Who's In
Charge Here?!
Charge Here?!
This person or group of people at Abundance decides when to honor a boycott of a company's product
Who is the buyer and the GM.
Several years ago, responding to member calls for a Driscolls boycott, the board convened the membership to discuss adding a section to the Global Ends section of the Policy Register. Rather than having members handcuff Abundance staff on specific issues, the policy provides broad principles about worker dignity to direct staff to make a reasonable decision.
This section of the Abundance Policy Register directs the store to stock safe, reasonably priced, healthful food
What is the Global Ends.
The Global Ends direct management to:
Give priority to organic foods and products.
Give priority to food/products that are locally grown or produced.
Give priority to minimally processed and packaged products (especially bulk).
You can buy a hammer in these cooperative businesses located on Winton Rd near Blossom Rd, on Monroe Ave in Brighton, and on East Ridge Rd
What is Ace Hardware.
Mayers, Weiders and Blacks are owned by individual store owners. All the individual owners collectively own the supply chain. This is also true of Price Rite. In the 1950s, when large hardware store chains and pharmacies began increasing in size, hardware store owners banded together and survived the big box onslaught. The independently owned hardware store profit is recirculated in the community. Pharmacists refused to cooperate together. Independently owned pharmacies are now as rare as hens teeth and CVS and Walgreens are everywhere and all pharmacy profits leave the community and go to corporate headquarters.
This cooperative in the Basque region of Spain overcame Spanish prejudice and poverty to start interconnected worker-owned factories, credit unions, consumer owned cooperative groceries and housing co-ops and became one of the strongest economic powerhouses in Spain
What is Mondragon.
When the workers of Mondragon retire they get their share of the value they created. Mondragon has helped raise the quality of life of the residents of the region.
In England, during the industrial revolution, these poorly paid weavers were running out of food. They came together to form a cooperative store.
Who are the Rochdale pioneers.
The pioneers set forth basic rules for their business. Cooperatives around the world adhere to the 7 cooperative principles that derive from the Rochdale pioneers rules.
This person or group of people is responsible for making sure customers' needs are met
Who is the General Manager.
From the Policy Register,
The GM will not:
1. Operate without a system for soliciting and considering customer opinion regarding preferences, product requests, complaints and suggestions.
This section of the Abundance Policy Register directs the store to provide humanely produced food and a sustainable world
What is the Global Ends.
The Global Ends direct management to:
Be an advocate for and supporter of small/family farms, cooperatives, and small companies, especially those following fair trade practices.
Give priority to producers and suppliers that support workers’ rights.
Give priority to producers and suppliers that strive to provide a living wage.
This cleaning business in Brooklyn is owned by the workers
What is Brightly.
Brightly is a worker owned housecleaning business comprised of Spanish speaking women. Workers hire their management and decide on whether surpluses are reinvested or taken as a distributed dividend and how those dividends are distributed.
Karl Marx popularized these two concepts which are commonly understood as 1) the difference between the value a worker produces and the wages paid, and 2) the extraction of value from workers by owners
What is surplus value and exploitation.
For decades, American workers' wages kept up with inflation. In the mid 1970s workers wages started to stagnate while profits began to soar. Since then, more and more surplus value has been extracted from workers. Using this definition of exploitation, do co-op's exploit workers?
In corporate capitalism, those with the most money have the loudest voice. Which cooperative principle insures that co-ops are more democratic.
What is Democratic Member Control (AKA one member one vote).
Although some cooperatives have secured capital by issuing secondary shares, the one member one vote rule still holds. Cooperatives are democratic organization controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women servicing as elected representatives are accountable to the membership.
This person or group of people can change the bylaws
Who is the board and shareholders.
Bylaws may be amended by the Board provided that such action is reported to the Shareholders at the time of the notice of the Annual Meeting and approved by a vote of the Shareholders.
This section of the Abundance Policy Register directs the store to foster community among shareholders and be a good community member
What is the Global Ends.
The Global Ends direct management to:
Provide a variety of opportunities for our shareholders to become involved with the co-op and feel part of a purposeful community.
Be an active participant in our neighborhood and community.
This cooperative is behind many of the oranges and orange flavored products you see in supermarkets
What is Sunkist.
Sunkist is a producer cooperative, just like Organic Valley and Cabot Creamery. Farmers and producers join together collectively to purchase supplies, process products, and market and distribute.
Immigrant Finnish famers started agricultural cooperatives in this state in the 1800s and the state now has the most ag co-ops as well as a leading number of consumer cooperatives
What is Minnesota.
The NCB conference is always held there. Minnesota was also where the Co-op Wars took place.
Many privately owned businesses pass on intergenerational wealth through nepotism. Owners can choose who are allowed to join them as other owner-investors. What principle ensures co-ops don't participate in this kind of discrimination?
What is Open Membership.
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
This person or group of people is responsible for hiring and firing staff
Who is the General Manager.
However, the board is responsible for the General Manager and monitors progress monthly via the Policy Register. The GM is responsible for staffing decisions. The board monitors the GM's treatment of staff via the Staff Treatment and Compensation policy. The GM provides documentation in their report to the board. Collective bargaining will also add to this process.
This section of the Abundance Policy Register directs the store to foster a vibrant community in support of the Ends
What is the Global Ends.
The Global Ends direct management to:
Strive to reach a diverse and inclusive segment of the populations among our shoppers and shareholders.
This 55+ housing development in Geneseo is owned by the residents
What is Lakeville Village. Lakeville Village is a manufactured home community that is collectively owned by the residents. The residents own their homes, but the cooperative owns the land under their homes and is responsible for the roads, water, sewage, and electrical hookups. The residents vote for a board and pay a monthly lot fee. Cooperative MHCs around the US have much lower lot fees than privately owned parks.
Ella Baker organized NAACP chapters in the 1940's, helped Dr. King and Reverend Abernathy organize the grassroots component of SCLS and organized SNCC's Freedom Summer.
But before this she was an organizer in this cooperative organization.
What is the Young Negro Cooperative League.
You can read about the YNCL and other Black cooperative ventures in Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard
Companies like Wegmans, Amazon, and Walmart strive for vertical monopolies (aka vertical integration), controlling as many aspects of production and distribution as possible. Small businesses are driven out of business. This co-op principle(s) replaces zero sum thinking with solidarity.
What is 1) Cooperation among Cooperatives or 2) Concern for Community.
Cooperatives like Abundance are committed to supporting other cooperatives and working for the economic sustainablility of the community, via the Global Ends.
This person or group of people decide what happens when the store has a surplus (profit)
Who are shareholders.
Shareholders shall retain the right to waive in whole or in part, by action at a meeting of Shareholders, any patronage dividends to which they are entitled. The board can present options and recommendations. In theory, dividends are determined based on a shareholder's purchases. However, for the last two decades, all surpluses have gone to staff pay raises and capital needs.
This section of the Abundance Policy Register directs the store to provide reliable education about food and other cooperative businesses
What is the Global Ends.
The Global Ends direct management to:
Promote cooperative business models by doing business with other cooperatives when possible and encouraging the creation of new cooperative ventures.
Strive to educate our community about health, food safety, sustainability, and the conditions of food production, using a variety of media and venues.
You can buy tents, wool socks, and sleeping bags in this consumer cooperative on east Henrietta Road
What is REI.
REI is a consumer cooperative, just like Abundance.
This type of business is less likely to close a factory and move production overseas, less likely to pollute the community, and less likely to lay off workers during a temporary economic dip
What is a cooperative.
Corporations have shipped production overseas, Walmart and Amazon killed Main Street businesses in small towns, conventional farmers allow pesticide runoff, and scientists are studying the negative health impacts of addictive ultra processed foods – these are called negative externalities or social costs. Do co-ops create externalities and social costs? What makes a co-op less likely to produce social costs?
This type of cooperative is jointly owned by the consumers AND the workers.
What is a hybrid cooperative.
Weaver Street Market (four stores in North Carolina) is jointly owned by the shoppers and workers. The hybrid board includes both classes of owners. WSM’s Board of Directors is composed of 7 directors: 4 directors are elected by the two owner classes, workers and consumers, with each class electing 2 directors, and 2 positions are appointed by the board itself to fill the need for particular skills or knowledge. The General Manager holds the 7th position.