Youth is not wasted on the young

On Saturday I went to the open day of #cocamp the 3 yearly international camp for the Woodcraft Folk and their associated international movements. So who are they and why as a member of a co-operative should you be interested?

Who are they?
The Woodcraft Folk, although a fully autonomous and independent organisation, is closely aligned with (and gets funding from) the co-operative movement basically the youth wing. I think they merged with the official youth wing back in the 40's. For those interested there is a whole raft of heritage and historical documents here.

So they are a youth organisation like Scouts but without the woggles and all that stuff about God and the Queen.  They are democratically run by their members (anyone involved over 16), where children and young adults are taught about values such as self-help, co-operation and all those other words we love.

Why should you be interested?
This is the place we will get the next generation of co-operators from, they will want to work in worker co-ops, start-up the next Suma's, phone co-op's or (by the looks of the adverts/films on this site.) media co-ops. They will think of ways of democratically organising, using social networks and other technology we can't even imagine.  The kids and young adults I spoke to were articulate, confident and instinctively  co-operated with each other.

The best example I saw was five bicycles pulling and another group pushing a "mobile DF's centre" up a hill. (If you imagine a 3x3m wooden construction on wheels, with walls, a roof  and a 3 piece suite inside you won't be far off.)

If we can get these people to move into the wider co-operative movement, help them grow and develop, the movement won't just be in safe hands they will far surpass what's been achieved in the last generation.

The actual visit

Cocamp has been running from Saturday 30th July to Tuesday 9th August 2011. In their own words from the website:


"The camp will be an opportunity for young people from across the world to learn about, and put into practice, co-operative values, with these values also embedded in the planning, organisation, and programme of the event"
 
Here are some photos from my visit to their open day:

This is a picture of the map, the camp is split into Villages, which are a circle of tents where people camp, cook and organise together.

Villages are grouped into Towns for larger activities, each Town had a: Town Hall, Library and Cafe. There were four towns in all and roughly 2500 people on site from places as diverse as: Austria, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Bradford (the village I ate with).

I should mention Bob Cannell of Suma looked after me for the day, for which I was very grateful.

Here is a picture of a solar and wind power station in the Scottish Woodcraft town, there town was entirely powered by renewable energy. Although I didn't spot them I noticed a Dulas (Welsh worker co-op) van in the car park, so there must have been a Welsh contingent some where as well.I saw groups from Bradford, Manchester (Chortlton), Hebdon Bridge, and loads from London.





I also bumped into the Co-operative College  who ran a workshop on co-operative trading. Children learnt about co-operatives, fair trade and globalisation through running a trading game involving: a bank, diary farm, wholesaler, retailer, cafe etc.  See the picture.

Another Co-operative College activity was called "Co-op in a box", where kids explored the co-operative values and principles and each box held items needed to produce things; from hair platting, friendship band, smoothly making and cake decorating.

The groups then decided what to do; how much to charge and then went about setting up their co-op (One kid I heard made £30). Interestingly there was some debate between the parents/leaders about what to do with the "profits" as some presumed the money should go to charity (so even the parents learnt something about true co-ops). Thankfully the kids did choose what to do with the money (it was their co-op after all).

It wasn't all co-op stuff; here are some pictures of posters put around the camp for other sessions.  All the session were voluntary and the kids could decide what to go to (and quite a lot were their idea too).

This last picture shows copies of the daily newspaper which was written and edited by the younger kids and members of the DF's who are the 16 -21 yrs group.  Each evening the paper was sent to a local newspaper printers to be printed. First edition is here.

So if you have kids and you want them to grow up confident and able to co-operate why not look into sending them to the Woodcraft Folk.




Further Reading
Woodcraft Folk
Woodcraft Heritage site
DF's Website (16 - 21's)

Future Co-ops feedback and does the movement need a Pope?

This week I attended one of my favourite Co-operative events of the year organised by Co-operatives Futures.  This is an event predominately packed with co-operative activities who debate big issues of the time.  This years debate was "Big Society: Are we in or are we out.." You can read their own summary of the event here (not ready yet).

The event's main speakers were Russell Gill, Head of Membership at the Co-operative Group and Dave Boyle CEO of Supporters Direct. Who both gave balanced reasoned arguments discussing the opportunities and threats to the co-operative movements involvement and association with the Big Society. With other delegates contributions here is a summary of main points:

Should be in:

• Every so-often co-operatives become part of the zeitgeist and we should take advantage to promote co-operatives in their current forms when this happens (every 10-20 yrs).
• Be confident in our own language and clear about the aspects of Big Society we want to be involved in and those we should stay well clear of.
• If we involve ourselves early and state our case confidently we can beat our competitors and the more unscrupulous private sectors businesses in the delivery of public sector contracts (that are going to happen whether we are in or out).
• This might actually be a genuine attempt by the Conservatives to reach out to the co-operative movement and find better solutions for meeting peoples needs.
• Co-operatives purpose is to bring people together to meet their needs and we especially thrive in recession or when people face real hardship.  With the cuts taking place that is going to be quite likely.

Should be out:

• The "Big Society" is just a clever rephrase of its opposite "Small State" and we should be wary of being a shield for ideologically driven cuts.
• You can not "empower communities"; power is taken it can't be given to people. the Big Society is a top down approach and like earlier top down approach (Bennite Co-ops, Bus Privatisations) is more likely to fail.
• Co-operatives could be left with the scraps while the more profitable and easier aspects of public services are sold of to investor owned businesses.
• Are we ready, do we have the scale and ability to successfully deliver?

I attended 2 workshops; one on the use/misuse of language, the most interesting comment was the "Big Society" is just a container word and is so tainted we should just not use it.  We (and other communities organisations) have been doing this stuff for years and should be confident in our own language; why do we need to rebrand it ours is a superbrand anyway? 

I also attended a workshop on how to engage with new forms of co-operation and the more radical things going on.  Are the student fee's protesters, #ukuncut and other responses to the Big Society "proto Co-operatives"? If so what can we learn from these new vibrant forms of collaboration and what can they learn from us (we have had years of learning by trial and error, must be something to show for it).

Unfortunately I had to leave before the end so I wasn't about for the final debate. But something tells me there was  no simple "in or out" resolution. 

Like a few other issues that raised their head throughout the weekend (are Community Benefit Societies or John Lewis Partnership co-operatives?). It would be great if the Co-operative Movement had a Pope who could decide on such matters.  But we haven't  "Co-operative" is a social construct and we re-create it with every discussion based on our underlying shared values.

My view from was and remains that the "Big Society" will will come and got like many other phrases and top-down initiatives. Who says "The Third Way" anymore?

Co-operation is an instinctive and natural behaviour for humans. Co-operatives have done their thing for 150 years and they will continue do their thing for the next. If other people want to join us on our journey for a bit that's great and we will enjoy the chit chat, but we won't be expecting them to stay on the same path forever.

Lesson's from the dark side

Last weekend I was asked to facilitate the Southern Consumer Co-operative Council Meeting and thought I'd do a post on my experience with the other side of the co-op movement (they'requite nice really).

So what is this meeting and why should you care? Basically it's the equivalent to our own Worker Co-operative Council (but they have 3, Northern, Midlands Southern).  It is a forum for Co-operatives UK's consumer co-operative members to share knowledge and feed in to our activities.

The people who attend are Board Members of consumer co-ops in that region (elected from customer members).  For the southern meeting I attended these included: Chelmsford Star Co-operative Southern Co-operative East of England Co-operative Midcounties Co-operative and the Southern Regions of Co-operative Group.

So first thing that might surprise some people is there are actually more than one Co-op! A lot of people see the co-op shops and assume their all the same business, this is not the case.  Yes there has been a lot of consolidation of the years (used to be 1000's) but there are still around 20 of the traditional retail societies left.

The Co-operative Group is the largest with a turnover of: £13.6bn, but Midcoutnies is around £0.8bn, East of England £0.4bn and Southern £0.2bn etc.

So why should you care? Well these co-operatives operate in a incredibly competitive market. What has helped them survive (and now prosper again) is the way they co-operative with each other, what can we learn from co-operatives that have been around for 150 years?

Firstly; quite a lot share the same branding "the Co-operative" which comes with quality standards and shared membership card and divi systems. This helps with public awareness, improves expectations and levels of service as co-operative has to reach certain standards to be innvolved.  A shared membership card means customers can more easily move between co-operatives and helps all particpants increase trade.

Virtually all of them are members of the same retail trading group (they bulk buy and package stuff together).  This means that the smaller co-operatives can retain their local focus and independence, but they are better able to compete in the market against Tesco etc.

Also by regularly meeting (and i assume this happens with officers and operationally) co-operatives can share best practice, what works and what doesn't.

On the train home I was musing what worker co-operatives could do.

Probably most importantly is find better ways to share knowledge with each other, and regularly meeting up. Like coming to the Future Co-operatives (and our worker co-op open forum), attending Congress, and getting involved in Regional Co-operative Councils.

More wistfully I was thinking:

Could we create a shared services co-operative to jointly purchase our stationary,  IT support, do our payroll and make our co-ops tax efficiently (do you have a specialist accountant who knows how to make your co-op tax efficient?).

Could we build a secondary co-op to bulk import and package wholefood products for distribution via the independent wholesalers, to the independent retailers.

Could creative co-ops, agree to share a brand, quality standards, bidding for larger contracts and jointly marketing their specialist services?

Could we create a cross movement membership divi card, where member producers and customers 'trading' with co-operatives can all benefit, an keep the money circulating within the movement?

Ooh that's enough Friday lunchtime thoughts for one week, what do you think we could practically do or learn from other co-operatives?

Event Report: Society for co-operative studies

Last weekend we had our quarterly worker co-operative council meeting which took place at the Society for Co-operatives Study Conference. This blog is a brief summary and my thoughts on the conference aswell.

Apart from welcoming our newest member to the council Alison Banton of Dulas (full list of members here) The main items on the agenda were:

Our involvement in a European wide campaign to promote worker co-operatives as a sustainable form of employment www.sustainableemployment.eu. On an EU level with the size and strength of the Spanish, French and Italian movements we actually have quite a strong voice to influence policy (which of course filters back down to the UK). We've sent some case studies, pictures and other media.  If you want to add your worker co-operative, do a testimonial or get involved please get in touch with me.

Nominations for the President of CECOP, we have not put forward a UK candidate (our multi-lingual skills frankly aren't good enough) and have therefore nominated/seconded a Swedish representative.

The two representatives to the main Board of Co-operatives UK; Bob Cannell and Sion Whellen's gave feedback on previous meetings.  Members of the Council discussed a variety of membership and strategic issues to help inform future decisions of the Board including: Co-operatives Fortnight, Congress, membership recruitment, member services and risks affecting the movement. For members interested in goings on at the main Board you can read their Board Updates here.

Our meeting lasted about 2 hours after which we took part in the Society for Co-operatives Studies conference.

Highlights from Society for Co-operatives Studies Conference
The event started with a 2 speakers discussing "Lessons from Mondragon" (will try and get a links to presentation). The main thought I took from this session was the sense of community/solidarity within Mondragon which keeps this network of worker co-operatives together and supporting each other. This is very geographical and culturally based.

For the UK worker co-operative sector to succeed I think we need to work on this sense of solidarity and mutual self-help, which is more difficult due to the diversity and geographical spread worker co-operatives in the UK. We too often re-invent the wheel, or don't think about working together to satisfy our shared needs (something we do with-in our co-operatives). Any ideas on a postcard (or leave a comment below).

Bob Cannell of Suma ran a session looking at different approaches to strategic management within worker co-operatives and how mainstream managements systems thinking just isn't appropriate. Read his blog for notes on the presentation.

Britta Werner of Unicorn and Tony Gudgeon of Chelmsford Start, spoke at a session about the relationship within co-operatives between consumers and workers, from the perspective of a worker co-operatives and a consumer co-operative.  From a worker co-operatives  point of view it was interesting that our approach to customers was very similar from a service point of view, but our approach to workers very different.

The conference finished with a session facilitated by Alan Wilkins of CLADA looking at the opportunities and threats from the big society. I'm sure we've all discussed these countless times now so won't bore you with the details.  The one thing I will say however is; everyone talks about how to get involved and take advantage of the big society (and any funding), but what it should do is remind us of what we stand for and should be doing anyway, irrespective of who's in Government and what their plugging.

The co-operative movement already funds capacity building to help people help themselves; both through being members of Co-operatives UK and individual co-operatives initiatives like the Enterprise Hub.  What we need to do as a movement is co-ordinate and rally members to put less money into charities and more into developing the co-operative sector, so we are in position to deal with the big society (or the aftermath if it goes badly wrong).

To end on a less serious note, I unfortunately forgot to take any photos of the weekend so here is a picture of George our Rabbit who when i got home, in the spirit of self-help was munching on our flowers.

Building a creative economy

The talk at the moment is all about jobs: creating them, sustaining them and they must be good ones.  Not unskilled ones created by multi-nationals that would be whisked off to India given half a chance, not unethical or polluting industries and certainly not public sector ones.

So where will they come from and who will develop them?

The much publicised big society and outsourcing of public services (already done a blog on that) wont be a source, as that is straight displacement or likely reduction. They will have to come from the private sector and probably the "creative" or knowledge based sector in particular.
Businesses that are agile, innovative, where staff have high levels of motivation and productivity (which can be more critical than capital investment in this sector).

So how do you set-up this type of business and what model is appropriate?

From the 160 creative and knowledge based businesses we know about in our directory mostly: design, print and communications, business consultants, architects, IT services. The worker co-operative, and consortia model is good one. (Consortia are made up of, self-employed people and small business who come together for mutual support/shared services)

To help promote our model to the creative sector and potential entrant. Co-operatives UK with help from our members has developed a website and resource to help people create the perfect business for this sector.


To get the message out we are launching this resource around the country and last week I attended the launch event in Manchester, at Openspace a co-working environment which is itself a consortia co-operative of mainly self-employed freelancers and the worker co-operative web designers Ecobee.

Want to know more about Openspace? then have a look at this video.





If you know of people in the creative industries or looking to enter this sector please tell them about our resources and help us promote the co-operative model. www.creatives.uk.coop

Co-operative Fortnight Start Tomorrow!

Co-operatives Fortnight starts tomorrow, here is a round up of some of the things you can get innvolved in and what worker co-operatives are doing around the UK.

But first if you have not already watched our short film, asking people what this Co-operative thing is all about, here it is:



What worker co-operatives are up to:
18th - Co-operative Networking lunch, Hastings Wave Design
19th - Discounted Ethics Girls co-op membership Ethics Girls (honary worker co-op)
19th - Co-op day Daily Bread Co-operative Ltd
19th - Showing the co-op film On The Eighth Day Co-op
19th - Silent Film and Special Offers Unicorn Co-operative Grocery
21st - Welcome visitors to our framing yard Altham Oak and Carpentr
22nd - There is an alternative "co-op fortnight" at Eighth Day co-op Eighth Day Co-op
22nd - Co-operative GamesWave Design
23rd - Co-operative Coffee on the Green Roof Unicorn Co-operative Grocery
24th - Open day whomadeyourpants?
26th - Co-operative working to provide personalised support in the local commmunity Sunshine Care CIC
29th - Community Shares advice Baker Brown Associates
30th - SHOWCASING SHORT FILMS PEACE EFFECTS MEDIA C.I.C.
30th - Co-operative Question Time Unicorn Co-operative Grocery
1st - Open Day Suma
2nd - Co-operating on-screen Media Co-op
2nd - DecisionLab Present Sociocratic, Ecological and Economic Development (SEED)
3rd - The Cycle Coo! Cycle Training UK

Feel inpired?
Apart from running your own event event, add here or attending someone elses especially ours! www.congress.coop

There are loads of quick things you can do to help promote Co-operatives:

Click here to join us on Facebook
Click here to follow us on Twitter
Click here to add a #twibbon to your Twitter account

Ofcourse if your particuallry creative why not do a short youtube advert about your co-operative like Unicorn:



Most of all have fun!

Worker Co-operatives and Football

I attended Supporters Direct Conference this weekend to find out more about this newer (Once you get past 150yrs everything is new) side of the Co-operative Movement .  Fantastic event with lots of people showing a real interest in democratic ownership models.

Speakers talked about: profit taking, short-termist, debt leaden and inevitably unsustainable ownership models. How football clubs need a model that is sustainable, balances the business and community needs and of course ... focuses on the football...

You could always go down the benefactor route and find someone with unlimited resources (Chelsea/Man City) but what happens if they lose interest, or their Children or other people taking over the business when they die don't share the same enthusiasm?  The general consensus seemed to be supporter owned co-operatives ticked a lot of the right boxes.

The most fascinating session was one discussing the Bundesliga in Germany where the majority of clubs are 50+1% owned by the supporters (found a blog on it here if your interested).  No club has gone into administration in the history of the league and average supporter turnout is 42,000; interestingly salary rates were also a lot lower nearer 40% of turnover compared to nearer 63% in the UK.

During the Conference Supporters Direct also launched a report investigating how football clubs can account for their social value, considered if and how different ownership structures, including supporter owned, can influence the social value. This was of course interesting, and helped the argument for more supporters trusts but that's not the reason I'm mentioning it. The reason is; the paper was written by Dr Adam Brown from Substance (a worker co-operative).

Which brings me back to worker co-operatives. Delegates were very interested in the idea of getting involved in democratic ownership in their social and spare time, but what about at work? How many people thought they they could own and have a real say in their work-place. Creating sustainable businesses with the aim of providing good quality employment for its members, not maximising shareholder return? Thinking about worker co-operatives?

I'm sure there were a few; but I spoke to Paul Jones (Co-operatives UK helped incorporate the business); is setting up football co-operatives in Ghana, Kenya and Iberia.  The first co-operatives Keta Sandlanders FC is a supporter owned club (which is looking for international supporters if your interested). Focusing on the football, community development, but also employment & worker co-operatives. There is the problem of what happens to the team members when the season finishes, what do they do for the rest of the year?

Setting up worker co-operatives can be part of this answer and a way to add value to other community development activities. I wish Paul all the best with the idea of linking Football Club's to wider community development and for looking at the worker co-operative option.

I hope this renewed interested in democratic management and community ownership in peoples social time, can impact peoples thinking about their work time as well..

Food Co-operative Forum

Its been a busy week with the launch of Co-operatives Fortnight and the Tory's recent conversion to co-operation. So busy in fact that I haven't had time to write a blog on the fantastic Food Co-operative Forum that took place last Friday in Birmingham. So here it is:

Co-operativesUK working in partnership with the Making Local Food Work Project organised an event aimed at Food Co-operatives; from the smallest buying group to the largest wholesaler.

The wholefood/local food sectors are flourishing and co-operatives play a large role in this sector. There are 100's of local buying groups and retailers like Unicorn and Daily Bread; the combined turnover of the worker co-operative wholesalers alone is £55m.

The purpose of the event was to bring them all together; to discuss how they can grow, develop themselves and the sector as a whole. The day started with our own Secretary General Ed Mayo talking about the food choices available to children and the broader case for co-operation . Kath Dalmany talked about Sustain and the growth of the local food sector. Mark Simmonds talked about Governance and training on offer from Co-operativesUK. There were also inspiring stories from True Food & Ipswich Ripple.

But the best part of the day was in the afternoon (facilitated by CLADA) which became an open space event. Delegates chose what to discuss, who to discuss it with and worked through issues; offering insights and resolutions.

For me; what was so great about this event (and can be seen in the picture), was having some of my largest members: Suma, Essential, Infinity, GreenCity and Lembas all together in the same room talking about co-operation.

With the recent focus on community co-operatives, social enterprise and now public sector solutions it is sometimes forgotten that Co-operatives are businesses and operating under normal market conditions. Co-operation is a tricky thing particularly when you directly compete with each other. But we had some great discussion; dispelling myths, facing realities and hopefully coming out the other side with some real resolutions to improve our co-operation in the future. I can't wait till next year!

Future Co-operative 2010

I came into work this morning (albeit a bit late from oversleeping) with a bounce in my step. There is nothing quite like spending time with a bunch of people who share your vision for the future.

Yes it is that time of year, Future Co-operatives 2010 where advocates of co-operation get together and talk about the future of the movement and what it will look like.

As usual most of the serious work took place on the Friday with meetings of the worker co-operative council and co-operative development network. There was also a worker co-operative open forum (some of this discussion I will cover in a future blog). The most serious work of the weekend took place in the in the Bar. I chance Inever miss to talk to members and improve my knowledge of the sector...

On the Saturday Ed Mayo (Secretary General, Co-operatives UK) gave a thought provoking speech on the case for co-operation. How it is part of our human nature to share, work together and yes, co-operate. He spoke too about the state of the economy, society in general and how there is an alternative to the current situation.

How our challenge as co-operatives are to be that alternative; to evidence and argue that co-operation and co-operative business works and can create a more equal and sustainable future.

Sion Whellens (Calvert's) ran a session on Principle 6 and the power of co-operating in business. How our ability to use each others networks, increase all our business opportunities is under utilised (something I have talked about before in my blog). A great example of this in action: one delegate as part of their 60 sec pitch requested an introduction to a permanent secretary in a Government ministry, amazingly someone was able to deliver.

Vivian Woodell (Chief Executive, Phone Co-op) ran a session on developing a successful affinity scheme. The Phone Co-op offers a deal where co-operatives and organisation that promote their services get a share of the resulting sale. Co-operatives UK takes part in this scheme, (we pass on this share direct to our member resulting in a 6% discount on phone calls) members offers .

The Co-operative Group launched www.hive.coop a website for members to socialise and talk about co-operatives (yes I've already created a worker co-operative group, can you find it?).

The Saturday finished off with a Q&A's panel session chaired by Jo White. The event was great and gave me renewed focus in my work.

I was left however with the feeling that it could have been bigger and involved a wider audience: Housing Co-operatives, Credit Unions, employee owned businessed and others interested in creating a better world through co-operation.

This event seems to have grown every year, I am already looking forward to next year and hope you will be there too.

Worker Co-operative European Conference

On 28th September, CECOP (European wide body for worker co-operatives) will be holding their annual conference in Brussels. The theme for this years conference is "Managing Change with sessions on: Corporate Governance, Restructuring, Clusters & Innovoation.

They will also launch a book "Cooperatives and Social Enterprises - governance and normative framework". Which is the result of analysis work spanning three years, intiatied in Manchester (Nov 2006). Looking at the common denominators among peices of legislation across 11 EU member states, relating to Co-operatives and Social Enterprises.

If any members are interested in attending and representing UK worker co-operatives please get in touch.

Worker Co-operative Forum

The Worker Co-operative Forum took place last Friday as part of Co-operatives 2009 Conference and was attended by 33 delegates. This is the first time I have organised a worker co-operative specific strand and I hope to build on this and our presence at Co-operatives 2010 next year.

We had workshops on: Marketing co-operatives, running effective meetings, HR issues, and implementing The Code of Governance. For the presentations and other materials, please visit our events page.

We also had 3 opens sessions on: Perceptions of Co-operatives UK , Business networking using the web, and social auditing and performance measuring.

If you attended and their is an online form to feedback on the day.

Other interesting bits at Co-operatives 2009.
We had worker co-operative representation throughout the weekend, of particular interest I attended workshops on: Employee participation, Where future co-operatives will come from, How much is your manage worth?

I should also not forget that The employee co-operative council has had its name change approved and will now be known as the worker co-operative council.

We will be uploading videos of some of the workshops when there ready in the next week or so. Please check here for articles already online.

Do you want worker co-operatives to be more visible at Co-operatives 2010, please post your comments or email me your thoughts about what we can do next year.

Worker Co-operative Forum in June

I have updated the Congress website with details of the worker co-operative forum taking place on the Friday 26th June. If you are interested in attending and want more info or have any feedback (have topics to fill the open session) please get in touch with me.

If the full package is too expensive for your co-operative we have found alternative accomdation for £33 a night which can bring the cost of Congress down, check the main website for more information and the rest of the programme.

A training and networking event for small and medium sized co-operatives.

Worker co-operatives are pioneering businesses using innovative employment practices and alternative approaches to business issues. These sessions are a chance for worker co-operatives to share knowledge with each other and the wider movement.

A day rate of £80 plus VAT is available for the Friday and any delegate attending the full weekend will have access to this special programme.

We are providing free exhibition space for all small and medium co-operatives that pay for the full package (£550) and if you book before the 21^st May you will also receive a free advert in the Co-operatives 2009 Programme.

Programme

9:30 Arrival and help desk opens

10:00 Welcome and Introduction by the Employee Co-operative Council.
The representative body for worker co-operative and employee owned members of Co-operativesUK

10:15 How to promote your co-operative
A workshop on how to make the most of your co-operative status in the current economic environment - Sean Bish, Ethos PR

11:15 Effective meetings and reaching concensus
How to effectively run meetings and get consensus decisions within a co-operative – Mark Simmonds, Co-operativesUK

12:15 Lunch
An opportunity to find out more about other co-operatives, get contacts and network.

13:00 Dealing with Human Resource issues
Recruiting, supporting and when necessary disciplining workers within a democratic workplace.

14:00 Implementing the Code of Governance
A workshop on the Worker Co-operative Code of Governance and related resource as practical tools to deal with issues and improve performance in your co-operative – Bob Cannell, Suma

15:00 Open Session
This session will be open for attendees to propose topics for discussion on the day.

16:00 Wrap up and close
The Employee Co-operative Council will wrap up the day and discuss priorities for the future.

16:30 Finish
There will be a number of other activities after these workshops, check the main congress programme for more information. For those wishing to extend conversations and networking the Bar will be open for the rest of the night.

19:30 Welcome Reception
For those paying the additional £20 there will be an evening of food and drink celebrating the Co-operative Colleges 90th Birthday. A great opportunity to mix with all parts of the co-operative movement. Weather permitting there will be a BBQ held in the gardens of Beaumont House.

To book online click here, or contact:

Tel: 01323 637710
Fax : 01323 637777
Email : cooperatives2009@confpeople.co.uk

For all other enquiries about this programme please contact:
John Atherton
0161 246 2961
Email: john.atherton@cooperatives-uk.coop

Annual Scottish Worker Co-operative Forum

Last Friday I was involved in organising an event with Co-operative Mutuality Scotland and Co-operative Development Scotland. The event was held in Glasgow, bringing together worker co-operatives from all over Scotland. We discussed closer working between co-operatives and getting the most out of the business support on offer from organisations like Co-operative Development Scotland.

Lisa McNair from Unicorn Grocery ran a practical workshop on HR issues and Bob Cannel from Suma talked about implementing The Code of Governance for worker co-operatives.

There was some really useful knowledge sharing and I intend to collect together resources from participants and make them available to other Co-operatives members. If your Co-operative has useful member recruitment, induction, disciplinary resources; please send them to me as it can save new co-operatives reinventing the wheel.

Members of The Employee Co-operative Council (Our representative body for worker co-operatives) also attended the event and held their quarterly meeting. There was also ample time for members to catch up with each other, and get to know new members like The Very People a PR and Marketing Business and City Design Co-operative an architect and urban design business.

CMS hope to make this event an yearly opportunity for worker co-operatives to get together and we hope to be back next year.

Calling on world leaders to put people first

One of our worker co-operative members New Internationilst is heaviliy involved in the campaign calling on the G20 leaders to rebuild the global economy.

We at Co-operatives UK are encouraging members to support this campain that calls on G20 leaders, when they meet in London on 2nd April, to put people first by providing decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global inequalities of wealth and power, and a green economy.

This is a great opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past and create a better global system that offers fairness, opportunity for all, which rewards self-help and recognises the importance of community.

Co-operation as a business model is recognised the world over as a sustainable and people-centred way of doing business that understands the importance of ‘fair globalisation’. It provides a means of helping developing countries maximise their potential and thus helping their people live better lives.

On March 28th there will be a march starting at Vistoria Embankment (11.00 am) and finishing with a rally in Hyde Park. For further details and how to get involved see www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk

What is the future for Co-operatives?

A brighter and more interesting one if Future Co-operatives 2009 is anything to go by. I attended this inspiring event with about 70 other people, mainly from Co-operative Development Bodies and Worker Co-operatives, an impressive number considering it was held in Swindon. This event looked at the future for co-operatives and discussed issue affecting the movement.

The Co-operative Group spoke about their marketing campaign and unveiled their plans to improve Co-operative development. It looks like they will be building on the C-Change fund (that covered the old united trading area) to other parts of the country. This should increase development support available to new and existing co-operatives. I will post more details when they are available.

The main debates over the weekend were: Co-operatives third sector or private sector, Co-operatives Act vs Co-operative Standards, and whether there should be a co-operative quality mark?

The main things I took from this event were:

Co-operatives maybe classified as first, third, social enterprise or any other number of terms, but first and foremost we are co-operatives. This is our unique selling points and makes us a better form of business.

In the present economic climate Co-operative values are an increasingly useful marketing tool and should be deployed more often. More than this we should promote what these values help us achieve.

We should convince other co-operatives to display their co-operative status and participate more in the movement. Together we are stronger.

For co-operatives wanting to have external verification of their co-operative status; something that can be done now is to display our "Members of Co-operatives UK" Logo on websites and publications. If you are not a member or want a high resolution logo, please contact me directly.

I am very grateful for all the feedback given by members at this event and will be passing these on internally.

Future Co-operatives 2009

Future Co-operatives event will be held between Friday 30th January to Sunday 1st February, in Swindon. The event will be looking at Co-operative identity, designed to inspire and invigorate those with a co-operative passion.

This event is funded by the Co-operative Fund and delegate fees have been subsidised for Small and Mediums Co-operatives so they are will be affordable . To book your place email info@co-operativefutures.coop or call 0845 456 2506.

The Employee Co-operative Council will have their quarterly meeting on the Friday morning and a Worker Co-operative Open Forum will take place in the afternoon as one of the first activities of the event. This will be a great opportunity to network with other co-operatives, share business contacts and discuss priorities worker co-operative priorities for Co-operativesUK.

The event will have 3 debates and a session on the Co-operative Fund.

Debate 1: The Co-operative Movement: Private or Third Sector?
Debate 2: A Co-operatives Act vs. A Co-operatives Standard?
Debate 3: A Co-operative Quality Marque?

Worker Co-operative Training in Bristol

I've had a busy week in Bristol, visiting worker co-operatives and attending training organised in partnership with the Co-operative College and Avon CDA.

There were 15 worker co-operative members present some of whom have only been part of a worker co-operative for a few weeks. The training concentrated on defining co-operatives and discussing their values & principles; giving international and historical context to modern worker co-operatives.

It was also a great opportunity for members to discuss each others businesses and share their approaches to issues from a worker co-operative perspective. I was amazed at the variation and differing approaches, to solving the same business issues. The one constant; that workers owning and controlling their own business is the key to sustainable business success.

I hope to arrange more training and opportunities for worker co-operatives to meet up and share experiences in the future.

Employee Co-operative Council

The Employee Co-operative Council met last week in Manchester.

The ECC represents the views of Worker Co-operative members of Co-operatives UK and acts as a sounding board for policy and strategy. Topics covered at the meeting include:

• Membership Strategy and improving services
  
• Marketing the Co-operative Advantage
• Promoting and developing The Code of Governance
• Feedback from events
• Planning for future events

The ECC meets four times a year; has 8 elected representatives and 1 co-opted member representing CDB's.

Training for worker co-operatives

I have been involved in organising training for worker co-operatives in partnership with the Co-operative College.

Following the success of the events that were piloted last year, and the recent launch of the elearning resource about the wider movement, we are now able to offer two further training events that are heavily subsidised by the Co-operative Fund. The training cost will be £50 to Co-operatives UK Members, £100 for non-members.

Venue 1: SUMA – Halifax, 6 October 2008
Venue 2: CDA – Bristol, 5 November 2008

Worker Co-operatives and their Co-operative Identity will explore the centrality of our co-operative identity and our co-operative values and principles to modern co-operative businesses and examine how they can give worker co-operatives a clear advantage in the market place.

If you are interested please get in touch.