that has social justice at its heart.”<br />
Jon Nott, chair of the <strong>Co</strong>llege trustees,<br />
said: “Cilla has led the <strong>Co</strong>llege through a<br />
period of incredible external challenges<br />
and internal transformation. She moves<br />
into her new role having provided a strong<br />
academic and organisational platform<br />
from which the new team can build and<br />
grow. I’m delighted that Cilla will be able<br />
to continue her commitment to co-<strong>op</strong><br />
learning through this fellowship.”<br />
Neil Calvert, CEO and principal of the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>llege, added: “Cilla’s contribution<br />
to the work of the <strong>Co</strong>llege cannot be<br />
underestimated, and it is only right that<br />
it is being recognised by this award. Her<br />
influence will be sadly missed in our dayto-day<br />
working, but I am grateful that we<br />
will be able to retain our links with her<br />
through the honorary fellowship.”<br />
FINANCE<br />
Ecology CEO Paul Ellis to step down after 40 years at the building society<br />
Ecology Building Society CEO Paul Ellis is<br />
step down after 40 years working for the<br />
ethical lender.<br />
He spent the last 26 years of his time<br />
with Ecology in the t<strong>op</strong> job, making him<br />
the longest-serving CEO in the sector.<br />
During this time, he has overseen an<br />
increase in assets from £18m to £226m at<br />
the end of 2020.<br />
Ecology says Mr Ellis leaves it in a<br />
good position, with its strongest ever<br />
pipeline of lending and a strong interest<br />
in its sustainable lending solutions. It<br />
has started the recruitment process for<br />
a replacement, with Mr Ellis expected to<br />
remain in post until 2022 to support the<br />
handover process.<br />
Mr Ellis said: “I have had the great<br />
good fortune to work for an organisation<br />
whose principles and reason for being I<br />
passionately support.<br />
“Indeed, with Ecology I have had the<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity to demonstrate how balance<br />
sheet dynamics can be constructed<br />
in order to pursue the provision of<br />
sustainable finance. Nothing would have<br />
been possible without our members and<br />
wider stakeholders in the green building<br />
community, and I am proud to have met so<br />
many passionate pe<strong>op</strong>le and experienced<br />
so many exciting projects. I will be leaving<br />
Ecology with fantastic memories to<br />
continue the fight for a sustainable future<br />
through other means.<br />
Ecology board chair Steve Round<br />
said: “I would like to thank Paul, who<br />
will be stepping down after 40 years<br />
of involvement with Ecology, for his<br />
extraordinary contributions to both the<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment of the society, as a member,<br />
then director and latterly CEO as well as<br />
the wider values-based banking, social<br />
and environmental finance, and green<br />
building community.<br />
“Throughout that time his unwavering<br />
commitment to our founding members’<br />
vision of applying ecological principles<br />
to finance to deliver a sustainable future<br />
has guided the society from its early<br />
pioneering activity to our current position<br />
as a leading exponent of green finance.”
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 11<br />
RETAIL<br />
Insight expert and<br />
chef hired to drive new<br />
innovation at Group<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group has announced a new<br />
role – head of insight and research – as<br />
part of ongoing growth to its data, digital<br />
and loyalty team.<br />
The move, which follows the refresh of<br />
its membership programme and launch of<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> app last year, sees Nick Meagher<br />
(above left) move to the Group from Tesco,<br />
where he was head of customer insight.<br />
Mr Meagher will start next month,<br />
reporting directly to Charlotte Lock –<br />
director of data, digital and loyalty at<br />
the Group – to drive the its membership<br />
ambitions. He will take on insight<br />
and research leadership for the<br />
Food, Insurance, Funeralcare, Legal,<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity and Membership functions.<br />
Mr Meagher, whose CV also includes<br />
global insight leadership roles with<br />
Unilever and Mondelez International,<br />
said: “Joining the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> is a great<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity to be part of what must be<br />
one of the original, and certainly most<br />
enduring, purpose-led businesses.”<br />
In another recent appointment, the<br />
Group has hired awarding winning chef<br />
David Llewelyn to guide the culinary<br />
direction for its food businesses. As<br />
executive innovation chef, he will oversee<br />
product creation for ranges such as GRO<br />
and Irresistible.<br />
Mr Llewleyn has 15 years’ experience in<br />
the industry, with his most recent in-house<br />
role being executive devel<strong>op</strong>ment and<br />
innovation chef at Greencore. He was won<br />
accolades at the British Sandwich Designer<br />
of the Year awards and was named Free<br />
From Pasta Chef of the Year 2019.<br />
He said: “I am so excited to have the<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity to join the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> team, and<br />
become part of a brand that puts so much<br />
into the quality of its food and how it<br />
sources ingredients.”<br />
Livestock co-<strong>op</strong> shares £30,000 surplus among members<br />
<strong>Co</strong>rnwall-based farmers’ co-<strong>op</strong> CQLP<br />
Livestock Marketing is sharing out<br />
£30,000 of surplus cash among its trading<br />
members, it has announced. The sum will<br />
be divided up according to the amount of<br />
cattle and sheep members have marketed<br />
through the group, based on a price per<br />
head of species sent.<br />
Watchdog to investigate retail co-<strong>op</strong>s’ funeral deal<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>mpetition and Markets Authority is<br />
(CMA) to examine the pr<strong>op</strong>osed transfer<br />
of funeral homes from Midcounties <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong><br />
to Central England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>. The pr<strong>op</strong>osed<br />
deal – involving 50 funeral homes, two<br />
vehicle logistics sites and 252 colleagues,<br />
which make up most of Midcounties’<br />
funeralcare business – was announced<br />
in June.<br />
Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> extends home delivery scheme<br />
Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has launched a new<br />
same-day delivery service on the Isle<br />
of Wight, which it says will create eight<br />
new jobs on the island. Offering a range<br />
of Isle of Wight produce, the service is<br />
run in partnership with Snappy Sh<strong>op</strong>per.<br />
Southern h<strong>op</strong>es to roll out the delivery<br />
service to the rest of the island on 13<br />
<strong>September</strong>.<br />
Scottish credit union to deliver <strong>Co</strong>vid support fund<br />
North Ayrshire <strong>Co</strong>uncil has pledged<br />
£150,000 through Kilwinning-based<br />
1st Alliance Credit Union to support<br />
vulnerable pe<strong>op</strong>le who have been<br />
financially disadvantaged as a result of the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>vid-19 pandemic. Available to families,<br />
citizens and communities, it is h<strong>op</strong>ed<br />
the scheme will help protect pe<strong>op</strong>le from<br />
high-cost payday lenders.<br />
Leeds Credit Union helps housing tenants save millions<br />
Leeds Credit Union has delivered a social<br />
impact worth almost £6m to residents<br />
in West Yorkshire, a new report shows.<br />
It works with tenants of Housing Leeds,<br />
helping them with money management<br />
and budgeting. Using the Housing<br />
Associations’ Charitable Trust Wellbeing<br />
Valuation, it is estimated that this adds up<br />
to £.8m between 2017 and <strong>2021</strong>.
12 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
AGRICULTURE<br />
Arla releases report on<br />
carbon footprints of its<br />
UK dairy farms<br />
The collective findings of the carbon<br />
footprints of 1,964 UK dairy farms have<br />
been released by the farmer-owned co-<strong>op</strong><br />
Arla, which says the data is being used to<br />
cut emissions from its milk production.<br />
The findings, summarised in a new<br />
report, A Sustainable Future for British<br />
Dairy, show that Arla’s UK farmers are<br />
producing milk with 1.13kg CO2e per kg of<br />
milk, around half the global average.<br />
It also details the most common areas of<br />
focus to reduce emissions further, and the<br />
emerging technologies being trialled.<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong> says the data will help it meet<br />
its targets of a 30% emissions reduction<br />
per kg of milk at farm-level by 2030, a first<br />
step on its journey to carbon net zero.<br />
Arla farmer and board director<br />
Arthur Fearnall said: “There are a lot<br />
of differences in how dairy is produced<br />
around the world. As a co-<strong>op</strong>erative,<br />
Arla farmers want to help the public<br />
understand dairy farming better. We have<br />
put a huge amount of time and investment<br />
into collating the data which we will now<br />
use to make decisions on farm.<br />
“I h<strong>op</strong>e our report is another step on that<br />
journey to provide better food education.<br />
We want the British public to feel the<br />
same sense of reassurance and pride<br />
about just how committed Arla farmers<br />
are to producing their dairy products as<br />
sustainably as possibly.”<br />
According to the report, Arla’s raw milk<br />
emissions come from six key areas:<br />
• cow digestion (46%)<br />
• cow feed (where and how it is produced)<br />
(37%)<br />
• manure handling (9%)<br />
• energy production and usage (5%)<br />
• emissions from peat soils (1%)<br />
• all other areas grouped together (2%).<br />
The report also finds that there is no one<br />
way to farm sustainably, and farmers who<br />
balance their resources successfully are<br />
those with the lowest emissions.<br />
The report highlights innovations on<br />
trial which have Arla involvement:<br />
• Research to identify how to quantify<br />
and speed up carbon sequestration<br />
(the process of carbon being taken out<br />
of the atmosphere by trees, grass or<br />
hedgerows), which will naturally offset<br />
some of Arla’s emissions in the future<br />
given 79% of Arla’s farm land is used to<br />
grow grass<br />
• Implementing precision slurry<br />
spreading techniques, currently used<br />
by 53% of UK farmers which can help<br />
reduce air born emissions of ammonia<br />
by between 30% and 90%<br />
• Supporting current research efforts<br />
across the scientific community to<br />
provide greater clarity around the<br />
difference in impact of methane vs CO2<br />
due to their lifespans, and the further<br />
consideration that needs to be given to<br />
the cycles of biogenic methane and how<br />
these are accounted for<br />
• Harnessing the power of slurry as a<br />
source of energy and fuel through<br />
anaerobic digestors on farm, and as a<br />
potential future fuel source for Arla’s<br />
milk tankers<br />
• Increasing the renewable energy<br />
produced on farm, with 27% of Arla<br />
farmers already producing green energy<br />
from wind or solar<br />
• Devel<strong>op</strong>ing and trialling new<br />
technologies that will continue to<br />
enhance animal welfare on farm such<br />
as Arla UK 360’s Happy cow measure<br />
and cow scanner trials<br />
Graham Wilkinson, group agriculture<br />
director for Arla Foods, said: “We know<br />
that to feed a growing p<strong>op</strong>ulation, we<br />
have to produce natural, nutritious and<br />
affordable food that is made in the most<br />
sustainable way. Dairy can and should<br />
be part of a sustainable diet and our<br />
new report is a major step forward in<br />
demonstrating just how much action is<br />
already underway across Arla farms as<br />
we move towards carbon net zero dairy<br />
production.<br />
“I’m really pleased that our farmer<br />
owners have collated this data and<br />
agreed to release it. All food production<br />
creates emissions, but our farmers are<br />
stepping up to help with the climate<br />
and environmental crisis we face. If we<br />
want more biodiversity, fewer emissions<br />
through natural processes and a reduced<br />
reliance on ultra-processed foods, then<br />
the only answer is to support British<br />
farmers, who already have many of the<br />
answers, but not always the financial<br />
resources to implement them.”<br />
Arla says the scheme is one of the world’s<br />
largest externally validated sets of carbon<br />
footprint data for farms. Since launching<br />
last year, 7,990 farms across seven<br />
Eur<strong>op</strong>ean countries have submitted data on<br />
203 questions covering livestock numbers,<br />
feed composition, cr<strong>op</strong> production,<br />
fertiliser use, manure handling, and use<br />
of electricity, fuel and renewable energy.<br />
This data has been validated by external<br />
assessors in every market, a process which<br />
will be repeated annually.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 13<br />
HEALTH<br />
Signalise co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
wins BSL NHS contract<br />
Signalise <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>, the multi-stakeholder<br />
platform co-<strong>op</strong> established in 2019 to<br />
revolutionise the booking of British Sign<br />
Language (BSL) Interpreters, has won the<br />
CCG <strong>Co</strong>ntract to deliver a BSL NHS Health<br />
interpreting service in Liverpool.<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong> created an online booking<br />
system designed entirely by its users,<br />
giving deaf pe<strong>op</strong>le choice and control over<br />
the interpreters they use.<br />
Signalise is co-owned and co-run by<br />
both members of the local deaf community<br />
and BSL/English interpreters, and any<br />
profit made is reinvested into the co-<strong>op</strong><br />
and its community. Because everything<br />
is run online, costs are kept down and<br />
interpreters are paid fairly.<br />
“At long last we have a co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
that really does listen and involve deaf<br />
members,” says co-<strong>op</strong> member Geraldine<br />
O’Halloran. “Our motto is ‘nothing about<br />
us without us’ and this means Signalise<br />
puts deaf clients at the very centre of the<br />
service. This has never happened before<br />
– deaf pe<strong>op</strong>le have a real <strong>op</strong>portunity to<br />
take back control and ensure we work<br />
with our interpreters, as partners, to get<br />
the service we need.”<br />
The framework agreement between<br />
Signalise and NHS Liverpool CCG is<br />
part of a wider programme to improve<br />
access to healthcare, and includes<br />
provision for other NHS partners from<br />
Merseyside and Cheshire to join the<br />
arrangements in the coming year. The<br />
new sign language services go live for<br />
GPs in Liverpool on 1 <strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong>.<br />
High profile supporters include John<br />
McDonnell MP and disability activist<br />
and author Ellen Clifford. And this<br />
summer the co-<strong>op</strong> raised £328,250 in a<br />
community share offer – £28,000 over its<br />
£300,000 target. Signalise was awarded<br />
funding by the Liverpool City Region<br />
Future Innovation Fund to devel<strong>op</strong> a VRS<br />
service (video interpreting), and they also<br />
received a £10,000 donation from the<br />
National Education Union (NEU).<br />
“We are delighted to be working with<br />
Liverpool CCG to deliver an accessible and<br />
user led provision,” added Ms O’Halloran.<br />
“Signalise <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> is a user-led co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
of deaf community members and<br />
local interpreters – we are equal partners<br />
and this means we can help to devel<strong>op</strong><br />
and deliver an accessible communication<br />
service for local NHS medical access.<br />
“Remember deaf pe<strong>op</strong>le are the experts<br />
of their own needs, we know what we<br />
need to get the right support.”<br />
Space to<br />
work<br />
Space to<br />
grow<br />
Space for<br />
change<br />
Leading the movement in workspaces for those who lead the change,<br />
with spaces currently available to rent<br />
Visit www.ethicalpr<strong>op</strong>erty.co.uk Email sales@ethicalpr<strong>op</strong>erty.co.uk or call 01865 207 810 to find out more
14 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
GLOBAL UPDATES<br />
USA<br />
Electric co-<strong>op</strong>s face ‘outrageous’ exit fees to leave Tri-State<br />
Rural electric co-<strong>op</strong>s fighting to leave<br />
the Tri-State Generation and Transmission<br />
Association so they can source cleaner<br />
energy have been told it will cost them<br />
billions of dollars between them in exit<br />
fees.<br />
Nine members of Tri-State have been<br />
trying to find out how much it will cost<br />
to leave the association. Under their<br />
membership terms they are required to<br />
buy 95% of their energy from Tri-State,<br />
which still generates a substantial amount<br />
of coal energy.<br />
Last month they received the estimates<br />
in a federal filing, submitted by Tri-State<br />
after it was criticised by the regulator, the<br />
Federal Energy Regulatory <strong>Co</strong>mmission<br />
(FERC). For two <strong>Co</strong>lorado co-<strong>op</strong>s which<br />
have been leading the exodus, United<br />
Power and La Plata Electric Association,<br />
these come in at $1.5bn and $449m<br />
respectively.<br />
Tri-State says its exit fees are based<br />
on whichever figure is higher out of the<br />
exiting co-<strong>op</strong>’s share of the utility’s debt,<br />
or the present value of all the electricity<br />
Tri-State would have sold to the co-<strong>op</strong> up<br />
until 2050. It says its remaining members<br />
must be left in the same financial position<br />
they would have enjoyed if no other co<strong>op</strong>s<br />
had left.<br />
Eric Frankowski, executive director of<br />
green campaign group Western Clean<br />
Energy Campaign, said the exit fees are<br />
“barriers to leaving” for the co-<strong>op</strong>s.<br />
“It is disappointing that it took us<br />
multiple years to get an exit charge from<br />
Tri-State and that they did so only under<br />
pressure from FERC,” said La Plata CEO<br />
Jessica Matlock, who branded the co-<strong>op</strong>’s<br />
fee “outrageous”.<br />
Tri-State, which supplies wholesale<br />
electricity to co-<strong>op</strong>s in <strong>Co</strong>lorado, New<br />
Mexico, Wyoming, and Nebraska, has<br />
also announced changes to make the exit<br />
process more transparent. It has scrapped<br />
a fee for co-<strong>op</strong>s asking for an exit estimate<br />
and will no longer give its board discretion<br />
over whether a co-<strong>op</strong> can leave.<br />
It is also making efforts to generate more<br />
renewable energy. Last <strong>September</strong>, it said<br />
it would close its coal plants in <strong>Co</strong>lorado<br />
and New Mexico and build a gigawatt of<br />
new wind and solar projects. Ray Gifford,<br />
former chair of the <strong>Co</strong>lorado PUC, and<br />
Matt Larson, a partner at Wilkinson<br />
Barker Knauer LLP, who are representing<br />
La Plata in its exit bid, have welcomed<br />
FERC’s ruling in an <strong>op</strong>inion piece for<br />
Utility Dive website, where they argue that<br />
the generation and transmission model<br />
for electric co-<strong>op</strong>s has long been in need<br />
of reform.<br />
They wrote: “For too long, distribution<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives across the country have<br />
felt pain … as many of them ineffectually<br />
pursue a different energy future for<br />
their customers – a future with lower<br />
costs, cleaner generation and increased<br />
flexibility.”<br />
The case comes as the wider energy<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> movement in the US continues a<br />
push for cleaner energy. A campaign is<br />
being mounted by news and consultancy<br />
sharable Shareable, the Rural Power<br />
<strong>Co</strong>alition and activist electric co-<strong>op</strong><br />
members, calling for $100bn in federal<br />
support to help the sector transition<br />
to renewables. “Low-income memberowners<br />
of these co-<strong>op</strong>eratives face three<br />
times the energy burden of their higherincome<br />
urban peers,” says Shareable.<br />
“Rural communities need the<br />
authorisation of $100bn in appr<strong>op</strong>riations<br />
for federally insured Hardship Loans<br />
from the Rural Utilities Service along with<br />
conditions for loan forgiveness akin to<br />
those offered in the CARES Act through<br />
the Small Business Administration.<br />
There is still reliance on coal among<br />
electric co-<strong>op</strong>s, however. In Michigan,<br />
Wolverine Power <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative – which<br />
comprises five electric co-<strong>op</strong>s – is being<br />
lobbied by environmental groups to break<br />
its contract with Ohio Valley Electric<br />
<strong>Co</strong>rporation, which uses two coal plants,<br />
or to persuade it to work more efficiently<br />
And in Minnesota, 27 of the 28 member<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives of Great River Energy have<br />
just approved the sale of the financially<br />
struggling <strong>Co</strong>al Creek power coal power<br />
plant in North Dakota to wholesale<br />
company Rainbow Energy Center – and<br />
have agreed to purchase electricity from<br />
it over the next ten years. One co-<strong>op</strong>,<br />
<strong>Co</strong>nnexus – the largest in the group -<br />
voted against.<br />
Great River has said it intends to source<br />
more wind energy; and Rainbow Energy<br />
says it is introducing carbon capture<br />
storage. But Margaret Levin, director of<br />
the Minnesota chapter of clean energy<br />
campaign group the Sierra Club, said the<br />
deal “sets the stage for an environmental<br />
and financial fiasco. There is no<br />
reasonable scenario where this ends well<br />
for consumers and our environment.”
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 15<br />
USA<br />
Plotting a brighter future of work: Worker-owned staffing agency<br />
carries out research into quality jobs<br />
A co-<strong>op</strong>erative training and staffing<br />
agency, which is expanding its <strong>op</strong>erations<br />
in San Francisco, California, has been<br />
carrying out research to find ways to<br />
improve job quality in an increasingly<br />
casualised economy.<br />
Underpinning the research by Turning<br />
Basin Labs is its employment agency role,<br />
<strong>op</strong>erating out of the city’s Bay Area. It<br />
says it aims to create value for progressive<br />
businesses – including Workforce<br />
Devel<strong>op</strong>ment Boards, restaurants and<br />
community colleges – “by sourcing,<br />
placing, and supporting the best, most<br />
diverse talent”.<br />
It also wants to help “temporary<br />
workers seeking stability”. It currently<br />
has 20 members, with approximately<br />
36 pe<strong>op</strong>le on the payroll across half a<br />
dozen organisations, including Moxie<br />
Bookkeeping, JVS.org, Irvine Foundation<br />
and Martinez Adult Education. Once<br />
employees have done 120 hours of work,<br />
they become a member of the co-<strong>op</strong> with<br />
voting rights.<br />
Alongside its work in the Bay Area, it<br />
has extended its reach as far as Minnesota,<br />
Georgia, Oregon, and Washington, DC.<br />
Last month, Turning Basin made a<br />
presentation at the Horizons conference,<br />
organised by JFF.org, a national nonprofit<br />
that drives change in the American<br />
workforce and education systems. It has<br />
been working with JFF to help drive better<br />
outcomes based on worker power, job<br />
quality and career devel<strong>op</strong>ment.<br />
Managing director Stephen Bediako<br />
told the event: “We see ourselves as<br />
very different from a traditional staffing<br />
agency … We help our workers with<br />
their tax filing, we provide a network of<br />
community and support, we provide an<br />
employment record service, we have an<br />
emphasis on diversity and inclusion, and<br />
learning and devel<strong>op</strong>ment.”<br />
Mr Bediako said the co-<strong>op</strong> wants to<br />
bring its principles to life in other areas –<br />
which is why it is carrying out its research<br />
to gain insights into workers’ experience<br />
and devel<strong>op</strong> their skills.<br />
Lead researcher Danny Spitzberg said<br />
JFF and TBL have spoken to workers<br />
across a number of sectors about their<br />
experience of work and found three<br />
categories of job quality: trapped and<br />
struggling; flexible but stuck; and happily<br />
invested.<br />
He said the research suggested that<br />
job quality is defined by “approaching<br />
some kind of economic ownership of the<br />
business, not just a feeling, and having<br />
some kind of career autonomy beyond<br />
the job”. Things to avoid include policing<br />
staff in the workplace and denying them<br />
<strong>op</strong>tions for professional growth, he<br />
added.<br />
Mr Spitzberg said employers already<br />
have a lot of obligations that can make<br />
the additional task of offering job quality<br />
a struggle – but businesses also want<br />
committed, entrepreneurial workers.<br />
“We are aiming above all to make it<br />
easier for employers to take advantage of<br />
these structures and of these benefits of<br />
quality jobs – with more quality and more<br />
ownership.”<br />
In a paper it produced last year for JFF,<br />
Quality Jobs, From the Worker Perspective,<br />
Turning Basin said its research has also<br />
seen it identify “employers that have<br />
found creative ways to advance worker<br />
power, improve job quality, and support<br />
career devel<strong>op</strong>ment for low-wage earners,<br />
with a particular attention to the needs of<br />
independent contractors”.<br />
It added: “Our aim was to determine<br />
what’s actionable for employers<br />
nationwide and then use the research<br />
to devel<strong>op</strong> an investment fund that can<br />
support the growth of these workercentric<br />
employment models.”<br />
Marti Shaw, one of the four workerresearchers<br />
who carried out the study,<br />
said the project had changed her own<br />
attitude to work. A personal trainer<br />
who had been laid off because of the<br />
pandemic, she had found work in an<br />
Amazon warehouse.<br />
She said the study meant she now<br />
viewed work in terms of empowerment.<br />
“For me, this work became personal,”<br />
she said. “One participant called me<br />
back to tell me how our interview about<br />
‘empowerment’ and ‘ownership’ totally<br />
changed her outlook.”<br />
Going forward, Turning Basin Labs<br />
wants to “reimagine career and career<br />
progression in a dynamic way”.<br />
It plans to “devel<strong>op</strong> a framework<br />
for better employment”, which offers<br />
autonomy and ownership instead of<br />
being police by employers and lacking<br />
<strong>op</strong>tions.<br />
“We will define what it means to<br />
invest in employment models, and for<br />
employers to invest in workers. One<br />
former receptionist said her last company<br />
saw her as ‘interchangeable’ and didn’t<br />
take any interest in her as a person. In<br />
contrast, a graphic designer told us that<br />
her company literally invests in her as a<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> owner and she sees a happy future<br />
with a living wage and benefits.”
16 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
USA<br />
Wave of federal<br />
acts could offer co-<strong>op</strong><br />
sector a springboard<br />
Federal lawmakers are working on a raft<br />
of new bills which could boost <strong>op</strong>erations<br />
in the co-<strong>op</strong> and credit union sectors.<br />
The reforms take in a number of areas<br />
of concern where the co-<strong>op</strong> movement<br />
is well-placed to take action, from<br />
rural broadband and renewable energy<br />
provision to financial inclusion and<br />
worker resilience.<br />
One step welcomed by the sector is a<br />
bill passed by the US House <strong>Co</strong>mmittee<br />
on Financial Services, ordering regulators<br />
to examine barriers to the creation of new<br />
credit unions.<br />
The Promoting New and Diverse<br />
Depository Institutions Act is supported<br />
by the Credit Union National Association<br />
(CUNA) and the National Association of<br />
Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU).<br />
It requires the National Credit Union<br />
Administration and other prudential<br />
regulators to conduct an 18-month study<br />
examining challenges prospective new<br />
depository institutions face. The regulators<br />
would also be tasked with devising a plan<br />
to encourage new financial institutions<br />
while promoting safety and soundness.<br />
“A challenge credit unions face in serving<br />
underserved and unbanked communities<br />
is the high regulatory burden to create<br />
new or de novo credit unions” reads the<br />
letter by CUNA’s CEO, Jim Nussle. “Prior<br />
to the Great Recession, an average of 7.7 de<br />
novo credit unions were created each year.<br />
However, in the years after, and in the wake<br />
of the implementation of Dodd-Frank, that<br />
average decreased to the creation of just 2.2<br />
de novo credit unions per year.”<br />
Innovation partnerships<br />
Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill to create new<br />
regional hubs of innovation across the US<br />
includes co-<strong>op</strong>eratives.<br />
Under the Regional Innovation Act, the<br />
secretary of commerce would be directed<br />
to create and promote regional innovation<br />
hubs via a grant programme. The bill<br />
also seeks to incentivise collaborative<br />
partnerships between local governments,<br />
colleges and universities, private<br />
industry, non-profits, and community<br />
organisations.<br />
During the markup of the bill,<br />
<strong>Co</strong>ngressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>osed an amendment that would<br />
strengthen support for co-<strong>op</strong>s. The<br />
amendment would allow co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
associations, co-<strong>op</strong>erative devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
centres, and other organisations to form<br />
consortia and act as innovation hubs. The<br />
hubs would provide, among other things,<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative technical assistance, access<br />
to finance, start-ups training and support<br />
for conversions to the co-<strong>op</strong>erative model.<br />
“Building community wealth is a key<br />
goal of this bill and my amendment seeks<br />
to reinforce that goal in a few different<br />
ways,” said <strong>Co</strong>ngressman Bowman. “If<br />
we want to democratise our economy and<br />
create new industries in way that brings<br />
everyone in, one of the best ways to do<br />
so is to put employees in the driver seat<br />
by giving them ownership and decisionmaking<br />
stakes in the companies where<br />
they invest their time and talent. My<br />
amendment encourages that model as<br />
well as co-<strong>op</strong>erative business in general.<br />
“In offering this amendment, I am<br />
pleased to find common ground with<br />
my colleagues across the aisle as well as<br />
those who represent rural communities.<br />
From rural electric co-<strong>op</strong>s to farmer co<strong>op</strong>eratives,<br />
some of the most exciting<br />
examples of economic democracy come<br />
from rural parts of the country and my<br />
amendment highlights that expertise.”<br />
The amended bill awaits consideration<br />
by the full US House of Representatives.<br />
Infrastructure upgrade<br />
Another bipartisan bill, approved by the<br />
Senate, looks at upgrading the national<br />
infrastructure and could provide billions<br />
of dollars for electric co-<strong>op</strong> priorities, says<br />
US sector body NCBA CLUSA.<br />
The fund would support devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
of broadband, electric vehicle charging<br />
networks and clean energy technology<br />
such as energy storage and carbon capture<br />
and other clean energy technologies.<br />
Electric co-<strong>op</strong>s have been identified as key<br />
players in rolling out these innovations<br />
into rural parts of the US.<br />
The bill must still be taken up by the<br />
House, which returned early from recess<br />
on 23 August.<br />
“Investing in our energy infrastructure<br />
is vital to ensuring that electric co<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
can continue to do what they<br />
do best: provide reliable, affordable power<br />
to 42 million Americans,” said Louis<br />
Finkel, NRECA’s senior vice president of<br />
government relations. “Passage of this bill<br />
is a great start. We’ll continue to work with
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 17<br />
<strong>Co</strong>ngress to press for more co-<strong>op</strong> priorities<br />
to be included in the bigger infrastructure<br />
packages that lawmakers are expected to<br />
take up later this year.”<br />
But NCBA CLUSA warns that the $550bn<br />
bill does not include the Flexible Financing<br />
for Rural America Act, which would<br />
allow co-<strong>op</strong>s to save more than $10bn<br />
by repricing their existing Rural Utilities<br />
Service debt at current low interest rates<br />
without prepayment penalties. It also<br />
does not include legislation to provide<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s with direct federal payments to<br />
devel<strong>op</strong> renewable energy and battery<br />
storage projects.<br />
Inclusion of those pr<strong>op</strong>osals was<br />
hampered by the absence of tax or<br />
agriculture sections, it says.<br />
NRECA, the sector body for the country’s<br />
rural electric co-<strong>op</strong>s, says will continue<br />
to push for those two t<strong>op</strong> priorities to<br />
be included in separate infrastructure<br />
legislation expected later this year.<br />
Worker protections<br />
Also working its way through the<br />
legislature is the Emergency Economic<br />
and Workforce System Resiliency Act,<br />
introduced on 16 July by Representative<br />
Adam Smith (D-Washington).<br />
The bill will provide funding to state<br />
and local workforce agencies to prevent<br />
layoffs, support displaced workers, and<br />
collaborate with employers to devel<strong>op</strong><br />
strategies to preserve and create jobs.<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>vid-19 has significantly impacted<br />
our workforce and left many workers<br />
experiencing joblessness or employment<br />
instability,” said <strong>Co</strong>ngressman Smith.<br />
“These disruptions have underscored the<br />
need for an updated workforce training<br />
system that better prepares our workers for<br />
changing job markets and supports them<br />
in times of disruption. Current economic<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment programmes, workforce<br />
training programmes, and unemployment<br />
benefits programmes are often siloed and<br />
focus on workers already out of work.<br />
“This bill will provide critical funding<br />
to state and local workforce agencies to<br />
prevent layoffs and support workers and<br />
firms as jobs and industries encounter<br />
transitions. Through increased resources<br />
for training, upskilling, and piloting<br />
innovative incumbent worker training<br />
models, this bill will help workers<br />
devel<strong>op</strong> and stay current on the skills and<br />
credentials necessary to maintain highquality<br />
jobs with good wages and benefits.”<br />
The Act would focus on prevention by<br />
promoting a model of investing in workers<br />
and firms prior to layoffs and sector-wide<br />
changes in workforce needs, unlike the<br />
current workforce system, which focuses<br />
heavily on helping those already out<br />
of work. As part of this, the bill creates<br />
a five-year funding stream to state and<br />
local workforce boards, which can be<br />
used for investing in new programmes to<br />
prevent layoffs, assist displaced workers,<br />
assist firms in transitioning to employee<br />
ownership or worker co-<strong>op</strong>erative models,<br />
and support employers in preserving<br />
existing jobs and creating new ones.<br />
Additional funding would also be allocated<br />
for five-year pilot programmes for states to<br />
implement innovative workforce systemwide<br />
layoff aversion models.<br />
The bill has the backing of a number<br />
of co-<strong>op</strong>erative apexes, including NCBA-<br />
CLUSA, whose president and CEO Doug<br />
O’Brien said: “NCBA is proud to endorse<br />
the Emergency Economic and Workforce<br />
Resiliency Act and appreciates the<br />
leadership from <strong>Co</strong>ngressman Smith<br />
and Senator Klobuchar (D-Minnesota).<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives are an important tool<br />
toward sustainable and stable workforce<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment and economic growth, and<br />
we commend Rep. Smith for recognising<br />
the value for workers, businesses and<br />
communities. “By increasing financing<br />
and technical assistance resources for<br />
p The infrastructure bill could help co-<strong>op</strong>s supply EV charging points<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives through the Workforce<br />
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA),<br />
this legislation will not only help reduce<br />
or avert layoffs, but also give more pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
the <strong>op</strong>portunity to own and control the<br />
businesses where they work and use,<br />
and we look forward to working with Sen<br />
Klobuchar and Rep Smith to advance<br />
this legislation.”<br />
The US Federation of Worker<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives (USFWC) said it was “proud to<br />
support this legislation, which prioritises<br />
workers who have been deeply impacted<br />
by the <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 pandemic by supporting<br />
at-risk workers, employers, and industry<br />
through strengthening state workforce<br />
systems and industry-sector supports.”<br />
The Democracy at Work Institute,<br />
which was created by the US Federation of<br />
Worker <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives (USFWC) to ensure<br />
that worker co-<strong>op</strong>erative devel<strong>op</strong>ment in<br />
economically and socially marginalised<br />
communities is adequately supported,<br />
effective, and strategically directed, also<br />
supports the legislation.<br />
Melissa Hoover, executive director<br />
at the Institute, said: “The Emergency<br />
Economic and Workforce Resiliency<br />
Act can play a critical part in reducing<br />
unemployment and creating a stronger<br />
and more equitable foundation for the<br />
American worker by making the tool of<br />
worker ownership a more widely used<br />
strategy for job quality and retention.”<br />
The Bill is due to be introduced in the<br />
Senate by Sen Amy Klobuchar.
18 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
EUROPE<br />
RESco<strong>op</strong> responds to EC draft state aid guidelines on green energy<br />
The Eur<strong>op</strong>ean federation of citizen energy<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives (RESco<strong>op</strong>) has responded to<br />
the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean <strong>Co</strong>mmission’s consultation<br />
on the draft revised Guidelines on State<br />
aid for Environmental Protection and<br />
Energy (CEEAG) 2014-2020.<br />
Published in June, the draft guidelines<br />
set out the conditions under which<br />
state aid for energy and environmental<br />
protection can be allowed under the<br />
Single Market.<br />
RESco<strong>op</strong>, which is a network of 1.900<br />
Eur<strong>op</strong>ean energy co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and their<br />
1.25 million citizens, argues the new draft<br />
guidelines fail to align with the EU’s the<br />
Clean Energy for All Eur<strong>op</strong>eans legislative<br />
package (CEP).<br />
“The legal framework for RECs created<br />
by the CEP intended to remedy market<br />
failures and create favourable policy<br />
and legal environments so that RECs can<br />
grow at the national level. Unfortunately,<br />
the new draft Guidelines on State aid for<br />
climate, environmental protection and<br />
energy (CEEAG) do little to align with the<br />
CEP’s approach.<br />
“The CEEAG need to provide clear<br />
and positive guidance, so that Member<br />
States are able to innovate in designing<br />
renewables support schemes that can<br />
help jump-start community ownership<br />
of renewables production in their energy<br />
markets,” warns the apex.<br />
RESco<strong>op</strong> also pointed out that the<br />
existing 2014 Guidelines on State aid for<br />
Environmental Protection and Energy<br />
(EEAG) had contributed towards a<br />
number of barriers to the devel<strong>op</strong>ment of<br />
renewable energy co-<strong>op</strong>eratives (RECs),<br />
such as an uneven level playing field for<br />
RECs due to an emphasis on competitive<br />
bidding for renewables support and an<br />
“insufficient recognition of the different<br />
factual and legal situation of smaller<br />
and non-commercial market actors, in<br />
particular RECs.”<br />
The apex adds that the draft guidelines<br />
do not acknowledge the market failures<br />
that prevent communities from taking<br />
more ownership in the renewables sector<br />
or take into account the challenges small<br />
and non-commercial market actors face to<br />
access market-based competitive bidding<br />
procedures.<br />
It also argues that the guidance should<br />
“balance cost-efficiency and other marketbased<br />
outcomes against other social policy<br />
considerations such as inclusiveness and<br />
public acceptance”.<br />
To address these issues, RESco<strong>op</strong><br />
suggests, among others, dedicated<br />
provisions on RECs acknowledging their<br />
unique market position and challenges<br />
as non-commercial market actors;<br />
increased thresholds to exempt RECs<br />
and other small renewables production<br />
installations from having to participate<br />
in competitive bidding procedures; clear<br />
and concrete guidance to help Member<br />
States integrate RECs into their support<br />
schemes; and simpler administrative<br />
burdens on Member States that want to<br />
create dedicated support for RECs in their<br />
national renewables support scheme.<br />
The guidelines should also recognise the<br />
social impacts on local communities from<br />
renewable energy projects, and establish<br />
supportive provisions on the integration<br />
of social criteria into competitive bidding<br />
procedures for renewables, adds RESco<strong>op</strong>.<br />
RESco<strong>op</strong>’s reaction echoed that of the<br />
Eur<strong>op</strong>ean <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Power <strong>Co</strong>alition,<br />
a network of over 40 associations,<br />
which has also criticised the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmission for ignoring Renewable<br />
Energy <strong>Co</strong>mmunities in its latest draft<br />
state aid guidelines.<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>alition wants the draft guidelines<br />
changed to include provisions and<br />
references to RECs to make sure that<br />
competition law supports the green<br />
transition, rather than forming a barrier<br />
to it.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 19<br />
NEW ZEALAND<br />
Fonterra scraps<br />
coal power at cheese<br />
plant in climate drive<br />
p Fonterra’s team at the Stirling plant<br />
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has<br />
announced plans to phase out coal use at<br />
its Stirling plant in Otago.<br />
The cheese plant, which plans to be<br />
coal free by August next year, will replace<br />
coal with wood biomass and become<br />
Fonterra’s first 100% renewable thermal<br />
energy site.<br />
Fonterra plans to replicate the initiative,<br />
as part of its ambitions to get out of coal<br />
altogether by 2037. Eight out of its 29 sites<br />
are still using coal.<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong>erative says that switching to<br />
wood biomass will cut the site’s annual<br />
emissions by 18,500 tonnes of CO2.<br />
Fonterra general manager (<strong>op</strong>erations,<br />
Lower South Island) Richard Gray says<br />
this is another huge decarbonisation<br />
milestone for the co-<strong>op</strong>.<br />
“Sustainability is at the heart of our<br />
strategy, and this project is something<br />
that will be good for the environment and<br />
local community,” he said.<br />
“As well as the site being coal-free there<br />
are additional environmental benefits,<br />
including a reduction in wastewater,<br />
noise, solid waste to landfill and air<br />
discharge emissions.<br />
“There are also economic benefits<br />
– the installation will contribute more<br />
than NZ$10m into the region, along with<br />
supporting an estimated 10 jobs in the<br />
wood biomass industry.”<br />
Fonterra has undertaken two other<br />
fuel-switching projects over the past<br />
three years at its Te Awamutu and<br />
Brightwater sites.<br />
Impact <strong>Co</strong>nference to feature training course for execs<br />
The International Centre for <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Management at Saint Mary’s University<br />
in Canada is offering a new executive<br />
education course at the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Impact <strong>Co</strong>nference, organised by US<br />
sector body NCBA CLUSA. It will cover<br />
all aspects of the co-<strong>op</strong>erative identity,<br />
offering a range of tools and case studies.<br />
More information at ncbaclusa.co<strong>op</strong><br />
Canadian co-<strong>op</strong>s want a higher profile for the model<br />
Poor awareness of the co-<strong>op</strong> model is<br />
the most pressing issue for the sector,<br />
a survey finds. Other concerns reported<br />
to the Canadian Centre for the Study of<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives include demutualisation<br />
risks, difficulty in accessing finance, and<br />
poor understanding of co-<strong>op</strong>s among<br />
leaders hired from conventional<br />
business. uNew Economical<br />
demutualises, p40-41<br />
Mexican cartels using fishery co-<strong>op</strong>s to move drugs<br />
Criminal groups in Mexico are said to be<br />
using fishery co-<strong>op</strong>eratives to transport<br />
drugs.<br />
A report by newspaper El Universal<br />
revealed that local gangs are setting up fake<br />
fishing co-<strong>op</strong>eratives in the states Chiapas,<br />
Oaxaca y Guerrero, in southern Mexico,<br />
and use registered vessels to travel to collect<br />
drugs from <strong>Co</strong>lombia and Ecuador.<br />
Grocery co-<strong>op</strong> network launches online retail platform<br />
National <strong>Co</strong>+<strong>op</strong> Grocers (NCG) has teamed<br />
up with e-commerce platform Mercato to<br />
provide its member network of grocery<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s with digital capabilities, such as<br />
online ordering and delivery. Mercato says<br />
it is creating a customised platform where<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> sh<strong>op</strong>pers can use their member<br />
number when purchasing items online.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Housing Ireland creates 454 new homes<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Housing Ireland (CHI) has<br />
created 454 homes in 2020, according to<br />
its latest annual report. A federation of co<strong>op</strong>s<br />
with 14 affiliated societies, CHI works<br />
with local and national government,<br />
housebuyers, tenants and devel<strong>op</strong>ers.<br />
The report came as it launched its Kildare<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment of 80 homes in Loughlion<br />
Green, its largest to date.
20 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
IVORY COAST<br />
Fairtrade helps cocoa farmers lift income by 85% in four years<br />
p Fairtrade farmers collect cocoa pods at harvest<br />
A household income survey by Fairtrade<br />
International found that Fairtrade<br />
farmers in Côte d’Ivoire have significantly<br />
boosted their income over the last four<br />
years.<br />
The survey collected data through<br />
online interviews with farmers and a<br />
survey of management staff of the farmer<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives in Côte d’Ivoire.<br />
The survey found that the average<br />
Ivorian cocoa farmer annual household<br />
income grew by 85%, from US$2,670<br />
(£1,920) in 2016/17 to $4,937 (£3,552)<br />
in 2020/21, a surge it attributes to<br />
increased revenue from cocoa sales and<br />
diversification through in-kind and offfarm<br />
incomes. For example, in 2016-2017<br />
the average farmer earned 74% of their<br />
household income from cocoa; today that<br />
figure is 58%.<br />
The research also revealed that 61% of<br />
the farmers’ households in the study were<br />
living above the extreme poverty line,<br />
compared to 42% based on data collected<br />
in 2016/17 and published in 2018.<br />
“This increase in household income<br />
is good news for these Fairtrade farmer<br />
households in challenging times,” said<br />
Jon Walker, Fairtrade’s senior adviser on<br />
cocoa. “However, far too many farmer<br />
households are still not earning a living<br />
income. With continued pressure on<br />
prices, high national production and<br />
suppressed global demand, brands and<br />
retailers can step in and make further<br />
progress on living incomes through<br />
long-term contracts, stable prices and<br />
programmatic support focusing on farm<br />
efficiency and diversification. There is<br />
still much more to be done.”<br />
The report found that some co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
performed better than others in the<br />
distribution of the Fairtrade Minimum<br />
Price (FMP) differential (ranging from<br />
100% of farmers who received the<br />
payment for the best performing co-<strong>op</strong>, to<br />
12% for the lowest performing. Fairtrade<br />
says it will take action to ensure that<br />
future payments are made in a timely<br />
manner and farmers are more clearly<br />
informed about it.<br />
Another finding was that for 64.3%<br />
of farmers, the FT premium makes up<br />
less than 2% of their income, meaning<br />
they have become less reliant on the<br />
premium because the average household<br />
income has increased. One possible<br />
explanation is that farmers have received<br />
more support from the premium in the<br />
form of services and training instead of<br />
payments.<br />
Fairtrade concluded that diversification<br />
strategies, premiums and trainings could<br />
drive further improvements.<br />
USA<br />
Land O’Lakes reports doubled half-year<br />
earnings as it marks centenary<br />
US dairy co-<strong>op</strong> Land O’Lakes has reported<br />
a 9% increase in half-year sales of US$8bn,<br />
with net earnings up 99% to $236m.<br />
The results came in as the co-<strong>op</strong> marked<br />
its 100th anniversary with the unveiling<br />
of bronze statue Rooted in Tomorrow. The<br />
sculpture, modelled after an image of a<br />
Land O’Lakes member and grandchild<br />
walking the farm, “symbolises how our<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative is celebrating a century of<br />
innovation and fostering relationships”,<br />
wrote communications manager Brooke<br />
Dillon in a blog post.<br />
The statue is the work of Minnesota artist<br />
Deb Zeller, the granddaughter of a former<br />
Land O’Lakes farmer. “This <strong>op</strong>portunity<br />
was inspired by many recollections of<br />
working around our farm with my dad, a<br />
proud Land O’Lakes dairy man,” said Ms<br />
Zeller. “In farming, we say we manage so<br />
the next generations can thrive. I see this<br />
work telling that story — the little girl is<br />
leading the family farm into the future,<br />
encouraged by the strength and character<br />
of those who raised her there.”<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong> said its strong financial<br />
performance “reflects strength in cr<strong>op</strong><br />
inputs and animal nutrition and higher<br />
pricing across the portfolio to offset rising<br />
input and supply chain costs.<br />
“Net sales accelerated in the second<br />
quarter as farmers invested in their cr<strong>op</strong>s<br />
and animals,” it added. “The company<br />
continued to leverage its differentiated<br />
brands and reported stronger performance<br />
across all business units.”<br />
But president and CEO Beth Ford<br />
warned that the coming third quarter<br />
“could be our toughest year-over-year<br />
comparison in our historically smallest<br />
quarter, as during 2020, <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 drove<br />
above normal retail purchasing.<br />
“I’m proud of the team that continues<br />
to lead strong performance, both in sales<br />
and in voice.”
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 21<br />
JORDAN<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s put in the driving seat for decent work<br />
Jordan plans to use co-<strong>op</strong>eratives as a tool<br />
to drive decent work and productivity in<br />
different economic sectors in the country.<br />
The plans are laid out in the new<br />
national strategy devel<strong>op</strong>ed by Jordan<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>rporation (JCC) and the<br />
International Labour Organization (ILO).<br />
The strategy was launched at an event<br />
featuring prime minister Bisher Al-<br />
Khasawneh on 3 July, the International<br />
Day of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives.<br />
The event was attended by other highlevel<br />
government officials, including the<br />
minister of agriculture Khaled Hneifat; the<br />
director general of the Jordan <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>Co</strong>rporation, Abdel Fattah Al Shalabi;<br />
and ILO deputy regional director for Arab<br />
states, Frank Hagemann.<br />
“There is a need to devel<strong>op</strong> the<br />
Jordanian co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement, due<br />
to its importance in contributing to the<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment of local communities, and<br />
to devel<strong>op</strong> the tools and means to bring<br />
about change towards a co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement that is more widespread and<br />
more influential in Jordan’s society,”<br />
said Mr Hneifat at the launch. “The ILO<br />
considers co-<strong>op</strong>eratives as critical in<br />
advancing its mandate for social justice,<br />
and the ILO has supported co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment for 100 years.<br />
“We have been working closely with<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement in Jordan<br />
to strengthen its capacity to advance<br />
livelihood <strong>op</strong>portunities for Jordanian,<br />
refugee, and migrant women and men,<br />
particularly those employed in the<br />
agricultural sector.”<br />
While devel<strong>op</strong>ing the strategy,<br />
JCC engaged with a national steering<br />
committee, which included representatives<br />
of key ministries and co-<strong>op</strong>erative experts.<br />
The five-year strategic document aims<br />
to achieve three outcomes: a conducive<br />
environment for the Jordanian co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement; an efficient service<br />
infrastructure for co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and<br />
unions; and autonomous, self-reliant co<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
providing efficient services to<br />
their members.<br />
“The strategy represents a new start for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative work and the co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement in Jordan. It ad<strong>op</strong>ts several<br />
outputs, the most important of which is the<br />
existence of an enabling environment for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and which includes revising<br />
legislation that govern co-<strong>op</strong>erative work,<br />
in addition to establishing autonomous<br />
and self-reliant co-<strong>op</strong>eratives based on co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
principles and values that serve<br />
their members,” said JCC director general<br />
Abdel Fattah Al Shalabi.<br />
The strategy was devel<strong>op</strong>ed with<br />
the technical and financial support<br />
from the ILO in Jordan as part of under<br />
PROSPECTS, a four-year programme led<br />
by the government of the Netherlands, in<br />
close collaboration with the ILO’s Global<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Unit (COOP)<br />
“Advancing decent work <strong>op</strong>portunities<br />
is one of the main aims of Dutch<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment programming in Jordan,”<br />
said the chargé d’affaires of the Embassy<br />
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E.<br />
Mr. Dolf Hogewoning.<br />
“The launch of the national strategy<br />
for the co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement signifies a<br />
milestone in strengthening co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
to ensure decent job creation and work<br />
across the agricultural value chain. The<br />
Netherlands is proud to support the<br />
Government of Jordan in the devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
and implementation of this work through<br />
the PROSPECTS partnership.”<br />
SOUTH SUDAN<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Bank reports increase in half-year profit<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Bank of South Sudan says its<br />
net profit for the first six months of the<br />
year has grown 2.3% to Sh7.4bn (£40m).<br />
It says the growth comes a 20% increase<br />
in total <strong>op</strong>erating income – made up of<br />
interest income and non-interest income<br />
– to Sh29.2bn (£160m).<br />
Net interest income grew by 18%, with<br />
an 11% expansion in the loan book, while<br />
non-interest income rose 24%. This was<br />
supported by the bank’s Mco-<strong>op</strong> Cash<br />
mobile wallet has given out loans valued<br />
at around Sh5.6bn (£30m) a month.<br />
Operating expenses rose 28% to<br />
Sh18.7bn (£100m) on account of a 123%<br />
growth in provisioning for loan defaults.<br />
CEO Gideon Muriuki said the increase<br />
in default provision was made to allow<br />
for challenges posed to customers by<br />
the pandemic – adding that customers<br />
have resumed payments on most of the<br />
restructured loans.<br />
The bank is a joint venture between the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Bank of Kenya with the government<br />
of South Sudan, which has just been<br />
extended by three years.<br />
The partners formed the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Bank of South Sudan in 2013, with the<br />
Kenyan banking multinational taking a<br />
controlling 51% stake. The government<br />
took the remaining 49%, which it will<br />
hold in trust and later transfer to the<br />
national co-<strong>op</strong> movement.
22 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
MEET...<br />
Om Devi Malla<br />
Vice chair of Nepal’s co-<strong>op</strong><br />
federation and ICA global board<br />
member<br />
Om Devi Malla is a member of the legislative Parliament of Nepal,<br />
vice-chairperson of National <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Federation of Nepal,<br />
and sits on the global board of the International <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Alliance.<br />
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE<br />
CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT?<br />
My inner sense of mutual help and co-<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
pushed me to be a co-<strong>op</strong>erator. In my preliminary<br />
working life, I was involved in the private business<br />
sector with my family. <strong>Co</strong>incidentally, I came<br />
across the co-<strong>op</strong>erative activities with my seniors<br />
who inspired me to start a co-<strong>op</strong>erative and extend<br />
collaboration among ourselves. The co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement is a movement of pe<strong>op</strong>le, its centre is<br />
its members. To be involved in the co-<strong>op</strong>erative is<br />
to serve members. It is a collective way of helping<br />
each other. I found the co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement to<br />
be a medium of a socialist society with democratic<br />
norms and values.<br />
WHO HAS ENCOURAGED YOUR CO-OP JOURNEY?<br />
When I joined the co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement in 1996,<br />
my family members and friends were my supporters.<br />
But gradually I got involved with the National<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Federation (NCF) where I met Deepak<br />
Prakash Baskota, then chair of the federation, who<br />
encouraged me. In 2005 I went to India to study for a<br />
diploma in co-<strong>op</strong>erative education and management<br />
and met Savitri Singh, the director of National<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Union of India; she motivated me to<br />
continue with the movement. Dame Pauline Green,<br />
former president of the International <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
My inner sense of mutual help and<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eration pushed me to be a<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erator<br />
Alliance, is another role model who inspired me<br />
more to be actively involved.<br />
NEPAL HAS RECENTLY LAUNCHED A UNIVERSITY<br />
DEGREE IN CO-OPS. HOW DID THIS COME ABOUT?<br />
[This degree] is the result of many years of effort.<br />
When I studied in India, the idea of a similar course<br />
in Nepal came to mind; I started lobbying for it, but<br />
there was no policy to back it up at the time. The<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> movement of Nepal was also lobbying the<br />
government and the political parties to recognise<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong>erative model for economic devel<strong>op</strong>ment;<br />
this was achieved in the interim constitution of<br />
Nepal 2007, and the first national co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
policy was announced by the government in 2012.<br />
National <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Policy explicitly says<br />
that co-<strong>op</strong>eratives will be taught at school<br />
and university level, but we struggled to make<br />
the formal arrangement. A team from Nepal<br />
led by myself with the dean of management<br />
from Tribhuvan University and others visited<br />
universities in India where the co-<strong>op</strong> model has<br />
been taught for a long time. It was a breakthrough<br />
event for introducing the co-<strong>op</strong>erative course in<br />
grades 9-12 (secondary level) in Nepal; now the<br />
NCF has made a memorandum of understanding<br />
with the Tribhuvan University to launch an MBA in<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s and entrepreneurship. Next we are focusing<br />
on the managerial level and are devel<strong>op</strong>ing diploma<br />
level skill-oriented academic and nonacademic<br />
courses in collaboration with the universities.<br />
YOU ARE ALSO AN MP. HOW DO YOU SEE THE<br />
ROLE OF LEGISLATION IN ENABLING CO-OPS?<br />
We have made several efforts to get co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
recognised as a pillar of economic devel<strong>op</strong>ment
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 23<br />
and as a means of attaining the goal of socialist<br />
society in the new constitution of Nepal. As a<br />
member of the constituent I had made personal<br />
efforts to make this happen. Secondly, with the<br />
then chairman of NCF and constituent assembly<br />
member Keshav Badal, I worked on the change in<br />
parliamentary committees. So, despite some room<br />
for further improvement, we have put our best<br />
effort to include many good provisions for the co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
promotion in the New <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Act<br />
2017 and <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Regulation 2019.<br />
For example, we put 33% mandatory reservation<br />
for female participation board representation.<br />
However, there are other several cross cutting<br />
laws that need to be amended to increase the<br />
contribution of co-<strong>op</strong>s in agri enterprise and<br />
medium and large industries.<br />
The lesson we have learnt for fostering an<br />
enabling environment for co-<strong>op</strong>s is to continuously<br />
lobby and advocate with the government and other<br />
stakeholders.<br />
HOW HAVE NEPALESE CO-OPS BEEN SUPPORTED<br />
DURING COVID-19?<br />
The Nepalese co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement has tried<br />
its very best to service our members affected by<br />
the pandemic. During lockdown, co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
delivered doorstep services. Because of the closure<br />
of small and medium enterprises, our members<br />
could not deposit their regular savings or repay<br />
instalments in time. This affected cash flow and<br />
other financial indicators, so we lobbied for the<br />
extension of payment periods, discounted interest<br />
and penalties, and rearranged the loan structure<br />
through several policy measures.<br />
WHAT IS THE SITUATION OF WOMEN IN THE<br />
NEPALESE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT?<br />
In Nepal, women make up more than 56% of co-<strong>op</strong><br />
members, but hold less than 40% of the leadership<br />
roles. <strong>Co</strong>nsidering women’s inclusion in co<strong>op</strong>eratives,<br />
we managed to reserve 33% of seats for<br />
women in the different committees of co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
through the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Act 2017 – but the challenge<br />
is still there. Many co-<strong>op</strong>eratives have not changed<br />
their bylaws in line with the spirit of co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
act and regulation. Women co-<strong>op</strong>erators should<br />
come forward to enjoy their rights and duties. They<br />
should be proactive. Nobody will grant them the<br />
benefits – it should be grasped. Although the legal<br />
environment is favourable, there is still a lack of<br />
knowledge in a largely patriarchal society. We are<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ing women empowerment programmes<br />
to give women the tools to be independent and<br />
empowered economically, socially and culturally.<br />
HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF THE CO-OP<br />
MOVEMENT IN NEPAL?<br />
Very bright. The co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement was<br />
initiated by the executive government order in<br />
1956 for the support of flood-stricken pe<strong>op</strong>le. Later<br />
the government enacted the co-<strong>op</strong>erative act and<br />
institutionalised co-<strong>op</strong>erative devel<strong>op</strong>ment. The<br />
government started to write co-<strong>op</strong>erative plans<br />
from its 10th five-year plan. Now we have the 15th<br />
five-year plan, again including co-<strong>op</strong> devel<strong>op</strong>ment.<br />
The most important thing is to have co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
in the constitution as one of the pillars of economic<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment. This all shows the full commitment<br />
of the government to promote co-<strong>op</strong>eratives.<br />
But we have to show our sincerity towards<br />
maintaining co-<strong>op</strong>erative principles and values,<br />
and show our commitment in keeping good<br />
governance in co-<strong>op</strong>eratives.<br />
To grow the sector, we must empower co<strong>op</strong>erators<br />
and devel<strong>op</strong> a transparent and healthy<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> movement by implementing standardised<br />
monitoring indicators. It doesn’t matter how many<br />
members, savings and share accounts we have<br />
unless it positively affects the living standards<br />
and lives of co-<strong>op</strong> members. So we have to be<br />
serious about uplifting their living standard<br />
through different socio-economic activities while<br />
also devel<strong>op</strong>ing a self-sustainable co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement.<br />
I am trying my best to increase the number of<br />
young members and women members because<br />
I believe young pe<strong>op</strong>le are good ambassadors<br />
for the change in society – and women must be<br />
economically self-sustained.<br />
I appeal to all national, regional and international<br />
organisations to make a common effort for attaining<br />
the self-sustained and good governed co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement around the globe.
24 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
YOUR VIEWS<br />
THE BRITISH FEDERATION OF YOUNG<br />
COOPERATORS (BFYC, CO-OP NEWS,<br />
AUGUST <strong>2021</strong>)<br />
I remember the BFYC – I was chair of the<br />
Chelmsford Star <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Society branch for<br />
a couple of years in the early 60s. We went<br />
to a couple of weekend schools/meetings,<br />
one at a co-<strong>op</strong> youth residential centre in<br />
Sussex, the other in the Peak District.<br />
As a result of this practical experience,<br />
and the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Union courses I took over<br />
six or seven years, I won a scholarship to<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>Co</strong>llege at Stanford Hall in 1962.<br />
There, as well as completing management<br />
courses and a teaching course, I was chair<br />
of the students’ branch of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Have your say<br />
Add your comments to our stories<br />
online at thenews.co<strong>op</strong>, get in touch<br />
via social media, or send us a letter.<br />
If sending a letter, please include<br />
your address and contact number.<br />
Letters may be edited and no longer<br />
than 350 words.<br />
Party. Sixty years later I am still involved<br />
with co-<strong>op</strong> societies and the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Party.<br />
Societies today should do more to<br />
educate their staff and members about<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong>erative model. Once they know<br />
there is a very successful alternative to<br />
capitalism, they will be more involved.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erators have been saying that co<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
should be taught to all school<br />
and college students for the last 100 years.<br />
Sadly with no response. Information<br />
needs to be distributed to all schools and<br />
colleges and they should cover all types of<br />
UK co-<strong>op</strong>s not just the retail societies.<br />
John Harrington<br />
Via Facebook<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong>, Holyoake<br />
House, Hanover Street,<br />
Manchester M60 0AS<br />
letters@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
@co<strong>op</strong>news<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong><br />
PAUL ELLIS STEPPING DOWN (P10)<br />
This is a tremendous lifetime achievement<br />
from Paul – the longest serving CEO in the<br />
sector. Another example of sustainability<br />
from the wonderful Ecology Building<br />
Society!<br />
Helen Ashley Taylor<br />
Via Twitter<br />
BCCM LAUNCHES TRAINING<br />
PROGRAMMES FOR CO-OPERATIVE<br />
LAWYERS AND ACCOUNTANTS<br />
[Professional co-<strong>op</strong>erative training<br />
programmes] are badly needed in Ireland<br />
too. I regularly speak to co-<strong>op</strong>s that<br />
have been ill-advised based on advisors<br />
treating them as either an investor<br />
oriented firm, or a nonprofit...<br />
Sam Toland<br />
Via Twitter<br />
OBITUARY:<br />
Derek Oldham<br />
Derek Oldham, a driving force behind the<br />
success of Penrith <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Society,<br />
has died at the age of 92.<br />
Mr Oldham was general manager<br />
at the society from 1961 until 1991<br />
and oversaw major improvements at<br />
a number of its sh<strong>op</strong>s in Cumbria,<br />
including the devel<strong>op</strong>ment of the<br />
premises in Burrowgate, Penrith, into<br />
a supermarket and department store.<br />
Penrith <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> had formed in 1890; it<br />
merged with Scotmid <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative in<br />
2013, and rebranded as the Lakes &<br />
Dales <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative.<br />
Born in Rusholme, Manchester, to<br />
Phyllis and James Oldham, he qualified<br />
as an accountant and worked for the co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement around Lancashire<br />
and Yorkshire.<br />
He married Doreen Lees, from<br />
Longsight, in 1953 and became manager<br />
of the Great Moor co-<strong>op</strong>, in Stockport,<br />
and later the general manager in Penrith.<br />
The next 30 years saw the Penrith<br />
society enjoy great success, with Derek<br />
overseeing devel<strong>op</strong>ments such as the<br />
building of new premises for the Shap<br />
and Keswick branches, and the creation<br />
in Penrith of a large store in Burrowgate<br />
where there had been a series of small<br />
sh<strong>op</strong>s. The society also had a number<br />
of smaller sh<strong>op</strong>s and ran mobile sh<strong>op</strong>s<br />
along with milk and coal rounds.<br />
Away from his work – to which he<br />
was highly dedicated, Mr Oldham was<br />
a founder member of Penrith Lions Club<br />
and twice served as its president. He<br />
also helped to form a meningitis support<br />
group in the Penrith area, and organised<br />
fundraising – including through a 1981<br />
football match between the Penrith club<br />
and Manchester City, who were FA Cup<br />
finalists that year, for which Penrith<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Society provided financial<br />
support.<br />
He was a keen Manchester City<br />
supporter, and played table tennis,<br />
badminton, squash and lawn tennis,<br />
serving as chair of the Penrith Tennis<br />
Club, of which he and Doreen were<br />
members.<br />
Derek Oldham is survived by his<br />
wife Doreen, children Jill, Janine and<br />
Jonathan, two grandchildren and two<br />
great-grandchildren.
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Women’s Voices is a series of<br />
conversations with women, who will<br />
share what has motivated them, what<br />
the challenges have been, and who has<br />
supported them along the way.<br />
29.09.<strong>2021</strong><br />
l 14:00-15:00 BST<br />
CHERYL BARROTT<br />
Director, <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK<br />
13.10.<strong>2021</strong><br />
l 15:00-16:00 BST<br />
DEBBIE ROBINSON<br />
CEO, Central England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative, UK<br />
24.11.<strong>2021</strong><br />
l Time TBC<br />
MIRAI CHATTERJEE<br />
Director of the Social Security Unit at<br />
Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India<br />
15.12.<strong>2021</strong><br />
l 09.30-10.30 GMT<br />
MELINA MORRISON<br />
CEO, Business <strong>Co</strong>uncil of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives and Mutuals,<br />
Australia<br />
bit.ly/3sHDKOg
26 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
CO-OPERATIVES REACT TO<br />
IPCC CLIMATE REPORT<br />
by REBECCA HARVEY<br />
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate<br />
Change’s (IPCC) most recent assessment<br />
report, published on 9 August, concluded<br />
unequivocally that the current climate crisis<br />
is caused by human activities and is already<br />
affecting every corner of the planet’s land, air<br />
and sea.<br />
Produced by the world’s t<strong>op</strong> scientists and<br />
signed off by all the world’s governments,<br />
the report concluded that climate change is<br />
“widespread, rapid, and intensifying” and<br />
warned that 1C of heating has already occurred,<br />
getting perilously close to the 1.5C danger limit<br />
agreed in the Paris climate deal. This is caused<br />
by forest destruction, greenhouse gas emissions<br />
from burning fossil fuels and other human<br />
activities, the report says. Carbon dioxide levels<br />
in the air are now at their highest point for at<br />
least 2 million years, and the extreme heatwaves<br />
and heavy rains that have been increasing are set<br />
to continue.<br />
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres,<br />
said: “Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 Report<br />
is a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are<br />
deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable.”<br />
But he said there is still h<strong>op</strong>e – which lies<br />
in working together, collaborating, and co<strong>op</strong>erating.<br />
“The solutions are clear,” he said.<br />
“Inclusive and green economies, prosperity,<br />
cleaner air and better health are possible for<br />
all if we respond to this crisis with solidarity<br />
and courage. All nations, especially the G20<br />
and other major emitters, need to join the netzero<br />
emissions coalition and reinforce their<br />
commitments with credible, concrete and<br />
enhanced Nationally Determined <strong>Co</strong>ntributions<br />
and policies before COP26 in Glasgow. We need<br />
immediate action on energy.”<br />
The UN Climate Change <strong>Co</strong>nference of the<br />
Parties (COP26), is taking place in Glasgow<br />
on 1-12 November, and aims to “bring parties<br />
together to accelerate action towards the goals<br />
of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework<br />
<strong>Co</strong>nvention on Climate Change”.<br />
Mr Guterres added: “There is a clear moral<br />
and economic imperative to protect the lives<br />
and livelihoods of those on the front lines of<br />
the climate crisis […] We owe this to the entire<br />
human family, especially the poorest and most<br />
vulnerable communities and nations that are the<br />
hardest hit despite being least responsible for<br />
today’s climate emergency.”<br />
This sentiment was echoed by Ariel Guarco,<br />
president of the International <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Alliance. “Global heating is affecting every<br />
region on Earth, with many of the changes<br />
becoming irreversible as said the IPCC in its<br />
report. But it says too that human actions still
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 27<br />
The report says<br />
that the increase in<br />
extreme events –<br />
including fires and<br />
flooding – are a<br />
result of human<br />
activity<br />
have ‘the potential to determine the future<br />
course of climate’,” he said.<br />
“As a generation, we have the duty to transform<br />
the way we produce and consume towards<br />
socially, economically and environmentally<br />
sustainable models. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives work for the<br />
sustainable devel<strong>op</strong>ment of their communities<br />
and can help make the needed shift. In co<strong>op</strong>eratives,<br />
the production and consumption are<br />
done putting the pe<strong>op</strong>le and the environment at<br />
the centre.”<br />
Rose Marley, chief executive of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
UK (the business network for UK co-<strong>op</strong>s) called<br />
the report “sobering reading”.<br />
“It’s clear ‘business as usual’ is not a viable<br />
response to the climate emergency,” she said.<br />
“Global government action is needed, but we<br />
don’t have to wait. Businesses – and indeed every<br />
single one of us – can take action today to reduce<br />
our carbon footprint. Many of our co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
members are already making changes – from the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group devel<strong>op</strong>ing the first compostable<br />
plastic bag to Greencity Wholefoods trialling<br />
deliveries by electric trike to reduce diesel<br />
emissions. We want to see all businesses, from<br />
PLCs to community businesses, following suit to<br />
take action for climate change.”<br />
Carbon dioxide levels in the air are now at<br />
their highest point for at least two million years,<br />
and the extreme heatwaves and heavy rains that<br />
have been increasing are set to continue.<br />
“AS A GENERATION, WE<br />
HAVE THE DUTY TO<br />
TRANSFORM THE<br />
WAY WE PRODUCE<br />
AND CONSUME<br />
TOWARDS SOCIALLY,<br />
ECONOMICALLY AND<br />
ENVIRONMENTALLY<br />
SUSTAINABLE MODELS”<br />
SO WHAT DOES THE REPORT MEAN<br />
FOR CO-OPS?<br />
The findings of the Climate Report affect co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
around the world in different ways. For producer<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s, it is a stark reminder of the fragility of<br />
the environment on which cr<strong>op</strong>s and livestock<br />
depend; for retail co-<strong>op</strong>s, it highlights the critical<br />
importance of their action on supply chains and<br />
sustainability; and for energy co-<strong>op</strong>s, it shows<br />
the enormity of the task ahead.<br />
“Today’s report is unequivocal in its<br />
findings, highlighting how climate change<br />
is threatening every aspect of our lives – our<br />
economy, our prosperity and our wellbeing,”<br />
said Gemma Lacey, director of sustainability<br />
and communications at Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative.<br />
“But if we act now, we can put things right. We<br />
all need to step up and play our part in halving<br />
greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, with targets<br />
rooted in science and we must act to restore<br />
nature and our natural environment.”<br />
She added: “<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eration and collaboration<br />
will be key – now is the time for thinking<br />
and talking about how we as individuals,<br />
organisations and a co-<strong>op</strong>erative community can<br />
do more to work together to create a sustainable<br />
future. By sharing our plans, progress and<br />
solutions we can use our collective voice and<br />
actions to help drive the wide-scale change<br />
needed.”<br />
In June, Southern published climate plans<br />
that were praised as ‘ambitious’ by a collaboration<br />
of world-leading environmental organisations,<br />
the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).<br />
The targets include commitments to reduce<br />
greenhouse gas emissions that fall under its<br />
<strong>op</strong>erational control (such as electricity, gas, fuel<br />
and emissions associated with refrigeration) by<br />
50% by 2030 from a 2019 base year and to reduce<br />
emissions from managed trading businesses<br />
17% over the same target period. Southern has<br />
previously reduced its business carbon footprint<br />
by 27% between 2012 and 2019.<br />
This year the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group also published<br />
ambitious targets in a 10-Point Climate Plan to<br />
drive its goal of net-zero emissions by 2040 –<br />
and its goal of being the first supermarket in the<br />
world to sell fully carbon-neutral own brand food<br />
and drink by 2025. “This is a hugely significant
28 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
p Carbon dioxide<br />
levels in the air are<br />
now at their highest<br />
point for at least<br />
2 million years,<br />
and the extreme<br />
heatwaves and heavy<br />
rains that have been<br />
increasing are set to<br />
continue<br />
year and the world will be watching as the UK<br />
government hosts the largest climate change<br />
conference ever (COP-26),” said <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Food CEO,<br />
Jo Whitfield, at the time. “Just as the government<br />
must be ambitious in delivering against its own<br />
commitments, we must all be bold and take<br />
collective action to tackle climate change.”<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmenting on the IPCC report, Barry Clavin,<br />
sustainability lead at the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group, said: “We<br />
welcome [this report] as a sobering reminder of<br />
the challenges we face but also as an indicator of<br />
the <strong>op</strong>portunity that we still have to avoid some<br />
of the worst impacts.<br />
“NET ZERO WILL ONLY BE ACHIEVED IF<br />
EVERYBODY IS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN<br />
CREATING AND ADOPTING CLIMATE<br />
SOLUTIONS. COMMUNITY ENERGY IS<br />
ESSENTIAL TO THAT ENGAGEMENT”<br />
“As part of our new 10-Point Climate Plan<br />
we’re committed to reducing or have committed<br />
to reduce our total emissions as quickly as<br />
possible and to achieve net-zero by 2040, 10<br />
years ahead of international agreements. We’re<br />
also committed to working co-<strong>op</strong>eratively across<br />
sectors, and with governments, NGOs and<br />
consumers because the vast changes that are<br />
required at pace are about ensuring that we can<br />
protect our environment and to give current and<br />
future generations a half-decent chance for a<br />
fairer and more sustainable world.”<br />
POWERING CHANGE FOR GOOD<br />
The energy sector is a key contributor to climate<br />
change, accounting for more than two-thirds of<br />
global greenhouse gas emissions. <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
and co-<strong>op</strong>erative energy organisations have<br />
been key drivers in promoting and establishing<br />
renewable energy sources, but the report shows<br />
a long and difficult road ahead, with action<br />
needed immediately.<br />
“The IPCC Report shows us above all that<br />
there is no time to waste,” said Emma Bridge,<br />
chief executive of <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy England.<br />
“We can limit global<br />
temperature rises to 1.5<br />
degrees, but to do that<br />
we need to act now. As<br />
an IPCC member state,<br />
the UK government has<br />
endorsed the report’s<br />
findings, so must<br />
now act with greatly<br />
increased urgency and<br />
effectiveness. Net Zero will only be achieved<br />
if everybody is actively engaged in creating<br />
and ad<strong>op</strong>ting climate solutions. <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
energy is essential to that engagement and to<br />
local action on Net Zero. With COP26 on the<br />
horizon, the government must actively enable<br />
the potential of community energy by providing<br />
the sector with real support.”<br />
Dirk Vansintjan, president of RESco<strong>op</strong> (the<br />
Eur<strong>op</strong>ean federation of citizen energy co<strong>op</strong>eratives),<br />
also highlighted the vital need to<br />
act quickly. “The new ICPP report reveals once
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 29<br />
more that the next couple of years will be crucial<br />
if we are to address the climate crisis,” he said.<br />
“We need to see radical changes in the way<br />
energy is generated and used. Citizen support<br />
will be critical in achieving that transition,<br />
and co-<strong>op</strong>eratives are the best way we know of<br />
mobilising them.”<br />
Mr Vansintjan added: “The climate situation<br />
is urgent, the need for action never greater.<br />
With the new EU directives featured in the Clean<br />
Energy for All Eur<strong>op</strong>eans legislative package<br />
(CEP), everything has been put in place for<br />
member states to devel<strong>op</strong> enabling frameworks<br />
through which energy communities can thrive<br />
and prosper.<br />
“Unfortunately, the new draft guidelines on<br />
state aid for climate, environmental protection<br />
and energy (CEEAG) do little to align with that<br />
approach. The CEEAG needs to provide clear<br />
and positive guidance so that member states<br />
are able to innovate in designing RES support<br />
schemes that can help jump-start community<br />
ownership of renewables production in their<br />
energy markets.”<br />
In the UK, Midcounties <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative has<br />
introduced a range of measures to reduce its<br />
carbon footprint in its different businesses<br />
(including food, pharmacy, funeralcare,<br />
childcare, and utilities) – and through its <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong><br />
Energy business, has been a long-standing<br />
supporter of community power.<br />
“We support more than 100 renewable<br />
community energy projects across the UK,<br />
enabling our members and customers to live<br />
low carbon and socially responsible lifestyles<br />
through the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Energy <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Power tariff,” said Mike Pickering, co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
social responsibility manager at Midcounties.<br />
“We’re also working with co-<strong>op</strong>s around the<br />
world to make a positive difference, supporting<br />
Fairtrade and initiatives in areas where pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
are already profoundly feeling the effects of<br />
climate change in their daily lives.”<br />
He highlighted that while the IPCC report lays<br />
bare the extent of the climate emergency we<br />
face, it also shows that if we work together now<br />
to reduce emissions we can still prevent the<br />
worst impacts of climate change.<br />
“This has long been a focus for co-<strong>op</strong>s, and we<br />
know it’s a priority for our members, colleagues<br />
and customers,” he said. “We know through<br />
our co-<strong>op</strong>erative values that by working in<br />
partnership with others we can make an even<br />
bigger difference.<br />
“It is vital that today’s report acts as a wakeup<br />
call for everyone, and at Midcounties we<br />
stand ready to work with other co-<strong>op</strong>s across<br />
the UK and around the world to go further<br />
and faster in our efforts to create a sustainable<br />
future for all.”<br />
q Solar panels on<br />
the roof of a German<br />
kindergarten building:<br />
‘Citizen support will<br />
be critical in achieving<br />
that transition, and<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives are the<br />
best way we know of<br />
mobilising them’
30 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
CROATIA’S COAL<br />
PHASE-OUT<br />
How co-<strong>op</strong>s can help with climate targets<br />
by ANCA VOINEA<br />
p Solar power<br />
plant in the city of<br />
Križevci launched<br />
following a successful<br />
crowdfunding<br />
campaign led<br />
by Green Energy<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Credit: Green Energy<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
With Croatia setting an ambitious renewable<br />
energy target for 2030, a local co-<strong>op</strong>erative is<br />
trying to encourage more citizens to get involved<br />
in clean energy projects.<br />
Set up in 2016, the Green Energy <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
grew out of the United Nations Devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
Programme in Croatia and acts as a support<br />
organisation for groups looking to devel<strong>op</strong><br />
renewable energy projects.<br />
Through its National and Climate Plan (NECP),<br />
Croatia has set a renewable energy target for<br />
2030 of 36.4%, up from 28% at present.<br />
“Our mission is to support cities and their<br />
citizens in devel<strong>op</strong>ing, investing, and utilising<br />
renewable sources of energy. We do that through<br />
a variety of projects (EU-funded) and our<br />
services,” says Kristina Lauš, communications<br />
manager at the Green Energy <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative (ZEZ).<br />
One of the projects the co-<strong>op</strong> runs is SOL4ALL,<br />
which aims to make it easier for Croatian citizens<br />
to invest and install small solar PV systems in<br />
their homes by providing them full support in<br />
the process. The co-<strong>op</strong>erative’s goal is to enable<br />
10MW of installed solar PV capacity across the<br />
Western Balkans, and by doing so, increase the<br />
resilience of cities, encourage a just economic<br />
recovery and create green jobs.<br />
“This project has been recognised within the<br />
Google.org Impact Challenge for Central and<br />
Eastern Eur<strong>op</strong>e <strong>2021</strong>, meaning we have won a<br />
grant and support from Google.org to further<br />
devel<strong>op</strong> the service, particularly in terms of its<br />
digital aspect and market devel<strong>op</strong>ment,” adds<br />
Ms Lauš.<br />
Other projects of the co-<strong>op</strong> include a<br />
Crowdfunding Academy, the first integrated<br />
crowdfunding education programme in SE<br />
Eur<strong>op</strong>e. The academy has so far trained over<br />
500 students, who learnt about how launch a<br />
successful crowdfunding campaign. Another<br />
project, Agrifficiency sees the Green Energy<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative work with agriculture producers<br />
and processors, providing technical support<br />
and finance to enable them to implement green<br />
energy projects.<br />
So far, the Green Energy <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative has 20<br />
members, who are employees, supporters and<br />
industry experts. Part of its work also focuses on<br />
awareness raising, given that co-<strong>op</strong>eratives are<br />
not the go-to <strong>op</strong>tion for most pe<strong>op</strong>le.<br />
“A part of our work is getting pe<strong>op</strong>le to learn<br />
about this and showing them by example what<br />
can that mean in practice,” explains Ms Lauš.<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong>erative is also working on several<br />
research and devel<strong>op</strong>ment projects, exploring<br />
how smart meters or Blockchain technology
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 31<br />
can be used for peer-to-peer trading or the<br />
management of energy communities.<br />
“All of this work is supporting the transition to<br />
democratising the energy and allowing citizens<br />
cheaper energy and also feeds into the policy<br />
and EU directives that Croatia is trying to ad<strong>op</strong>t,”<br />
says Erica Svetec, project manager at the co<strong>op</strong>erative.<br />
The Green Energy <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative is one of<br />
Croatia’s ten energy co-<strong>op</strong>s, which mostly focus<br />
on supporting groups who want to devel<strong>op</strong><br />
renewable energy projects.<br />
One of the main barriers preventing these<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s from directly participating in the joint<br />
production, consumption, and sharing of<br />
electricity is legislation.<br />
The country is in the process of amending<br />
the existing Act on Renewable Energy Sources<br />
and High-efficiency <strong>Co</strong>generation, which will<br />
enable energy communities, including co-<strong>op</strong>s,<br />
to participate in the market. Under the draft law<br />
an energy community is defined as a legal entity<br />
based on voluntary and <strong>op</strong>en participation,<br />
which is controlled by members or shareholders<br />
and exists to provide environmental, economic<br />
or social benefits to its<br />
members or shareholders<br />
or local areas in which<br />
it <strong>op</strong>erates. Therefore,<br />
the establishment of a<br />
community is limited to<br />
a specific area, which<br />
could make it difficult for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s to attract sufficient<br />
members.<br />
“This provision of<br />
the law will initially limit the potential for the<br />
establishment and devel<strong>op</strong>ment of the Energy<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunities and the activities of the Green<br />
Energy <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative in the coming period will<br />
be aimed at pointing out this illogicality and<br />
advocating the legislator to mitigate or abolish<br />
this provision,” says Ms Lauš.<br />
Furthermore, the law requires members of<br />
energy communities to be connected to the same<br />
low voltage transformer station 10 (20) / 0.4 kV.<br />
Thus, in addition to being located in the same<br />
local government area, energy communities must<br />
be connected to the same transformer station,<br />
which further narrows the number of potential<br />
members, especially for sparsely p<strong>op</strong>ulated areas<br />
in Croatia, explains Ms Lauš.<br />
The bill also lacks clarifications on the required<br />
legal form of the Energy <strong>Co</strong>mmunity, mentioning<br />
that an energy community can be established<br />
as a legal entity that <strong>op</strong>erates on the basis of<br />
the law governing the financial <strong>op</strong>erations and<br />
accounting of non-profit organisations.<br />
“In order to avoid additional complications<br />
in business, tax, and financial treatment, it is<br />
necessary to clearly define what legal form the<br />
Energy <strong>Co</strong>mmunity can be and how its business<br />
is conducted,” adds Ms Lauš.<br />
Another barrier for the sector is the fact that<br />
most pe<strong>op</strong>le in Croatia associate co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
with forced collectivisation and the old<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunist System of the Socialist Federative<br />
“THE GREEN ENERGY<br />
COOPERATIVE IS ONE OF<br />
CROATIA’S TEN ENERGY<br />
CO-OPS”<br />
Republic of Yugoslavia, of which Croatia was part.<br />
“In addition to these ambiguities in the<br />
legal definition and potentially tax and<br />
financial treatment, there are socio-cultural<br />
challenges. We witness a lack of awareness and<br />
knowledge about the potential of such a form of<br />
organisation, non-recognition of co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
as an organisational form, and lack of systematic<br />
support. Although Croatia has a rich history<br />
when it comes to co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, a certain amount<br />
of scepticism towards this type of organisation<br />
is present due to them being perceived as an<br />
unwanted remnant of the socialist economy.<br />
New Electricity Market Law is an <strong>op</strong>portunity to<br />
change that, but it is necessary to invest effort<br />
into the establishment of good examples of<br />
Energy <strong>Co</strong>mmunities, through which citizens will<br />
be shown plastically and transparently how they<br />
work in practice and what are all the benefits<br />
and potential risks for their involvement,” says<br />
Ms Lauš.<br />
p Kristina Lauš<br />
talking to members of<br />
the public at a local<br />
event
32 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
How the co-<strong>op</strong> movement gave students the<br />
POWER TO BUY<br />
THEIR FIRST HOUSE<br />
by MILES HADFIELD<br />
The first student housing co-<strong>op</strong> in south-east<br />
England has drawn on the support of the wider<br />
movement to secure its first pr<strong>op</strong>erty – and h<strong>op</strong>es<br />
to set an example to encourage more co-<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
in its area.<br />
Seasalt (South-East Students Autonomously<br />
Living Together) housing co-<strong>op</strong>, which is getting<br />
ready for its first tenants next month, has worked<br />
closely with Brighton & Hove <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Land<br />
Trust (BHCLT) on the venture.<br />
BHCLT bought the pr<strong>op</strong>erty, which will be taken<br />
up on a seven-year lease by Seasalt which is the<br />
fifth project in the UK to establish a co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
model of homes for students, collectively<br />
managed and at affordable rents.<br />
The student housing co-<strong>op</strong> movement<br />
aims to offer an alternative to the private<br />
rental market, offering lower rents and betterquality<br />
accommodation. They are designed<br />
to allow tenants to pool their resources to<br />
create community-style homes where everyone<br />
collaborates for mutual benefit. The rent paid is<br />
only used to cover the upkeep of the house (lease,<br />
bills, repairs, etc.) and not to enrich landlords.<br />
Seasalt has also enjoyed advice and support<br />
from Brighton’s community pub, the Bevy – who<br />
said: “The Bevy as a community-owned pub is a<br />
great example of how an area can really benefit<br />
from collective ownership. We are excited about<br />
working with Seasalt and helping the students<br />
become a real part of the wider Moulsecoomb<br />
community.”<br />
Student housing co-<strong>op</strong>s have already enjoyed<br />
help from the wider co-<strong>op</strong> movement. Last year,<br />
retail co-<strong>op</strong> Heart of England invested £100,000<br />
in a community share offer from Student <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong><br />
Homes (SCH) – the national body set up to grow<br />
the student co-<strong>op</strong> housing market.<br />
And Birmingham Student Housing <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> was<br />
launched in 2014 with support from the Phone<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>, which was an enthusiastic backer of the<br />
movement.<br />
The rise of student housing co-<strong>op</strong>s comes in<br />
response to increasing difficulty in the rental<br />
market. Brighton University lecturer Rebecca<br />
Searle has warned: “High rents are causing<br />
significant inequalities in education. Those<br />
students whose families are able to support them<br />
are able to devote considerably more time to their<br />
studies than those who are having to work long<br />
hours to cover their rents.”<br />
Responsibility for maintenance and long-term<br />
plans for the new pr<strong>op</strong>erty is shared between<br />
the two organisations, with SEASALT having full<br />
autonomy in the day-to-day running, membership<br />
of the co-<strong>op</strong>erative and the life of the community.<br />
Both organisations have made commitments to<br />
prioritising energy efficiency and environmental<br />
sustainability in the use of the home.<br />
Seasalt are also looking to be good neighbours:<br />
who says it feels strongly about the importance of<br />
community, they will allow their members to stay<br />
for the duration of their studies plus a year after<br />
graduation. This will give them the <strong>op</strong>portunity
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 33<br />
to build relationships with their neighbours and<br />
escape short-term tenancies that students and the<br />
community around them find disruptive.<br />
Each new member will sign up to Seasalt’s<br />
community promise and not wanting to take up<br />
family housing was the main driver behind the<br />
group looking for larger pr<strong>op</strong>erties.<br />
Funding to buy the pr<strong>op</strong>erty was secured<br />
through a mortgage from another key player in the<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> economy, Ecology Building Society, and a<br />
successful community share<br />
offer which raised £336,200<br />
from over 140 investors.<br />
The plan is to buy a second<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>erty in two to three<br />
years, creating more homes<br />
that will be out of private<br />
ownership and affordable,<br />
secure and sustainable in<br />
the long term.<br />
Jon Lee, who leads on Ecology Building<br />
Society’s support for community and co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
housing, said: “As a longstanding supporter of<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative housing we were delighted to be<br />
asked to support Brighton and Hove <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Land Trust’s partnership with Seasalt to deliver<br />
affordable, energy efficient and quality rental<br />
accommodation for students.<br />
Ecology specialises in supporting projects<br />
which respect the environment and enable<br />
sustainable communities and has pioneered<br />
innovative 40-year mortgages for housing co<strong>op</strong>eratives,<br />
helping to maintain rents at affordable<br />
levels.<br />
“As a member-owned mutual ourselves, it’s<br />
fantastic to be part of this ground-breaking<br />
project which we h<strong>op</strong>e will pave the way for many<br />
more co-<strong>op</strong>erative student housing schemes<br />
throughout the UK.”<br />
The problems with student accommodation<br />
are endemic of the wider issues with the housing<br />
market in this country. Seasalt said: “As young<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le, we have grown up in a country where<br />
the impacts of the financial crash, resulting<br />
austerity and a profit driven neoliberal system<br />
have dispr<strong>op</strong>ortionately impacted disadvantaged<br />
communities, including us. The mass sell-off of<br />
public land and unequal land ownership have<br />
given rise to a financialised housing market with<br />
accommodation and rent prices spiralling faster<br />
than inflation.<br />
“For students, these issues are only enhanced<br />
as landlords and letting agents look to exploit our<br />
inexperience and precarious, insecure situations,<br />
frequently to make maximum profit for minimum<br />
effort. This means that student accommodation<br />
often exemplifies the worst aspects of housing in<br />
this country. Thus, it is very difficult to break the<br />
yearly cycle of renting with private landlords who<br />
usually have no incentive to improve student living<br />
conditions or tackle big issues such as the carbon<br />
emissions and accessibility of their housing stock.<br />
“By empowering our students to take control of<br />
their accommodation, we have taken the first steps<br />
towards building a fairer and more equal future<br />
across Brighton and Hove, putting the needs of<br />
our local community first. So, not only do we want<br />
“AS A MEMBER-OWNED MUTUAL<br />
OURSELVES, IT’S FANTASTIC<br />
TO BE PART OF THIS GROUND-<br />
BREAKING PROJECT”<br />
to provide affordable, sustainable and democratic<br />
solutions to housing, we also want to demonstrate<br />
how co-<strong>op</strong>s and the co-<strong>op</strong>erative economy can<br />
help solve the big issues of our time. This could<br />
include climate change and sustainability, wealth<br />
and land inequality, democratising our economy<br />
or, of course, our housing crisis. That’s how we fit<br />
into the bigger picture, because after all, if we a<br />
small group of students can make big change in<br />
our community, why can’t you?”<br />
Janet Crome, director of BHCLT, added: “We<br />
have really enjoyed working with these inspiring<br />
students, who have given so much passion and<br />
time to the project, even though some of them may<br />
not live in the house themselves. We look forward<br />
to a long and fruitful and enjoyable partnership<br />
with them and watching them thrive.”
34 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
New bid to scale up the<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
PUB MODEL<br />
by MILES HADFIELD<br />
A group of co-<strong>op</strong>erators are working on plans for<br />
a national, community-owned pub organisation,<br />
and are currently looking for seed funding to<br />
begin its start-up process.<br />
The idea behind the Pe<strong>op</strong>le’s Pub Partnership<br />
is for a national multi-stakeholder co-<strong>op</strong><br />
which will raise a pool of finance through<br />
crowdfunding to help communities buy out<br />
struggling pubs, backed by additional local<br />
crowdfunders.<br />
The team – led by experienced publicans<br />
J Mark Dodds and Damon Horrill – are currently<br />
working on a REACH fund application; they are<br />
looking for £35,000 in seed funding to bring it to<br />
bring the idea to investment readiness.<br />
Mr Dodds says his own experience in the pub<br />
trade saw him take on a struggling London local,<br />
the Sun and Doves, in 1995, and turn it into an<br />
award-winning pub, but also taught him harsh<br />
lessons about working in the tied pub sector,<br />
with tenant landlords subject to extractive<br />
business practices.<br />
Between 2006 and 2008 he became involved<br />
in the campaign to scrap the beer ties that were<br />
driving pub tenants to the wall, with supporters<br />
including the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)<br />
and the co-<strong>op</strong> movement. This led to the 2016<br />
pub code, introduced by the government to<br />
regulate the tied sector, but Mr Dodds says this<br />
was ineffective –leading him to look for an<br />
alternative solution.<br />
This would be “a radical pub company that’s<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>erly fit for 21st century purpose. Think a<br />
blend of Brewdog, the John Lewis Partnership<br />
and <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Local.”<br />
The plan would see a managed pub company<br />
established first, probably expanding its sc<strong>op</strong>e of<br />
<strong>op</strong>erations to leased and tenanted and franchise.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 35<br />
The brief suggests one pub per community<br />
catchment, with each individual pub business<br />
becoming an investor in an Open Capital<br />
partnership (LLP). Surplus would be reinvested<br />
in purchasing or investing in more pubs.<br />
It would follow a simple structure, with<br />
no involvement with <strong>op</strong>erations or supply of<br />
products. The brief considers the possibility of<br />
the purchase of the commercial pr<strong>op</strong>erty estates<br />
of pubs like Global Mutual did last year from EI<br />
Group – picking up 370 pubs for £350m.<br />
“THERE ARE A LOT OF PUBS AND<br />
THEIR COMMUNITIES THAT NEED TO<br />
BE SAVED FROM THE RAVAGES OF<br />
PRIVATE EQUITY GREED”<br />
“There are a lot of pubs and their communities<br />
that need to be saved from the ravages of private<br />
equity greed,” said Mr Dodds. “Pub companies<br />
are run by extractive hedge funds – they are<br />
asset-sweating British pubs and closing them<br />
down.”<br />
He says this is a matter of urgency, with the<br />
pub sector already in crisis before it was hit by<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 pandemic.<br />
“Every tied pub is by default run down,<br />
knackered, in need of refurbishment – the<br />
kitchens and heating systems often aren’t up to<br />
scratch.<br />
“If it needs a new boiler, the tenant can’t<br />
afford it. If we can acquire the sites it would be<br />
a good <strong>op</strong>portunity to get of their gas and oil<br />
fired systems; we would carry out a low carbon<br />
retrofit.<br />
“And we would use only local resources and<br />
beers – get rid of global brands unless they can<br />
give guarantees that they <strong>op</strong>erate sustainable<br />
supply chains.”<br />
Local involvement would come from the start,<br />
he added, with the community deciding what<br />
happens in the pub, but with a professional<br />
overview from those experienced in the pub<br />
trade, who know how to keep and sell beer and<br />
manage the clientele.<br />
Mr Dodds says that under the plan, each pub<br />
would pay a national living wage and run a fair<br />
pay ratio; sites would be run independently with<br />
head office organising back office functions, as a<br />
secondary co-<strong>op</strong>, for the whole network – taking<br />
care of admin, accounting, training, branding<br />
and marketing.<br />
“The licensee would have secure long term job<br />
as an employee. We’d also work to tackle the lack<br />
of experience, skills and diversity in the industry,<br />
and address the lack of access to market from<br />
local brewers.<br />
“We have crises running in parallel – affecting<br />
community, pubs and climate. We need<br />
something to bring them together so they can be<br />
managed at human level pe<strong>op</strong>le can relate to.”<br />
But Mr Dodds says there are also barriers to<br />
overcome within the co-<strong>op</strong> movement itself,<br />
citing the often-heard lament that it “doesn’t co<strong>op</strong>erate<br />
and doesn’t move”, which has in the past<br />
hampered his efforts to establish a secondary<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> for the sector. Meanwhile, he warns, the<br />
existing community pub model faces potential<br />
weaknesses – with the risk of volunteer burnout,<br />
lack of knowledge of how to pr<strong>op</strong>erly run a<br />
pub, and a lack of profitability.<br />
“There are some very good ones but if all<br />
community pubs were invested in and pr<strong>op</strong>erly<br />
run they would be thriving.”<br />
It’s an ambitious plan: Mr Dodds estimates<br />
the venture would need to raise £500,000 per<br />
pub – “to get any pub up and running fossil<br />
fuel free that is”. He wants to see a “big plan,<br />
go to whole country to crowdfund capital – a<br />
national community share issue – along with £1<br />
memberships. It would be a national campaign<br />
to save Britain’s pubs.”<br />
The pubs would be protected by an asset lock,<br />
with a dividend paid to investors on the amount<br />
of equity they have put in; he’d like to see 4%<br />
paid on capital invested.<br />
“If you want to take your money back out,<br />
you’d give two or three months’ notice; your<br />
shares would be sold among membership or the<br />
company would buy them back; but there would<br />
be no capital gains.”<br />
A steering group – which includes experienced<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erators Vivian Woodell and Dave Boyle – are<br />
working on the seed fund application which will<br />
bring the pr<strong>op</strong>osition to investment readiness –<br />
paying for legal structures, branding, marketing<br />
and Youtube videos.<br />
“The challenge is there has been no pub co<br />
like this before,” warns Mr Dodds. “It needs team<br />
of pe<strong>op</strong>le who know finance and pr<strong>op</strong>erty and<br />
want it to happen. Pub experts should be on the<br />
ground in the pubs.<br />
But – in a time when national life is marked<br />
by polarisation and social isolation, the model<br />
would continue the aspirations of community<br />
pubs to offer social value. Mr Dodds h<strong>op</strong>es the<br />
move will “revive the world’s original social<br />
network” and offer venues to “curate the national<br />
conversation.”
36 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
EXPANDING PRINCIPLE 6<br />
CHANGING<br />
THE RULES<br />
by REBECCA HARVEY<br />
‘<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eration among <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives’ is a core<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> principle. But as society and business<br />
types evolve, and other ‘for-purpose’ organisations<br />
emerge, shouldn’t co-<strong>op</strong>s be <strong>op</strong>en to working<br />
more closely with other business models?<br />
One person well placed to answer this is Lord<br />
Victor Adebowale, a director of the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group<br />
and chair of Social Enterprise UK (SEUK, the<br />
national body for social enterprise), who started<br />
his career volunteering at Newham <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Housing <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative in east London.<br />
“Very early on, co-<strong>op</strong>s seemed to me to be a<br />
very sensible, very progressive thing,” he says.<br />
While co-<strong>op</strong>eratives trace their roots to groups<br />
such as the Rochdale Pioneers (1845) and the<br />
Fenwick Weavers (1761), social enterprises were<br />
first devel<strong>op</strong>ed as a distinct concept in the late<br />
1970s, during attempts to steer economic criteria<br />
from capital to social interest. Today SEUK<br />
describes social enterprises as ‘businesses with<br />
a social or environmental mission’.<br />
“WE NEED TO SPEND LESS TIME<br />
NAVAL-GAZING AND MORE<br />
TIME HOLDING HANDS”<br />
A 2019 report from SEUK, supported by the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group and Nationwide Building Society,<br />
stated there are 100,000 social enterprises in<br />
the UK, contributing £60bn to the UK economy<br />
and employing 2 million pe<strong>op</strong>le. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
UK’s <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Economy Report <strong>2021</strong> revealed the<br />
country has over 7,000 independent co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
businesses, with a combined turnover of<br />
£39.7bn, employing more than 250,000 pe<strong>op</strong>le.<br />
Social enterprise is the fastest growing form<br />
of business in the UK, and the fastest growing<br />
form of employment (four jobs for one created<br />
in a traditional business), and they also <strong>op</strong>erate<br />
in the poorest communities, employing<br />
black pe<strong>op</strong>le and women in leadership positions.<br />
He is shocked at the lack of diversity in<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s. “Why is the leadership of the co-<strong>op</strong><br />
movement so white? Diverse businesses make<br />
better decisions and diverse leaderships reach<br />
more pe<strong>op</strong>le. It is unjust and unhealthy to have<br />
a movement like this which is only led by one<br />
monoculture. It’s inefficient and inappr<strong>op</strong>riate.<br />
We need to be brave enough to ask why this has<br />
happened, to arrive at the correct answer, and<br />
then we need to do something about it.”<br />
WHAT’S IN A NAME?<br />
Some co-<strong>op</strong>erative activists are irritated by the<br />
way phrases such as ‘social enterprise’, ‘community<br />
businesses’, and ‘employee ownership’ are<br />
seemingly used as synonyms for ‘co-<strong>op</strong>erative’,<br />
which could potentially devalue co-<strong>op</strong> identity.<br />
Others view both co-<strong>op</strong>s and social enterprises<br />
as important forms of mutual business and are<br />
in turn irritated at the perceived exclusivity of<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s – which in their view could help account<br />
for the general lack of public awareness.<br />
“For me, the similarities between co-<strong>op</strong>s and<br />
social enterprises are far more interesting than<br />
the differences,” says Lord Victor. “Both are a<br />
form of mutuality, in the philos<strong>op</strong>hical sense.<br />
They are engaged with connection, community,<br />
culture, and sustainability – both economic<br />
as well as environmental. Both challenge the<br />
orthodoxy of individualism that is going to<br />
wreck the planet; we have common calls in<br />
that regard.”<br />
The two models are “different forms of doing<br />
the same thing”, he says, with that thing being a<br />
collective effort to formulate progress.<br />
“I’m interested in intention and process. If the<br />
intention of a co-<strong>op</strong> is collective distribution and<br />
ownership, then the process by which it delivers<br />
that seems to me to make sense. Similarly,<br />
if the intention of social enterprises is accountability,<br />
responsibility, collective ownership and<br />
sustainability, the process seems to match that.<br />
“Don’t get me wrong, you do need a certain<br />
legal frame and governance, but I think that
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 37<br />
sometimes process can become more important<br />
than the intention. In my view, it’s one of<br />
the reasons why co-<strong>op</strong>s are a niche thing when<br />
in fact we should be, and at one point were, the<br />
p<strong>op</strong>ular form.”<br />
He takes no truck with pe<strong>op</strong>le who seek to<br />
create separation between organisations who<br />
have a shared basic vision. “We haven’t got time<br />
for that. It’s not a war. It’s and/and not either/<br />
or. It’s a case of a common view of the progressive<br />
economy, within which commerce serves<br />
a purpose, that we look to impress upon the<br />
economy a set of values. The form that we<br />
choose is largely a matter of choice. We need<br />
to spend less time naval-gazing and more time<br />
holding hands.”<br />
CHANGING THE RULES<br />
One of the reasons for his impatience is an acute<br />
awareness of the climate emergency. “We’ve got<br />
10 years. The worse the problem gets, the more<br />
extreme the responses are going to need to be,”<br />
he says. “These pe<strong>op</strong>le who think we’ve got<br />
some choices need to be reminded that the more<br />
time we spend making them, the less choices<br />
we have about what we’re going to have to do.<br />
Business models need to change and economies<br />
need to change, and the sustainable models that<br />
we need to change to are staring us in the face<br />
[...] We need a mixed economy, which is more<br />
balanced towards social enterprises and co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
than it is at the moment.”<br />
What’s holding co-<strong>op</strong>s back, he thinks,<br />
is a tendency to be “too inward looking, too<br />
obsessed with nomenclature and less with<br />
purpose and intention”.<br />
“In many other countries, particularly African<br />
countries, co-<strong>op</strong>s are thriving. In Spain,<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s are sitting around the table with ministers<br />
and policymakers. In this country? Nada.<br />
Why? We’re too insular, too closed, too obsessed<br />
with the rules, less obsessed with the purpose<br />
of the rules.”<br />
He likens the co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement to a<br />
private club more interested in its own survival<br />
than its purpose. “The purpose of co-<strong>op</strong>s was<br />
never to create a self perpetuating clique of<br />
insiders, they were meant to improve communities.”<br />
So what do we do about this? “Firstly, invest<br />
in and appoint more pe<strong>op</strong>le like [<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
UK CEO] Rose Marley, who can communicate,<br />
who can express themselves, who have a strategy<br />
which is inclusive, not exclusive, and who<br />
have a mission and values that align with different<br />
movements. Her appearance on <strong>News</strong>night<br />
a few weeks ago was the first time I’ve seen a<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> leader on that programme who explains<br />
in plain English and speaks to an audience<br />
beyond the co-<strong>op</strong> bubble. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s need to grow<br />
presence, relevance and passion. They need<br />
to be inclusive, not exclusive. They need to be<br />
reaching out to other businesses.<br />
“Secondly, take a look at the rules, because<br />
there’s something that’s st<strong>op</strong>ping pe<strong>op</strong>le from<br />
joining co-<strong>op</strong> particularly amongst the young,<br />
and I suspect it’s in part the labyrinthine,<br />
Gormenghast-type practices. Young pe<strong>op</strong>le are<br />
crying out for a model which is credible, because<br />
they know the current model of our economy is<br />
incredible, and it’s them who will suffer. Yes<br />
there are some young pe<strong>op</strong>le involved in co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
but it’s not a mass movement. We’re not making<br />
it attractive, we’re not making it easy. It should<br />
be the easiest thing in the world to form, work<br />
for or join a co-<strong>op</strong> – it should be easier than falling<br />
off a log.”<br />
He adds: “I know pe<strong>op</strong>le get very passionate<br />
about co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and co-<strong>op</strong> models and the<br />
rules, and I’m seen as a bit of an outsider. But<br />
I’ve spent a lot of time, including my formative<br />
years, with co <strong>op</strong>s. I can just see things from<br />
the outside, and it doesn’t look too sweet. But<br />
as a model of commerce, co-<strong>op</strong>s have the potential<br />
to change the way the country <strong>op</strong>erates its<br />
economy and save the planet. There aren’t many<br />
other ideas currently running that can do that.”
38 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
US CO-OPS APEX<br />
MAKES A PUSH<br />
FOR PRINCIPLE 6<br />
by MILES HADFIELD<br />
u Mike Mercer<br />
NCBA CLUSA, the national sector body for co<strong>op</strong>s<br />
in the USA, has been exploring ways to drive<br />
Principle 6 – co-<strong>op</strong>eration among co-<strong>op</strong>s – in a<br />
series of weekly newsletters.<br />
The online posts include a rallying call to<br />
the movement from one of its leading figures<br />
in the US, Mike Mercer, who wants to see more<br />
investment by co-<strong>op</strong>eratives to help other co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
through start-ups and scale-ups.<br />
Mr Mercer – former CEO of Georgia Credit<br />
Union Affiliates who has chaired the boards of<br />
the Credit Union National Association (CUNA),<br />
American Association of Credit Union Leagues<br />
and National <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Bank (NCB) – says this<br />
will help to address the difficulty co-<strong>op</strong>s have in<br />
raising capital, often cited as a key barrier to the<br />
growth of the movement.<br />
“The great irony of the ‘co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
moment’ is that co-<strong>op</strong>erators invest their<br />
money in the corporations that they admonish<br />
for being extractive, the government that<br />
they regard as being too political, and the<br />
real estate that they advocate members<br />
should share,” he wrote.<br />
Mr Mercer identified at a number of solutions<br />
– from making more use of the investment<br />
potential of co-<strong>op</strong> members to devel<strong>op</strong>ing pools<br />
of “patient capital”, where investors are prepared<br />
to wait longer for returns on their money.<br />
“Other groups like Zebras Unite and Seed<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmons are taking a systemic approach to<br />
organising, assisting and funding for co-<strong>op</strong>s,” he<br />
wrote. “These and other initiatives … are working<br />
with players from across the co-<strong>op</strong> space to<br />
design solutions to the co-<strong>op</strong> capital challenge.<br />
“NCBA CLUSA and the National <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Bank are convening discussions soon that will<br />
bring together some of the capital innovators<br />
with leaders from the established co-<strong>op</strong> sectors<br />
to explore the possibility of setting up a national<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> capital mechanism that brings co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
together across the sectors to help solve for the<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> capital challenge.”<br />
He added: “Most co-<strong>op</strong>erators believe in<br />
but are not really investors in co-<strong>op</strong>s. Beyond<br />
membership shares and membership fees, there<br />
isn’t any easy way to become a financial investor<br />
in a co-<strong>op</strong>.”<br />
A lack of knowledge between different silos<br />
of the co-<strong>op</strong> movement hampers this sort of<br />
investment, he added. “What would compel<br />
a member/leader of a food co-<strong>op</strong>, let’s say, to<br />
become an investor in a childcare co-<strong>op</strong>? What<br />
does a credit union exec know about a worker<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>?”<br />
There are other problems too. “Enabling<br />
instruments and structures are still in the early<br />
innovation stage. Laws and regulations could be<br />
more helpful.”<br />
His pr<strong>op</strong>osed solution is intermediation. “The<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> system could benefit from a well-resourced<br />
capital sourcing facility. And such a facility<br />
should enable co-<strong>op</strong>erators and the co-<strong>op</strong>s that<br />
they guide (especially the large ones) to become<br />
investors in new co-<strong>op</strong> devel<strong>op</strong>ment and earlystage<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> scale-up.”
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 39<br />
“COMMITMENT TO OPPORTUNITY,<br />
FAIRNESS AND INCLUSIVITY<br />
EXTENDS BEYOND THE WALLS OF<br />
THE CREDIT UNION”<br />
Citing Vancity CU and VSECU as credit unions<br />
willing to invest in co-<strong>op</strong>s, Mr Mercer argued:<br />
“The co-<strong>op</strong> system should become more of a<br />
circular economic engine. Risk can be managed<br />
collaboratively, and return should be generous,<br />
paid out over time from successful co-<strong>op</strong><br />
<strong>op</strong>erations. A co-<strong>op</strong> capital sourcing facility<br />
would be a major evidence of co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
identity and a significant cross-sector exercise of<br />
Principle 6.”<br />
In another edition of the newsletter, Mr<br />
Mercer reminds the movement that the Rochdale<br />
Pioneers “learned quickly that an ecosystem of<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative enterprises could help members<br />
more than simply staying focused on making<br />
good flour”.<br />
He argued that improved collaboration<br />
between the co-<strong>op</strong> and credit union sectors,<br />
would help to “address jobs, health, elder care,<br />
childcare, housing, and the other challenges<br />
that impact the financial wellbeing of members”.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s and credit unions should work together<br />
to press the advantages of their reputation<br />
“honesty providers”, he wrote.<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>mmitment to <strong>op</strong>portunity, fairness and<br />
inclusivity extends beyond the walls of the credit<br />
union,” he added. The member begins to look<br />
more like a person in search of a better life –<br />
and a little less like a customer measured on a<br />
product penetration scale.<br />
He said NCBA CLUSA is working on an<br />
initiative to help co-<strong>op</strong>s “identify the ways that<br />
a nation full of honesty providers can work<br />
together to elevate the value created for co-<strong>op</strong><br />
members.<br />
“This project is now known as the Principle 6<br />
Initiative, which you’ll hear more about in the<br />
months ahead.”<br />
t Zebras Unite is one<br />
of the organisations<br />
working to improve the<br />
capital landscape for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s
40 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
Lessons to learn from the demutualisation of<br />
ECONOMICAL MUTUAL<br />
INSURANCE<br />
Anca Voinea<br />
Economical Mutual Insurance, a Canadian<br />
mutual insurer set up 145 years ago, has<br />
received approval from policy holders to<br />
demutualise, a move pending approval from<br />
the finance minister. The plans to demutualise<br />
were approved at the third and final special<br />
meeting on demutualisation, which was held<br />
virtually in May. At the meeting 97% of eligible<br />
policyholders voted in favour of proceeding with<br />
demutualisation.<br />
Board chair John Bowey said at the time: “This<br />
is an important day in our 150-year history, as<br />
we are one significant step closer to completing<br />
the demutualisation process, which will allow<br />
Economical to unlock our full potential as<br />
a strong, Canadian competitor in a rapidly<br />
changing industry.”<br />
The decision was facilitated by Economical<br />
Mutual’s dual class membership structure,<br />
through which around 900 policy holders were<br />
members with 60,000 not members.<br />
Economical Mutual says the average<br />
eligible mutual policyholder could receive<br />
demutualisation benefits with an approximate<br />
value of CA$300,000 to $430,000, while the<br />
average eligible non-mutual policyholder<br />
could receive demutualisation benefits with an<br />
approximate value of $1,500 to $2,300. Another<br />
$100m of the proceeds of demutualisation<br />
have been allocated to fund a new charitable<br />
foundation.<br />
Fear of potential demutualisations exists<br />
among other Canadian co-<strong>op</strong>s and mutuals,<br />
according to a recent report by the Canadian<br />
Centre for the Study of <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives (CCSC).<br />
These concerns were exacerbated by the<br />
demutualisation of Mountain Equipment <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong><br />
(MEC), the largest consumer co<strong>op</strong>erative in<br />
Canada, back in 2020.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> leaders surveyed by CCSC said they<br />
regarded the demutualisation of MEC as<br />
“a cautionary tale” which highlighted the<br />
importance of building a board culture that<br />
views the co-<strong>op</strong> model as a strength. They also<br />
emphasised the importance of co-<strong>op</strong>-specific<br />
board governance training and education.<br />
Economical Mutual Insurance, which now<br />
brands itself as Economical Insurance, argues<br />
that demutualisation is an exciting <strong>op</strong>portunity<br />
that will enable it to invest in the business<br />
and innovate, especially by acquiring other<br />
companies, strengthen its financial position for<br />
long-term success and better compete with other<br />
insurance companies.<br />
However, <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives and Mutuals Canada<br />
(CMC), the apex representing the country’s co<strong>op</strong>s<br />
and mutuals, says the sector is more resilient<br />
than the average business. CMC is undertaking
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 41<br />
“CO-OPERATIVES AND MUTUALS HAVE PROVEN TO BE<br />
MORE RESILIENT THAN THE AVERAGE BUSINESS.<br />
a 2.5-year study on the impact of <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 on the<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> and mutual sector in Canada.<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives and mutuals have proven to<br />
be more resilient than the average business.<br />
The decision by Economical Mutual Insurance<br />
membership to demutualise and distribute its<br />
assets goes against the intent and business<br />
model of individuals who create co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
and mutuals – and contribute to their growth,”<br />
said John Kay, president of CMC.<br />
Shaun Tarbuck, chief executive of the<br />
International <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative and Mutual<br />
Insurance Federation (ICMIF) also criticised<br />
the demutualisation of Economical Mutual<br />
Insurance, adding that there was no business<br />
case for the move.<br />
He said: “The demutualisation of The<br />
Economical is a long-running saga driven by<br />
greed of the few. This has been ongoing for<br />
over ten years now and was started by less than<br />
1,000 owners of the Economical who saw an<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity to sell the business and therefore<br />
receive over $1m each.<br />
Threat to values<br />
“The unique dual membership structure that<br />
The Economical has had since the 1920s meant<br />
that less than 1,000 member owners control the<br />
mutual and all the other member policyholders<br />
have had no ownership rights. There are three<br />
other mutuals with similar structures in Canada<br />
but they all are firmly committed to mutuality.”<br />
Mr Bowey insists the idea of “neighbour<br />
helping neighbour” on which the mutual was<br />
created 145 years ago continues to shape the<br />
business. He said back in May: “Economical was<br />
created 150 years ago in a small town that is now<br />
Kitchener, Ontario, with the idea of neighbour<br />
helping neighbour. That value still holds true<br />
for our company and will live on in the way we<br />
serve our customers and through the significant<br />
impact of the charitable foundation that this<br />
process will bring to life.”<br />
But Mr Tarbuck expects to see class action<br />
lawsuits post demutualisation and warns that<br />
the mutual’s values might be lost due to the<br />
decision to demutualise.<br />
“There have been many challenges made to<br />
the validity of the demutualisation, which is<br />
why it has taken so long, and there are likely to<br />
be class action lawsuits post demutualisation,”<br />
he added. “There is no business reason to<br />
demutualise, as was the case with the majority<br />
of the demutualisations in the 1990s, it was then<br />
and is now driven by greed of the few.<br />
“As with most demutualisations, the company<br />
may well be acquired within a year or two by a<br />
larger stock company and the history of The<br />
Economical and the communities it used to serve<br />
will be lost or members will probably move to<br />
another mutual or co-<strong>op</strong>erative insurer.<br />
As to the future, Mr Tarbuck believes that new<br />
mutuals will emerge in the years to come.<br />
“Given the mis-selling of so many mutuals in<br />
the 1990s, there is now a significant challenge by<br />
the regulators, media and customers should any<br />
mutual pr<strong>op</strong>ose to demutualise nowadays, for<br />
example LV= in the UK.<br />
“Thankfully, we are now seeing a trend for<br />
the creation of new mutuals with several being<br />
started in the last few years and also the remutualisation<br />
of stock company insurers as we<br />
have seen in Scandinavia recently.<br />
“Demutualisation was a trend in the 1990s<br />
which was proven to be driven by greed.<br />
However, many more businesses these days<br />
are trying to be fairer, more socially aware and<br />
looking to be values-led organisations with a<br />
social purpose, The Economical demutualisation<br />
is a real outlier.”<br />
Despite the recent demutualisations of MEC<br />
and the Economical Mutual Insurance, the co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
sector remains strong in Canada, says<br />
CMC. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s represent 3.4% of the country’s<br />
gross domestic product (GDP) and provide<br />
almost 200,000 jobs.<br />
q The old HQ of the<br />
Waterloo Mutual Fire<br />
Insurance <strong>Co</strong>mpany,<br />
later a part of<br />
Economical<br />
Facing page: A header<br />
from Economical’s<br />
website which sets<br />
out the “exciting<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity” of<br />
demutualisation
42 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
A CLASH OF VALUES AT<br />
LEFT-WING JOURNAL<br />
Susan Press<br />
Staff at an influential left-wing publication in the<br />
US claim they were fired for trying to organise<br />
into a workers’ co-<strong>op</strong>erative.<br />
Current Affairs, a bi-monthly magazine and<br />
podcast, was founded in 2015 with the aim of<br />
making left politics fun and rendering all other<br />
magazines “both despised and obsolete and,<br />
in the process of doing so, to help usher in a<br />
glorious era of democratic socialism”.<br />
Subscriptions, according to the website,<br />
mean that “not only are you supporting a left<br />
media institution with credibility and influence,<br />
but you’re also giving a cheerful middle finger<br />
to wealthy corporations, subservient state<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>agandists, and joyless buzzkills across<br />
the world!”<br />
But angry writers and admin staff say several<br />
leading members of their team were ‘unilaterally<br />
fired’ at the beginning of August following<br />
an online ‘virtual retreat’ where editor-inchief<br />
Nathan J Robinson axed jobs to avoid an<br />
organisational restructuring being carried out<br />
on co-<strong>op</strong>erative lines.<br />
Five members of staff, including business<br />
manager Allegra Silcox and managing editor<br />
Lyta Gold, signed a joint letter, released on social<br />
media, in which they claimed the firings were<br />
down to plans to restructure the publication to a<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative model.<br />
They claim Robinson feared his editorial<br />
autonomy would be taken away.<br />
“We discussed it informally, we tried piecemeal<br />
reforms, we did a full-organisation survey and<br />
one-on-one interviews with editors and staff<br />
to try to find consensus on a collective vision.<br />
Everyone’s stated goal, including Nathan’s,<br />
was to create a democratic workplace where all<br />
voices were equally valued. But when we finally<br />
got around to discussing organisational models<br />
during a Zoom meeting, Nathan insisted that<br />
in our attempt to set shared internal values, we<br />
were disregarding his vision for Current Affairs.<br />
The next morning, he sent letters requesting<br />
resignations, eliminating positions, and in some<br />
cases offering new ‘honorary titles’ which would<br />
have no say in governance,” reads the letter.<br />
Managing editor Lyta Gold, formerly a close<br />
associate and friend, expressed her discontent<br />
on Twitter: “I’m so sad about all of this. I loved<br />
my job. I loved the articles I edited and the<br />
writers and artists I worked with. I loved the<br />
podcast. I still can’t believe that Nathan tried to<br />
take Current Affairs from us because he didn’t<br />
want to share power.”<br />
Robinson is no stranger to controversy. He<br />
once worked for the Guardian as a columnist but<br />
lost his slot following allegations of ‘fake news’<br />
Tweets about Israel. Born in Stevenage, his<br />
family relocated to the US when he was a small<br />
boy and he describes himself as a ‘libertarian<br />
socialist’.<br />
Amid the latest furore, he has released a<br />
statement in which he admits making ‘terrible<br />
mistakes’ but denies blocking moves to make the<br />
workplace more democratic.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 43<br />
u Nathan Robinson<br />
speaks at the Austin<br />
Democratic Socialists<br />
of America in 2020<br />
(Photo: Austin DSA)<br />
“I have never sought a profit<br />
from Current Affairs and never<br />
<strong>op</strong>posed any changes to<br />
working conditions.”<br />
He said: “I cannot defend my recent actions<br />
as good. Clearly they were a disaster. I felt very<br />
stupid about asking Lyta to resign immediately<br />
after doing it and apologised profusely and<br />
begged her not to go.<br />
“Current Affairs has a record of workplace<br />
egalitarianism that I am proud of.”<br />
He added: “All full-time staff, including myself<br />
earn the same salary. Jobs have a high level of<br />
autonomy. I have never sought a profit from<br />
Current Affairs and never <strong>op</strong>posed any changes<br />
to working conditions. I had a conflict with these<br />
staff over editorial control. I ultimately asked<br />
two staff members, our business manager and<br />
admin, to resign. They declined and still work for<br />
Current Affairs. Nobody has been fired.”<br />
Board member Adrian Rennix, also a founding<br />
writer for the libertarian socialist publication,<br />
said: “Everyone at Current Affairs, including<br />
Nathan, has long stated they wanted it to be<br />
a democratic workplace. I can confirm that<br />
there continued to be universal concern about<br />
implementing functional, shared decisionmaking<br />
procedures, and a broad interest in<br />
worker ownership.”<br />
Mr Rennix added: “As of the time of the<br />
attempted firings conducted by Nathan, no<br />
actual decisions on organisational restructuring<br />
had been made: we were only beginning the<br />
conversation about possible workplace models.<br />
For all that Nathan now claims that he does not<br />
want total control and ownership over Current<br />
Affairs and wanted a board-owned non-profit<br />
model for this reason, I would note that he did<br />
not consult a single board member about these<br />
attempted forced resignations and indeed<br />
obstructed all our efforts to reach out to him for<br />
conversations in advance of these actions.”<br />
The editorial board of Current Affairs has now<br />
stepped in, in a bid to resolve the matter, with<br />
a month’s grace for all employees until the end<br />
of <strong>September</strong> when it is still h<strong>op</strong>ed the magazine<br />
will resume publication. All staff will be paid<br />
until then but no income or severance pay is<br />
guaranteed after that.<br />
The controversy has attracted considerable<br />
flak from many on the left, including Pulitzer<br />
prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, a<br />
former fan of the publication who this week<br />
accused Robinson a of hypocrisy.<br />
However, the 31-year-old editor-in-chief<br />
denies the accusations that he has betrayed<br />
the socialist principles on which Current Affairs<br />
was founded.<br />
“I have very serious regrets about how I<br />
handled it all, and I have a great deal to learn<br />
about effectively managing an organisation in<br />
accordance with the values I hold,” he said.<br />
“There has never been a dispute between staff<br />
and myself over conditions, pay, benefits, hours,<br />
etc. at Current Affairs. This is because I have<br />
taken great pains to make sure that there are no<br />
unfair labour practices. None have been alleged.<br />
“I strongly dispute that I tried to prevent<br />
Current Affairs from becoming a co-<strong>op</strong>erative.<br />
I freely admit to making poor decisions<br />
that alienated pe<strong>op</strong>le, but I am absolutely<br />
committed to making sure Current Affairs<br />
always has fair labour practices. I will<br />
endeavour to do better than I have done and we<br />
will be transparent and be held accountable. I<br />
realise that many of our supporters will want<br />
evidence that they can trust us to live up to our<br />
values. It is my responsibility to back up my<br />
words with actions going forward.
44 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
How a co-<strong>op</strong> past helped a journey to<br />
OLYMPIC GOLD<br />
David J. Thompson<br />
p Credit: creative commons<br />
image – (Fernando Frazão/<br />
Agência Brasil / CC BY 3.0 br)<br />
Brought up in the Rochdale Village <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> in<br />
Queens, NYC, the young girl who once raced<br />
around the Rochdale Village <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Center<br />
has become one of the fastest Olympic hurdlers<br />
of all time.<br />
In 2016 at the Rio Olympics, Dalilah<br />
Muhammad became the first American woman<br />
ever to win a Gold Medal in the 400 meter<br />
hurdles. She won a Gold Medal for the 400m<br />
hurdles at the 2019 World Championships with<br />
a world record of 52.16 seconds. Muhammad also<br />
won Gold in the 4X400 meter relay at the same<br />
2019 World Championships.<br />
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Muhammad won<br />
all her heats and took silver medal at the 400m<br />
hurdles. In the Tokyo event on 3 August, she<br />
achieved a personal best of 51.58 seconds which<br />
beat the existing world record and she is the<br />
second fastest woman in the world at this event.<br />
A few days later, on 7 August, Muhammad won<br />
another gold being part of the US Dream Team<br />
that won the 4×400 relay.<br />
Muhammad was born in 1990 and grew up in<br />
Rochdale Village, a housing co-<strong>op</strong> sponsored<br />
by the United Housing Foundation. From a<br />
very young age, Dalilah showed athleticism<br />
especially in track events. After running rampant<br />
at her High School, Muhammad won an athletic<br />
scholarship to the University of Southern<br />
California (USC). In 2012, Muhammad turned<br />
professional and has continued in her winning<br />
ways.
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 45<br />
“THERE’S AN<br />
AFRICAN PROVERB<br />
THAT SAYS IT TAKES<br />
A VILLAGE TO RAISE<br />
A CHILD, AND IN<br />
OUR EXPERIENCE,<br />
THAT IS THE<br />
ABSOLUTE TRUTH”<br />
Muhammad is only the second female 400m<br />
hurdler in history, after Sally Gunnell (UK), to<br />
have won the Olympic, world titles and broken<br />
the world record. She is the second American<br />
Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal.<br />
Her parents are Nadirah and Askia Muhammed.<br />
Nadirah is a child protection specialist and Askia<br />
is a Muslim Chaplain, teaching Islamic Studies<br />
at the New York Theological Seminary. All the<br />
family have careers in public service.<br />
“We enjoy family and we enjoy community,”<br />
her father, Askia Muhammad said. “There’s<br />
an African proverb that says it takes a village<br />
to raise a child, and in our experience, that is<br />
the absolute truth. Because so many pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
contributed to the success of Dalilah and all of<br />
our children.”<br />
Interviewed after her wins this year for NBC<br />
Channel 4 New York Muhammad the track and<br />
field athlete said: “having a big house or a lot<br />
of money” used to motivate her to do her best.<br />
That’s not the case any more. Muhammad says<br />
now it’s all about giving back to her community.<br />
“It makes me proud to be representing Queens<br />
and be from Rochdale Village,” she said. “It’s<br />
definitely the thing that pushes me forward to do<br />
my very best.”<br />
In 2016, Rochdale Village <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> organised<br />
a parade and event to honour her Olympic<br />
achievements. You can see the event here on<br />
YouTube: bit.ly/3zkDjw7<br />
There are 5,860 apartments at Rochdale<br />
Village in 20 buildings of 13 floors each.<br />
Rochdale Village sits on 120 acres most of which<br />
previously had been the Jamaica Race Track.<br />
Nearly 25,000 pe<strong>op</strong>le live at Rochdale Village.<br />
When it <strong>op</strong>ened in 1963, Rochdale Village<br />
was the largest housing co-<strong>op</strong> in the world.<br />
It is now 2nd after <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> City in the Bronx at<br />
16,000 apartments. It takes about three years<br />
on the Rochdale Village waiting list before an<br />
apartment becomes available.<br />
The Rochdale Village <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> web site states:<br />
“Rochdale Village is a completely self-contained<br />
community. Our 120 landscaped acres feature<br />
tall shade trees, lawns, flowerbeds, sitting areas,<br />
baseball field, basketball and tennis courts,<br />
playgrounds and a community garden. Other<br />
amenities include two onsite sh<strong>op</strong>ping malls, a<br />
community centre and senior centre.”<br />
p Credit: creative commons<br />
image – (Fernando Frazão/<br />
Agência Brasil / CC BY 3.0 br)
46 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
150 years of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
Rebecca Harvey<br />
q The first edition of<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong><br />
On 2 <strong>September</strong> 1871, the first issue of The <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>News</strong> was published, as “A Record<br />
of Industrial, Political, Humanitarian, and<br />
Educational Progress”.<br />
“What is <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eration?” its <strong>op</strong>ening lines<br />
asked. “The question which heads this article is<br />
to appear ance so simple that many persons will<br />
be almost inclined to call it foolish, and yet a<br />
very little thought will show that it is much more<br />
easy to put the question than to find a pr<strong>op</strong>er<br />
reply to it…”<br />
The publication was a long time coming and<br />
was preceded by journals such as The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erator<br />
(founded by the Manchester and Salford Society<br />
in 1860. This was taken over by journalist Henry<br />
Pitman who shouldered the paper’s full financial<br />
burden and indulged his passionate <strong>op</strong>position<br />
to Dr Edward Jenner’s anti-smallpox vaccination<br />
programme, to the<br />
extent of renaming<br />
the publication ‘The<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erator and Anti-<br />
Vaccinationist’ and a<br />
growing clamour for<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong> movement<br />
to produce its own<br />
weekly newspaper.<br />
A<br />
‘special<br />
conference’ discussed<br />
the establishment<br />
of a paper for the<br />
movement on 5<br />
November 1864, and<br />
further conferences were held in 1865, 1867 and<br />
1868 – with vocal debates disputes around such<br />
a new publication’s name, audience, and who<br />
should control it. But on 10 June, 1871, a meeting<br />
of society representatives and individual<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erators resolved that a <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>News</strong>paper Society be set up and a board of<br />
directors appointed.<br />
About £400 in capital was promised, mostly<br />
by individuals, with a quarter coming from<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Wholesale Society (CWS).<br />
Circulation increased from 7,000 to 15,000<br />
within 18 months – a citation which, according<br />
to <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Union Librarian and ex-<strong>News</strong> journalist<br />
Roy Garratt, “became a worry to some in the<br />
‘<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Establishment’ who felt the <strong>News</strong><br />
should be controlled by the <strong>Co</strong>ngress Central<br />
Board (later the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Union Central Board, later<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK) or CWS”.<br />
But the society’s chair, Thomas Hayes, laid the<br />
ground rules for the paper’s future devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
when he told the 1873 <strong>Co</strong>ngress in no uncertain<br />
terms that “the board of the <strong>News</strong> believes that<br />
its perfect independence should be preserved<br />
and that it should be above the suspicion of<br />
being controlled by an organisation other than<br />
its own.”<br />
Printing of the publication was initially<br />
carried out by the North of England Printing<br />
Society — established in 1869 at Balloon Street,<br />
Manchester, to serve the growing number of<br />
retail societies and CWS. By 1919, the Balloon<br />
Street registered office of the society had added
SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong> | 47<br />
a Manchester works, a London branch and a<br />
Newcastle branch and became known as the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Printing Society.<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong>paper Society (CNS)<br />
bought its own printing machinery in 1887, built<br />
new premises at 22 Long Millgate, Manchester<br />
in 1895 and launched new publications Millgate<br />
Monthly, Our Circle, Women’s Outlook, <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Youth and Sunshine Stories (as well<br />
as Reynolds <strong>News</strong>/Sunday Citizen newspapers)<br />
– recognising the importance of engaging with<br />
young pe<strong>op</strong>le and women.<br />
The CNS became the National <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Publishing Society, which in turn was renamed<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Press in 1934, and built up an<br />
envied reputation as a printer and publisher<br />
to the co-<strong>op</strong>erative, labour and trade union<br />
movements. The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Press became<br />
the country’s largest trade union printers, and<br />
broadened the base of the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Press<br />
outside the movement was effected through two<br />
companies — Trafford Press Limited and Trafford<br />
Advertising Limited – but the increasing costs<br />
and technological changed led to the decision<br />
to exit the printing sector in 1999, sell off the<br />
society’s remaining Old Trafford print works<br />
(having previously divested its Birmingham<br />
and Newcastle premises), and move the head<br />
office to Holyoake House, a stone’s throw from<br />
its original base in Balloon Street, and current<br />
home to offices for a family of co-<strong>op</strong>s including<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK, the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>llege, the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Heritage Trust, the Association of<br />
British Credit Unions, the Phone <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> and Third<br />
Sector Accountancy.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> has had just 15 editors in<br />
its 150-year existence including a father and<br />
son who held the post for 46 of the publication’s<br />
first 50 years – and just two women, Lily Howe<br />
and myself. They are: R Bailey Walker(1871);<br />
John <strong>Co</strong>llier Farn (1871-1875); Samuel Bamford<br />
(1875-1898); William Bamford (1898-1921); James<br />
A Flanagan (1921-1937); William Richardson<br />
(later Sir William, 1937-1942); Fred Tootill (1942-<br />
1955); David Boydell (1955); Frank Bruckshaw (<br />
1955-1972); Lily Howe (1972-1984); David Short<br />
(1984-1986); Geoff Whiteley (1984-1999); David<br />
Bowman (1999-2012); Anthony Murray (2012-<br />
2018); and Rebecca Harvey (2018- present).<br />
Between us we have witnessed huge changes<br />
within the co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement, both in<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> has<br />
had just 15 editors in its<br />
150-year existence”<br />
the UK and internationally, as well as wider<br />
changes in technology, communication and the<br />
role of the media. As society and co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
have evolved, so too has <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong>, in scale,<br />
sc<strong>op</strong>e and in its fundamental role of connecting<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, championing their successes<br />
and challenging their misdemeanors. We<br />
have a growing number of organisational and<br />
individual members around the world. Last<br />
year, our website was visited by someone in<br />
every single country in the world (except three).<br />
We are adapting and devel<strong>op</strong>ing while staying<br />
respectful of our - and the movement’s past.<br />
Thank you for coming on this journey with<br />
us. We are looking forward to seeing where we<br />
go next.
48 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
REVIEWS<br />
Taking back the idea of community<br />
Tomorrow’s<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunities: Lessons<br />
for community-based<br />
transformation in the<br />
age of global crises,<br />
ed Henry Tam (Bristol<br />
University Press, <strong>2021</strong>,<br />
£26.99)<br />
Gloucester Services,<br />
a case study for how<br />
community-based<br />
working can deliver<br />
successful outcomes<br />
From the explosion of mutual aid in response<br />
to <strong>Co</strong>vid-19, to growing interest in Preston-style<br />
community wealth building, co-<strong>op</strong>erative ideas<br />
have enjoyed a higher profile in recent years, and<br />
in compiling this book, Henry Tam h<strong>op</strong>es to show<br />
how these ideas can save our democracy from the<br />
reactionary p<strong>op</strong>ulism of recent years.<br />
Setting out to find policies and practices which<br />
can “protect our collective self governance from<br />
abuse and manipulation”, he turns to a number of<br />
figures familiar to co-<strong>op</strong>erators – such as Ed Mayo,<br />
Pat <strong>Co</strong>naty, Dave Boyle and John Restakis – to<br />
explore ways to build community resilience.<br />
Tam warns that political calls to build community<br />
can lead to conservative, <strong>op</strong>pressive policy, and<br />
looks for a progressive way forward “away from<br />
outmoded thinking and practices” – doing so “not at<br />
the expense of close, committed relationships, but<br />
on the basis of building such relationships through<br />
mutual respect and thoughtful co-<strong>op</strong>eration”.<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>mmunities must become active agents<br />
in shaping and pursuing their priorities in<br />
collaboration with their members, other<br />
communities and public institutions,” he says.<br />
How do we make this happen? In their chapter, Ed<br />
Mayo and Pat <strong>Co</strong>naty argue for a “virtuous circle” of<br />
community economic devel<strong>op</strong>ment, which brings<br />
positive social and economic outcomes – and builds<br />
confidence, curing communities of a condition of<br />
“learned helplessness”; they cite examples from<br />
the USA where community initiatives have brought<br />
billions of dollars of investment into struggling<br />
areas, using models such as the community land<br />
trust. In the UK, they point to pioneering initiatives<br />
like <strong>Co</strong>in Street <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Builders, given land to<br />
devel<strong>op</strong> by the Greater London <strong>Co</strong>uncil in the 1980s<br />
in response to protests against intrusive t<strong>op</strong>-down<br />
redevel<strong>op</strong>ment; the area now has artists’ studios,<br />
street markets and co-<strong>op</strong> housing.<br />
This is a progressive take on the notion of<br />
community and Mayo and <strong>Co</strong>naty set out a number<br />
of practical models for achieving it.<br />
In a chapter co-written with Philip Ross,<br />
<strong>Co</strong>naty addresses another problem faced by such<br />
communities: the lack of work <strong>op</strong>portunities and<br />
the rise of the exploitative gig economy. Their<br />
solutions include encouraging the growth of<br />
worker co-<strong>op</strong>s, drawing on examples such as Smart<br />
in Eur<strong>op</strong>e and Green Taxis in the US.<br />
There are also instructive looks at how co<strong>op</strong>erative,<br />
community-led models can build<br />
resilience through education (Marjorie Mayo),<br />
community organising (Steve Wyler) and healthcare<br />
(John Restakis) alongside studies of how the model<br />
can help drive food justice (Alice Willatt, Rosalind<br />
Beadle and Mary Brydon- Miller) and sustainability<br />
(Alice Warburton).<br />
Dave Boyle looks at how devel<strong>op</strong>ing methods<br />
of co-production can rethink public services<br />
such as healthcare for the better. Noting that the<br />
UK’s postwar welfare and health reforms which<br />
spring from the Beveridge Report have done<br />
little to narrow inequality, he looks at how GP<br />
practices have managed to improve outcomes<br />
by collaborating with communities on health<br />
and wellbeing projects such as allotments. He<br />
explores ways to make such project work without<br />
them falling under the sway of the government<br />
departments or other organisations which<br />
fund them.<br />
With a political landscape no less polarised<br />
than it was during the upheavals of 2016, and the<br />
pandemic adding to the pressures on society that<br />
have been building since the 2008 crash, this book<br />
offers valuable perspectives on how co-<strong>op</strong>erativism<br />
and allied movements can point the way forward.<br />
And if you need to confront any naysayers, there<br />
are some striking case studies to demonstrate how<br />
it can work in practice, such as the Gloucester<br />
motorway services, <strong>op</strong>ened by a community<br />
partnership on the M5 in 2014, providing training<br />
to 240 long-term unemployed locals, generating<br />
wealth that is channelled into local regeneration,<br />
helping biodiversity, offering a meeting space, and<br />
providing a retail outlet for local produce.<br />
Travellers who take a pit-st<strong>op</strong> at this pleasant<br />
spot should take note that it offers some useful<br />
pointers for a journey to a better tomorrow.
50 | SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
DIARY<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 crisis had led to the<br />
postponement of many co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
events. However, a number of<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and apex bodies<br />
are holding online webinars and<br />
meetings.<br />
We listed some of these below.<br />
If you would like to add any<br />
postponements – or let us know<br />
of any virtual events taking place<br />
instead, please email<br />
events@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
UKSCS Annual <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
9-11 <strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong><br />
The UKSCS is inviting submissions<br />
for presentations, papers, panels and<br />
practical activities that focus on interco<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
between co-<strong>op</strong>erators and<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives. Pr<strong>op</strong>osals can be oriented<br />
towards generating debates and engaging<br />
members, facilitating experiential<br />
learning activities and/or reporting<br />
the findings of research studies. A full<br />
programme will be made available soon.<br />
bit.ly/3ybvS8R<br />
Decent Work & Democracy – Union<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
1-2 October <strong>2021</strong><br />
Union-co<strong>op</strong>s:uk’s first conference will be<br />
held at Wortley Hall, near Sheffield, ‘the<br />
worker’s stately home’. The conference<br />
will look at, among others, how to<br />
‘build back better’ after <strong>Co</strong>vid-19, the gig<br />
economy, what union activists can do<br />
to fight for decent work and democracy<br />
and how to promote democracy in the<br />
workplace. Speakers include Cheryl<br />
Barrott (<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Party), Miguel Martinez-<br />
Lucio (University of Manchester), Ian<br />
Manborde (Equality & Diversity Organiser<br />
– Equity), Michael Peck (1worker1vote –<br />
USA), Ian Wilson (CASE), Sion Whellens<br />
(Workers <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>Co</strong>uncil), and Sarah<br />
Woolley (Gen Sec BFAWU).<br />
bit.ly/388xbuS<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative IMPACT <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
4-8 October <strong>2021</strong><br />
This year’s <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Impact <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
will be a hybrid event - featuring two<br />
days of in-person programming at the<br />
National Press Club while still preserving<br />
the accessibility and convenience of a<br />
virtual event. Organised by the National<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Business Association in<br />
the USA, the conference is themed<br />
“Embracing Our <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Identity” and<br />
will challenge co-<strong>op</strong>erators everywhere<br />
to deepen their understanding of the<br />
values and principles that truly make co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
enterprise unique.<br />
bit.ly/38bPrDB<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Party Annual <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
and AGM<br />
9-10 October <strong>2021</strong><br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Party’s annual<br />
conference will be held virtually again<br />
this year. Delegates will hear from the<br />
Party’s chair, Jim McMahon MP, as well as<br />
a series of leading Labour/<strong>Co</strong>‐<strong>op</strong> keynote<br />
speakers and players from co‐<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
and socialist movements. Reinvigorating<br />
the high streets and social care are two<br />
of the issues that will be addressed at the<br />
conference, which will also look at the<br />
Party’s recent work and campaigns. More<br />
details will be available at a later date.<br />
bit.ly/3B8ytT2<br />
International Credit Union Day<br />
21 October<br />
Celebrated on the third Thursday of<br />
October since 1948, the International<br />
Credit Union Day aims to raise the<br />
profile of credit unions. The day is an<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity for the sector to reflect upon<br />
the credit union movement’s history,<br />
promote its achievements, and share<br />
member experiences. This year’s theme<br />
is “Building financial health for a brighter<br />
tomorrow.” Official ICU Day <strong>2021</strong> posters<br />
and logos will be made available soon<br />
by the World <strong>Co</strong>uncil of Credit Unions<br />
and Credit Union National Association<br />
(CUNA).<br />
bit.ly/388JA1X<br />
World <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>ngress<br />
1-3 December <strong>2021</strong><br />
The 33rd World <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>ngress<br />
will enable the co<strong>op</strong>erative movement<br />
to explore its identity to build a more<br />
secure future. Using the current global<br />
crisis as a framework, discussions will<br />
aim to deepen the co-<strong>op</strong>erative identity<br />
by examining its values, strengthening<br />
its actions, committing to its principles<br />
and living its achievements. This hybrid<br />
event will be held in person in Seoul, the<br />
Republic of Korea and online.<br />
icaworldco<strong>op</strong>congress.co<strong>op</strong>
ethicalconsumer.org<br />
BES T BUY
Visit energy.yourco<strong>op</strong>.co<strong>op</strong>/co-<strong>op</strong>news for details<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity owned renewable energy<br />
installations power homes<br />
with truly green energy.<br />
That’s <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Power.<br />
Low Carbon Hub<br />
Oxfordshire<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Power is the only tariff to power homes with renewable energy<br />
solely sourced from community generated wind, hydro and solar farms.<br />
When you switch, we fund new community energy projects, so producers<br />
like Low Carbon Hub in Oxfordshire can continue to grow, create local<br />
jobs, and power local economies with the cleanest, greenest energy.<br />
That’s the power of community generated green energy.<br />
Join us. Make a difference. Switch to <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Power today.<br />
£20 thank you<br />
when you sign up<br />
Plus £20 donation<br />
to Powering<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunities Fund<br />
*T&Cs’ apply<br />
It’s simple. You sign up. Together, we give back.