Just when you thought that it couldn't get any worse, it does.
The New CEO of the Co-op must wonder what he did to deserve this.
I can only admire him for his confidence and positive rhetoric.
But privately .... who knows?
I am at the other end of the scale in the Co-op.
I am a member and an Area Committee Member, this is the first tier in the democratic structure, from the Area Committee members can be elected, by other Area Committee Members, to a Regional Board and from there to the Group Board.
This was the path taken by The Reverend Flowers.
In order to ensure that there is a level of competence committee and board members are required to undertake education and to hold a certificate in Co-operation.
Now in the wake of recent events the Governance of the Co-op is to be reviewed.
In addition to the CWS, I am a customer/member of the Energy Co-op, The Co-op Bank and The Phonecoop.
I believe in co-operation and mutuality I am also by nature and conviction a socialist.
But I see two things happening at the present time that cause me to review what co-operation might achieve and who should be co-operating.
The first is the success of the John Lewis Partnership which is an employee co-operative (partnership).
If the Rochdale Pioneers had so imagined it and if they had had employees, it might have occurred to them all those years ago that the basic partnership was between the employees of the enterprise rather than the customers.
In practise the consumer co-op is a clunky mechanism, first there is the inertia of the wider membership, on both elections when I was 'voted' onto the Area Committee no election was required because there were too few nominees and the number who actually voted was very low. Members meetings are generally poorly attended. And this year of course the Dividend has not been paid because there is no surplus to distribute.
An employee Co-operative by definition has an active membership, although some will be more active than others, you only have to visit a John Lewis or Waitrose store to see the enthusiasm of the staff.
The second, is a view that, the key issue facing poor people in Rochdale was food, which was costly to buy, often adulterated and buying it meant going into debt in the company store which was owned by the factory or Mill where you worked and where sometimes you were paid in vouchers only redeemable in the company store.
Food is still an issue of course, people facing a choice between heating and eating, the rise of Food Banks, Food security and food price inflation mean that food is still expensive but the Co-op finds itself in a race to the bottom, led by supermarkets with deep pockets, as they try to discount their way in a market dominated by some major players.
It may be that the hubristic charge to expand the business by taking over other co-ops, mutuals and businesses which has been the hallmark of the past few years should now be reversed.
In my budgeting, energy is a key expenditure and the mutual/co-op model is helping me exercise some control of my budget. The next major expenditure is communication and again the co-op model appears to work exceptionally well, ensuring that costs for telephony and internet access can be managed.
So my thought is that those charged with responsibility to advise and support the new CEO should reinforce the positive value of a local as opposed to a national presence, the success of smaller co-ops bears this out, that the co-op model should be employed where the 'shoe is pinching for people' (it is tragic that one major casualty of the Bank's problems was the Insurance Business a classic example of where co-operation was of immediate benefit to customers) and that the way to re-energise the movement is change the rules in order to enable the employees of the Co-op to become the owners of the business not the customers.
The New CEO of the Co-op must wonder what he did to deserve this.
I can only admire him for his confidence and positive rhetoric.
But privately .... who knows?
I am at the other end of the scale in the Co-op.
I am a member and an Area Committee Member, this is the first tier in the democratic structure, from the Area Committee members can be elected, by other Area Committee Members, to a Regional Board and from there to the Group Board.
This was the path taken by The Reverend Flowers.
In order to ensure that there is a level of competence committee and board members are required to undertake education and to hold a certificate in Co-operation.
Now in the wake of recent events the Governance of the Co-op is to be reviewed.
In addition to the CWS, I am a customer/member of the Energy Co-op, The Co-op Bank and The Phonecoop.
I believe in co-operation and mutuality I am also by nature and conviction a socialist.
But I see two things happening at the present time that cause me to review what co-operation might achieve and who should be co-operating.
The first is the success of the John Lewis Partnership which is an employee co-operative (partnership).
If the Rochdale Pioneers had so imagined it and if they had had employees, it might have occurred to them all those years ago that the basic partnership was between the employees of the enterprise rather than the customers.
In practise the consumer co-op is a clunky mechanism, first there is the inertia of the wider membership, on both elections when I was 'voted' onto the Area Committee no election was required because there were too few nominees and the number who actually voted was very low. Members meetings are generally poorly attended. And this year of course the Dividend has not been paid because there is no surplus to distribute.
An employee Co-operative by definition has an active membership, although some will be more active than others, you only have to visit a John Lewis or Waitrose store to see the enthusiasm of the staff.
The second, is a view that, the key issue facing poor people in Rochdale was food, which was costly to buy, often adulterated and buying it meant going into debt in the company store which was owned by the factory or Mill where you worked and where sometimes you were paid in vouchers only redeemable in the company store.
Food is still an issue of course, people facing a choice between heating and eating, the rise of Food Banks, Food security and food price inflation mean that food is still expensive but the Co-op finds itself in a race to the bottom, led by supermarkets with deep pockets, as they try to discount their way in a market dominated by some major players.
It may be that the hubristic charge to expand the business by taking over other co-ops, mutuals and businesses which has been the hallmark of the past few years should now be reversed.
In my budgeting, energy is a key expenditure and the mutual/co-op model is helping me exercise some control of my budget. The next major expenditure is communication and again the co-op model appears to work exceptionally well, ensuring that costs for telephony and internet access can be managed.
So my thought is that those charged with responsibility to advise and support the new CEO should reinforce the positive value of a local as opposed to a national presence, the success of smaller co-ops bears this out, that the co-op model should be employed where the 'shoe is pinching for people' (it is tragic that one major casualty of the Bank's problems was the Insurance Business a classic example of where co-operation was of immediate benefit to customers) and that the way to re-energise the movement is change the rules in order to enable the employees of the Co-op to become the owners of the business not the customers.
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