Co-op News - May 2020

MAY 2020 

WEATHERING 

THE STORM 

Workers at the 

frontline of 

the crisis 

Plus … Agri co-ops 

feeding the nations ... 

the care sector during 

coronavirus ... Balu Iyer 

on the need for global 

co-operation 

ISSN 0009-9821 

9 770009 982010 

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£4.20 

www.thenews.coop

9 7 7 

news 

news Issue #7312 OCTOBER 2019 

Connecting, championing, cha lenging 

OCTOBER 2019 

SUSTAINABLE 

DEVELOPMENT 

How are co-ops 

helping to make 

the SDGs a reality? 

Plus … ICA Global 

Conference preview ... 

Meet Fairtrade Foundation’s 

Michael Gidney ... positive 

impacts of the Preston Model 

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www.thenews.coop 

£4.20 

MAY 2019 Connecting, championing, cha lenging 

www 

news 

Issue #7313 

NOVEMBER 2019 

CO-OPS FOR 

DEVELOPMENT 

igali 2019: 

rning how to 

a better world 

candal affecting 

ks ... the 

merica’s 

co-op 

news Issue #7310 AUGUST 2019 


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AUGUST 2019 

CO-OP CULTURE 

What is it – 

and why does 

it matter? 

Plus … 100 years 

of the Channel Islands 

Co-operative ... Coop 

Exchange: addressing 

the issue of capital 


news Issue #7305 MARCH 2019 


MARCH 2019 

SO, WHAT 

HAPPENS NEXT? 

Co-operating for 

a better Brexit 

Plus ... A new generation 

of pioneers ... Meet Heart 

of England’s Ali Kurji ... 

and whatever happened to 

the International Summit? 

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£4.20 

news Issue #7309 JULY 2019 

Co 

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£4.20 

JULY 2019 

DEVELOPMENT 

How can we grow 

the global co-op 

community? 

Plus … a manifesto 

for Northern Ireland 

… Stephen R McDow II 

on US development … 

Co-op Congress report 


Issue #7306 

news 

APRIL 2019 

EDUCATION 

news Issue #7311 SEPTEMBER 2019 


SEPTEMBER 2019 

AGRICULTURE 

Can co-ops reduce 

the burden down 

on on the the farm? farm? 

Plus … Preview of the 

ICA Global Conference ... 

Why co-ops should be like 

pirates ... and proposals 

for Irish legal reform 

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AGRICULTURE: 

MICRO TO MACRO 

£4.20 

news Issue #7304 FEBRUARY 2019 

Connecting, championing, challenging 

FEBRUARY 2019 

MODERN RETAIL 

REDRAWN 

Where do co-ops 

fit in the picture? 

Plus ... Community 

finance in Europe ... new 

Pioneers in Rochdale ... 

and the lead up to Brexit 

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£4.20 

JANUARY 2019 Connecting, championing, cha lenging 

FOR ALL 

Learning for a 

co-operative life 

Plus ... Co-operative 

Retail Conference up 

... Abcul’s annual 

Q&A with Gillia 

ISSN 0009-98

Covid-19, solidarity and 

co-operative identity 

CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND 

CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP 

MOVEMENT SINCE 1871 

Holyoake House, Hanover Street, 

Manchester M60 0AS 

(00) 44 161 214 0870 


editorial@thenews.coop 

EXECUTIVE EDITOR 

Rebecca Harvey 

rebecca@thenews.coop 

INTERNATIONAL EDITOR 

Anca Voinea | anca@thenews.coop 

DIGITAL EDITOR 

Miles Hadfield | miles@thenews.coop 

DESIGN 

Keir Mucklestone-Barnett 

ART & DESIGN PLACEMENT 

Owais Qazi 

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH OFFICER 

Elaine Dean 

DIRECTORS 

Barbara Rainford (chair), David Paterson 

(vice-chair), Sofygil Crew, Gavin 

Ewing, Tim Hartley, Ray Henderson, 

Gillian Lonergan and Beverley Perkins. 

Secretary: Richard Bickle 

Established in 1871, Co-operative 

News is published by Co-operative 

Press Ltd, a registered society under 

the Co-operative and Community 

Benefit Society Act 2014. It is printed 

every month by Buxton Press, Palace 

Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. 

Membership of Co-operative Press is 

open to individual readers as well as 

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and unincorporated organisations. 

The Co-operative News mission statement 

is to connect, champion and challenge 

the global co-operative movement, 

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and open and honest comment and 

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and letters do not necessarily reflect 

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@coopnews 

cooperativenews 

Covid-19 has taught the world a lesson about the importance of solidarity and 

co-operation, be it between different states, communities or enterprises. These values 

are ingrained in the DNA of co-operatives, which makes the sector more resilient and 

better equipped to respond to crises. 

In this issue we look at just some of the inspiring actions taken by co-ops in the UK and 

abroad in response to Covid-19. We also explore the challenges co-ops across different 

sectors are facing and hear from experts and leaders from the movement. 

There are many positive stories to tell, from a French agricultural co-op starting to 

produce hand sanitiser for local hospitals to Fairtrade-certified co-op United Nilgiri Tea 

Estates (UNITEA) in India using the Fairtrade Premium to distribute food supplies to 

members (p28-31). 

Businesses, including co-ops, have also had to make difficult decisions. In the care 

sector the lockdown resulted in fewer people looking for support from care providers. 

Equal Care, a co-op from Calder Valley, West Yorkshire, had to put some employees on 

furlough. This was done with full consent, a decision made by the whole team using the 

sociocracy model of governance (p32-33). 

Covid-19 has increased the appetite for new ways of working and organising, including 

worker co-operatives and employee-owned businesses. The model is explored in depth 

in our report on the latest More Than a Shop podcast, which featured members of Suma, 

the Leeds Bread Co-op and Co-operatives UK’s James Wright (p38-39). 

Rebecca Harvey hears about some of the challenges posed by Covid-19 to co-operative 

retailers (p34-35) and speaks with Co-op Midcounties Group CEO Phil Ponsonby about 

how the society reacted to the Covid-19 situation as it unfolded – and how it has been 

supporting colleagues across its diverse range of businesses (p36-37). 

Economics journalist Paul Gosling examines the impact of Covid-19 on financial 

co-ops and building societies (p42-43) while Balu Iyer, director general of ICA-AP, the 

International Co-operative Alliance’s regional organisation for Asia-Pacific, looks at how 

co-ops have stepped up to support their members and communities (p44-48). 

It is clear that co-ops are playing a key role in helping to defeat coronavirus, from 

protecting employees to using their resources to provide relief and services to 

communities in need. But what they still need to do is raise awareness about their 

distinct co-operative identity and the importance this has on determining their approach 

to dealing with crisis. Should they fail to do so, their contribution will be regarded as 

mere corporate social responsibility. 

ANCA VOINEA - INTERNATIONAL EDITOR 

Co-operative News is printed using vegetable oil-based 

inks on 80% recycled paper (with 60% from post-consumer 

waste) with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC 

certified sources. It is made in a totally chlorine free process. 

MAY 2020 | 3

feeding the nations ... 

the care sector during 

coronavirus ... Balu Iyer 

on the need for global 

co-operation 

ISSN 0009-9821 

9 770009 982010 

01 

THIS ISSUE 

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: 

Jenny Holsgrove, head of culture and 

performance, Co-operatives UK (p26-27); 

social care co-ops during coronavirus (p32- 

33); Balu Iyer, regional director of ICA Asia 

and Pacific, updates the movement (p44-48); 

How is Midcounties looking after its retail 

colleagues? (p36-37); and the latest episode 

of the More Than A Shop podcast episode 

focuses on workers (38-39) 

news Issue #7319 MAY 2020 


MAY 2020 

WEATHERING 

THE STORM 

Workers at the 

frontline of 

the crisis 

Plus … Agri co-ops 

£4.20 


26-27 MEET... JENNY HOLSGROVE 

We speak to the head of culture and 

performance at Co-operatives UK about 

what Covid-19 means for future working 

culture in the co-op sector 

28-39 WORKERS 

28-31 AGRICULTURE 

Covid-19 has put the issue of food 

production in the spotlight, and 

agricultural labour is a crucial part of 

the equation. What do labour shortages 

and the need to protect workers from 

infection mean for the world’s agri 

co-op sector? 

32-33 CARING DURING CORONA VIRUS 

The care sector is under immense 

pressure from Covid-19. We look at 

how some co-op and employee-owned 

businesses in the UK are responding 

to the crisis. 

34-35 THE NEW FRONTLINE 

Retail workers are the interface 

between the public and the 

essentials they need 

38-39 MORE THAN A SHOP 

The podcast for the UK co-op movement 

explores the benefits of working in a 

different way, with contributions from 

Suma, Co-operatives UK and Leeds 

Bread Co-op 

40-41 LIFE AFTER COVID-19 

When it comes to rebuilding the economy 

do we return to normal or build something 

better? A report from the Centre for Local 

Economic Strategies and the Democracy 

Collaborative calls for plural ownership 

models and community wealth building 

42-43 PAUL GOSLING 

The pandemic and lockdown has delivered 

a massive shock to the global economy 

and threatens a severe downturn. How are 

co-ops in the finance sector coping? 

44-48 MESSAGE FROM BALU IYER 

The scale of the pandemic crisis means 

that this is the time for co-operation, says 

the regional director of the International 

Cooperative Alliance – Asia and Pacific 

REGULARS 

COVER: How are workers in 

co-ops around the world 

weathering the coronavirus crisis? 

Read more: p28-31 

36-37 PHIL PONSONBY 

We speak to the Group CEO of 

Midcounties about how the society 

is looking after its colleagues 

5-13 UK updates 

14-21 Global updates 

22-25 Letters 

50 Events 

4 | MAY 2020

NEWS 

COVID-19 

Labour & Co-op MPs join Starmer’s shadow cabinet 

Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled his first 

shadow cabinet, following his election as 

Labour Party leader. 

The key role of shadow chancellor 

went to Anneliese Dodds (Labour & 

Co-op MP for Oxford East). Ms Dodds is 

the first woman shadow chancellor; no 

woman has served as chancellor. 

The two other top posts went to non- 

Co-op MPs: Lisa Nandy has been 

appointed shadow foreign secretary and 

Nick Thomas-Symonds takes the post 

shadow home secretary. 

“We are living through a national 

emergency. Under my leadership, the 

Labour Party will always act in the 

country’s interest to save lives and protect 

livelihoods. That will be the number one 

priority of my shadow cabinet,” said Sir 

Keir, announcing the appointments. 

“We will be a responsible opposition 

that supports the government where 

we believe they are right and challenge 

them when we believe mistakes are 

being made.” 

Anneliese Dodds was appointed 

shadow Treasury minister by Jeremy 

Corbyn in 2017. Responding to the 

Conservative’s budget in March, she said 

it failed to repair a decade of austerity and 

was “a missed opportunity to reshape our 

economy for the better”. 

“From a lack of statutory sick pay for 

‘precarious’ workers, to the broken social 

care system and flawed universal credit 

rollout – the coronavirus is exposing the 

weaknesses in our economy and public 

services,” she said. 

“[This budget] was a chance to 

fundamentally change how our economy 

works – but that chance wasn’t taken. 

The Conservative government talks 

about levelling up, but as a Labour and 

Co-operative MP I know that this cannot 

be achieved without structural changes 

to the way our economy is run and 

distributes rewards.” 

Ms Dodds added that for a fairer, more 

productive economy, the budget “needed 

to invest in growing the co-operative 

sector, and creating a level playing field 

so that businesses who don’t play by 

the rules can’t get away with paying less 

than their fair share of taxes or using 

more than their fair share of the world’s 

resources”. She acknowledged the budget 

held “some, limited, areas of progress 

for the co-operative sector,” highlighting 

changes that mean housing co-ops will no 

longer have to pay unfair punitive taxes 

and the recognition of the need for more 

inclusive financial institutions. 

“Beyond just recognising that these 

problems exist, however, we urgently 

need action. For many years the Co-op 

Party has been campaigning for a fairer 

financial system, building on the work 

of credit unions and other financial 

co-operatives. Now we need support so 

they can play a far larger role in increasing 

peoples’ financial resilience, especially 

those with limited resources,” she added. 

Congratulating Ms Dodds, Co-op Party 

general secretary Joe Fortune said it was 

“a huge shot in the arm for co-operators 

and the co-operative movement to have 

someone as talented and committed [as] 

the shadow chancellor of the exchequer.” 

Ms Dodds, who has a degree in PPE 

from Oxford University and a PhD in 

government from LSE, was formerly a 

Member of the European Parliament for 

the South East England region (2014- 

2017), serving on the economic and 

monetary affairs committee, with a focus 

on corporate tax avoidance. She has long 

championed women’s rights, making 

headlines in 2016 when she took her fourmonth-old 

daughter Isabella to Strasbourg 

where she spoke on tax avoidance laws. 

Writing on International Women’s Day 

this year, she talked about how, although 

women have come far in terms of gender 

equality, there is still a long way to go. 

“Women still only make up 202 out of the 

650 Members of Parliament – although, 

after the last election, the Labour Party 

actually has more female than male MPs,” 

she said. 

She also highlighted the drastic 

underfunding of women’s services, adding 

that it is “crucial that where we can, we as 

a nation support women in crisis [who 

p Anneliese Dodds and Jonathan Ashworth now have senior positions in the Shadow Cabinet 

are] disproportionately impacted by crisis, 

across the world”. 

“I will continue to push for women’s 

equality through my work in parliament 

[but] we must all continue to celebrate 

how far we have come, and the women 

around us, too.” 

Jonathan Ashworth (Labour & Co-op 

MP for Leicester South) retains the role of 

shadow secretary of state for health and 

social care. Mr Ashworth has served as 

shadow secretary of state for health in the 

shadow cabinets of Jeremy Corbyn and u 


u Keir Starmer since 2016. Born in Salford, 

he studied PPE at Durham University, 

served as national secretary of Labour 

students in 2000 and previously worked 

as an adviser to Gordon Brown and head 

of party relations for Ed Miliband. 

The full team sees roles for other 

Labour/Co-op MPs. They are: 

• Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge 

and Hyde), shadow work and 

pensions secretary 

• Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and 

Devonport), shadow environment, 

food and rural affairs secretary 

• Steve Reed (Croydon North), 

shadow communities and local 

government secretary 

• Jim McMahon (Oldham West and 

Royton), shadow transport secretary 

• Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, 

Edgbaston), shadow international 

development secretary. 

There are also roles for two Labour/ 

Co-op peers: Baroness Smith is shadow 

leader of the Lords, and Lord McAvoy is 

the Lords’ Opposition chief whip. 

Several of the team members have 

played crucial roles in co-operative 

initiatives. 

STEVE REED 

When in local government, Steve Reed 

played a key role in the development of 

the co-op council movement, which now 

comprises 28 local authorities across the 

country. In 2010 Mr Reed, then leader of 

Lambeth Council, launched a consultation 

on plans to turn the authority into the 

country’s first co-operative council, giving 

more control to communities and service 

users. He is now honorary president of 

the Co-operative Councils Innovation 

Network (CCIN), the umbrella body for 

the movement. 

JIM MCMAHON 

Another high profile figure from the co-op 

councils movement is Jim McMahon, who 

was leader of Oldham Council and was the 

first president of the CCIN. 

LUKE POLLARD 

Luke Pollard – whose Plymouth 

constituency has a co-op council which 

has been praised for its co-operative 

initiatives – has also been active in 

supporting the movement, including his 

calls for mutual ownership of utilities. 

JONATHAN REYNOLDS 

Jonathan Reynolds, whose previous 

roles include shadow economic secretary 

under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, 

has worked to advocate co-op models, 

including arguing for worker-owned 

alternatives in the finance sector, in a 

speech to the Co-operative Economy 

Conference, organised by the Co-op Party 

in 2017. 

PREET KAUR GILL 

Preet Kaur Gill’s contributions to the 

movement include speaking up for farm 

producers’ co-ops around the world, 

calling last month for Brexit trade 

negotiators to bear in mind the needs of 

Fairtrade producers. 

In a statement welcoming Sir Keir as 

leader, and Angela Rayner as deputy, 

the Co-op Party said: “In recent years, 

the Co-operative Party has demonstrated 

the influence of our ideas, our campaigns 

and our movement. 

“We have won significant policy 

commitments to promote the co-operative 

sector’s growth and development, as 

well as support for campaigns on food 

justice, retail worker protection and 

modern slavery. 

“Our movement, anchored in the 

communities we serve, has exemplified 

the ‘co-operative difference’ in its 

leading response to the coronavirus 

crisis. Working together, the Labour and 

co-operative movements will continue to 

be a powerful force for positive change – 

during this crisis and beyond.” 

The Co-op Party adds that its MPs have 

remained active while Parliament was in 

lockdown, and worked to ensure retail 

workers – like those in co-op food stores 

– were included in the government’s list 

of essential workers. 

Florence Eshalomi MP worked to 

ensure the childcare services required by 

such key workers are given government 

support, while Tracy Brabin MP lobbied 

for financial support for the self-employed 

and Stephen Doughty MP flagged up the 

needs of the charity sector. 

Co-op Parliamentarians have also 

highlighted the needs of credit union, 

funerals, travel and retail sectors of the 

wider co-op movement, the Party said. 


RETAIL 

Co-operative societies 

continue their response 

to the challenges of 

Covid-19 lockdown 

Issues of safe social distancing, 

maintaining food supplies and community 

support have placed grocery retailers 

at the forefront of efforts to tackle the 

Covid-19 challenge – and co-op societies 

across the sector have been scrambling to 

act as the situation escalates. 

High profile responses include the 

Co-op Group’s Members’ Coronavirus 

Fund, launched to support foodbanks, a 

funeral hardship fund and community 

causes. CEO Steve Murrells announced 

the move by pledging 20% of his salary 

over a three-month period. 

The Group’s 4.6 million members have 

been invited to donate their unspent 

member rewards – 5% on every purchase 

of an own-brand product of services, 

totalling over £30m – into the fund. 

Mr Murrells said: “Millions of people 

are suffering financial hardship at the 

moment and so it felt right for me to offer 

to take this pay cut and directly support 

causes which are very important to me 

and close to my heart.” 

The fund builds on previous initiatives 

by the Group to support local communities 

during the outbreak. Last month it pulled 

its Easter TV ad campaign and donated 

the airtime, worth £2.5m, to promoting 

the work of food bank charity FareShare. 

The commercial highlights the charity’s 

efforts to feed some of the most vulnerable 

during the coronavirus crisis. 

Efforts to help communities are running 

throughout the movement, with retail 

societies donating to foodbanks via 

FareShare and the Trussell Trust, taking 

measures to protect staff and customers, 

and hiring extra workers to keep 

shelves full. 

Strict hygiene enforcement and social 

distancing measures are also being put in 

place and reviewed across all societies. 

The Group has recently launched 

Co-operate, an online community centre 

to lessen the impact of the lockdown on 

people’s mental health. Using an app, 

the platform connects vulnerable people 

to local and national support initiatives, 

as well as volunteers who are willing 

p Co-op Group CEO Steve Murrells is donating part of his salary to the Covid-19 fund 

to run virtual events such as exercise 

classes, music groups, or arts and crafts 

classes for others. The project aims to 

tackle loneliness, an issue the Group has 

focused on for a number of years. 

Volunteers are asked to list skills they 

can share and those wanting help are 

asked if there is anything they would 

like to do. The Group hopes this could 

help thousands of people find new ways 

to support others during the pandemic, 

develop unique ways to connect with 

others or acquire a new skill. 

The platform will also highlight the 

work of the Group’s Member Pioneers – 

colleagues who work with causes and 

concerns within their local communities. 

They will be concentrating all their efforts 

into helping others throughout the crisis. 

Matt Atkinson, chief membership 

officer for the Group, said: “I know that 

many of our members want to support 

others at this very difficult time and our 

new fund makes it as simple as possible 

for them to contribute in their own way. 

The collective effort of our members could 

have a massive impact for thousands of 

lives in the weeks and months ahead.” 

The Group has also started selling the 

Big Issue magazine in its stores, after 

social distancing measures and lockdown 

brought and end to street vending. Street 

sellers will continue to receive 50% of the 

sale price. 

Russell Blackman, managing director 

of The Big Issue, said: “Our income comes 

from street sales and without our vendors 

on the streets we cannot support those 

that really need us now and in the future. 

“We are delighted with the support from 

the Co-op, which operates at the heart of 

communities across the UK. The money 

raised will help to secure the future of the 

magazine and make a real difference to the 

lives of our vendors around the country.” 

Copies of the magazine can also be 

ordered online and 50% of net proceeds 

will go to vendors needing help. The 

remaining 50% will enable The Big Issue 

to continue its vital work with vendors 

now and in the future. Three-month 

subscriptions are also available to support 

vendors while they are off the streets. 

Matt Hood, commercial director at the 

Group, said: “Inclusivity is at the heart 

of our culture and this is an example of 

us all co-operating and pulling together 

to help those most in need during this 

unprecedented time – every copy sold will 

make a difference.” 

Central England Co-op is also on the 

lookout for community volunteers among 

its members and customers, to help those 

who are self-isolating. 

Volunteers should pick up a special 

green card from one of the society’s stores, 

fill in their details and pop it through 

the door of someone they know is selfisolating 

in their community. 

Thousands of customers have already 

expressed interest, including Cllr Joanna 

West, from Derby, who sits on the society’s 

Membership and Community Council. 

She said: “I’ve spent the last four days 

at a lovely store at a Heatherton Village on 

the outskirts of Derby, assisting however I 

can. I’ve stocked shelves, scanned labels 

to display new products that have come in 

to replace the usual stock, cleaned fridge 

doors and shelves, and for the last two 

days I’ve been stationed on the front door 

cleaning baskets and trolley handles u 


pColleagues at Scotmid’s Lakes and Dales stores in rural northern England set up a phone delivery service for customers in remote places 

uand asking customers to wait and be 

patient as we manage social distancing.” 

Central England Co-op is giving all its 

7,400 frontline colleagues an extra week’s 

pay in recognition of their hard work. The 

bonus will be paid in June and staff will 

also see their colleague discount double 

to 20% until the end of the same month. 

Chief executive Debbie Robinson 

said: “Our colleagues have been doing a 

tremendous job ensuring our communities 

continue to have access to vital essentials 

and services during this uncertain time. 

This bonus comes after the society 

brought forward its annual share of profits 

and increased its colleague discount 

earlier this month. 

Meanwhile, the society has awarded 

£50,000 to 29 community groups to help 

them continue their vital working during 

the Covid-19 outbreak. 

The cash, from the society’s Community 

Dividend Fund, goes to organisations 

in Stafford, Burton, Cambridgeshire, 

Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lichfield, 

West Midlands, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, 

Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, 

Birmingham and Warwickshire. 

Midcounties Co-op has also announced 

a bonus for frontline colleagues, who for 

four weeks are receiving an extra 10% 

on the base rate of pay for hours actually 

worked. Any customer-facing front line 

colleague that currently has a child in 

one of Midcounties’ nurseries will receive 

enhanced discount from 30% to 50%, 

while the whole executive team has taken 

a voluntary pay cut. All food and post 

office front line colleagues will receive a 

meal deal on each day they are working. 

Funeral and healthcare colleagues will be 

able to claim back the equivalent of the 

cost of a meal deal £3.50 on the days they 

are working in front line operations. 

Childcare colleagues can get lunch 

through the nursery kitchen on the 

days they are at work. Midcounties has 

also made arrangements with Creed 

for Childcare colleagues to receive food 

delivery parcels. While these will be 

charged for, it does provide a shopping 

service for those colleagues who are at 

work in nurseries. 

Midcounties, which operates a chain of 

nurseries, has also announced a range 

of initiatives to help ensure key workers 

have uninterrupted access to childcare. As 

part of this, it has launched a new fund to 

help parents working for the NHS and in 

other critical roles pay nursery fees for the 

duration of the outbreak with an initial 

donation of £25,000. 

In addition, it has paused fees for 

all children not currently attending its 

nurseries as a result of the pandemic 

And it says it has made more than 10,000 

deliveries of food and other essentials to 

vulnerable customers. 

Lincolnshire Co-op is now selling £20 

vouchers over the phone that can be used 

by volunteers, friends or family to pay for 

the shopping of those who are isolating. 

The idea is to save people having to 

hand over a bank card to someone else or 

worry about how much cash they have. 

Southern Co-op has also updated the 

News with its efforts to tackle the crisis. 

It says: “We’re closing our stores when 

we receive deliveries and replenish stock 

to protect our colleagues. Our colleagues 

are monitoring the amount of customers 

in our stores at any one time and have the 

option of temporarily closing the doors 

if necessary until capacity is back to a 

safe level.” 

Its crematoria and natural burial ground 

have been closed to the public except for 

funerals, which can only be attended by 

immediate family. Free webcast services 

have been introduced at The Oaks, Havant 

and East Devon Crematorium to go some 

way to helping mourners who are not 

allowed to attend a service. 

Scotmid Co-op has taken steps to 

support customers in remote areas, with 

colleagues at its Lakes and Dales stores 

in the north of England setting up a 

telephone order service for deliveries.\ 

And Scotmid has come up with its own 

community initiative, Sharing Smiles. 

This asks children to draw pictures and 

write to care home residents to help them 

feel connected during the pandemic, with 

care homes and support facilities across 

the country forced to prohibit visitors. 

Scotmid communities manager Lynne 

Ogg, who is responsible for the initiative, 

said: “Since launching, more than 50 

care providers from across Scotland have 

contacted us to say they would like to be 

included to receive pictures and letters. 

“It’s a simple idea but a great way to 

keep children busy while also providing a 

valuable task that will help connect them 

with others at this difficult time. 

“Schools have also been in touch 

to say they are sending the details out 


p Heart of England CEO Ali Kurji with representatives of the co-op and its charity partner Zoe’s Place to support 

to parents to get involved and a care home 

in Inverness has said they would like to 

both receive and share artwork they have 

been working on. We hope to be able to 

share a lot of smiles in the weeks ahead.” 

Drawings and letters can to be emailed 

to lynneogg@scotmid.co.uk. They will 

then be collated by the communities team 

and sent on to care providers who can 

print them and share them with residents. 

Christine Thomas, service manager 

at Capability Scotland, said: “We are a 

large charity that supports people with 

disabilities to live their best life ever. 

“Life for our customers has changed 

dramatically over the past week, as they 

are now advised to go into isolation to 

ensure they stay safe and healthy. 

“Contact with the outside world is 

precious, so it was hugely uplifting to 

read an email entitled ‘stay connected’; 

what a wonderfully touching idea this 

is. One of our social media hashtags is 

#creatingsmiles and being part of this 

project will most definitely achieve that.” 

Chelmsford Star has postponed its AGM 

but its member elections are continuing, 

and once again its board positions will 

be contested. 

Many of the Essex-based society’s 

Quadrant department store staff have 

voluntarily redeployed to assist in the 

society’s food stores, where managers 

have the power to limit number of people 

in shop at anyone time, and to close for up 

to an hour a day to get deliveries out. 

Head of membership and marketing, 

Kevin Bennett, said: “Our community 

card scheme means we have contact 

with a large number of local groups, 

including those who deal with the elderly, 

and vulnerable. We’re speaking to them 

directly to assist where we can. 

“Times are undoubtedly difficult, but 

I definitely feel this pandemic is bringing 

out the best in a lot of people. We’re 

hearing many positive messages from 

our customers about how our food teams 

are responding to the challenges with 

positivity and kindness.” 

Channel Islands Co-op has employed 

more than 100 people on zero-hour 

contracts to help in its stores and has 

expanded the home delivery scheme it 

launched for vulnerable islanders; this 

started out as a list of items to choose 

but now provides a large or small box 

of essential food items and some basic 

household products. 

“We were the first retailer in the Channel 

Islands to launch such a scheme and it 

has been hugely popular,” a spokesperson 

said. “We are also working on an online 

system which will increase deliveries to 

100 per day.” 

Heart of England Co-operative has 

donated £36,000 to its charity partner 

Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice in Coventry, 

which provides palliative, respite and endof-life 

care to babies and infants, which has 

had to suspend all its fundraising efforts 

in response to the Covid-19 lockdown. The 

hospice is run by Zoë’s Place Trust, which 

operates three facilities in Coventry, 

Liverpool and Middlesbrough. 

Other community initiatives include 

East of England Co-op supplying perspex 

screens to protect reception staff at 

St Elizabeth’s Hospice, Ipswich; and 

Southern Co-op handing out goodies to 

NHS workers from its Isle of Wight stores. 

Allendale Co-op, a single-store 

retailer in Hexham, is also working hard 

to meet demand, with orders rising from 

its usual level of around 10 a day to 80. 

General manager Neville Pringle has told 

customers the store will not be able to add 

extras to orders. 

Radstock Co-op has also put strict 

sanitary measures in place, with floor 

distance markers and other signage, 

issuing face masks and gloves to frontline 

staff, installing screens and hand sanitiser 

at till points and increasing cleaning 

routines. 

It has suspended use of its membership 

card until further notice and will make 

a donation equivalent to the value of 

the dividend earned to UK charities 

dealing with Covid-19. The society is also 

supporting schools with vouchers for 

those receiving school meals. 

To support colleagues, it is offering 

e-learning courses on coping with stress 

and anxiety, and a 24 hour counselling 

phone line has been put in place. 

Radstock has also developed IT 

infrastructure to facilitate working from 

home where possible and curtailed all 

non-essential travel. 

Head of PR and communications Vicki 

Przytocki said: “We review the operation 

on a daily basis and continue to monitor 

external guidance, internal input 

and suggestions from our colleagues 

and feedback from our members 

and customers.” 


COVID-19 

How are co-operatives, community businesses and employee-owned firms 

weathering the financial storm of lockdown? 

With lockdown extended and continued 

uncertainty over the exit strategy, UK 

businesses are counting the cost of 

Covid-19 – and not all are benefiting from 

the government’s support packages. 

p Ed Mayo, Co-operatives UK secretary general 

This has been a particular concern for 

the co-op and social enterprise sectors. 

Ed Mayo, secretary general of sector body 

Co-operatives UK, wrote to the government 

warning that many small organisations 

are not eligible for full support, and that 

the Coronavirus Business Interruption 

Loan Scheme (CBILS) is difficult to apply 

for and access. 

Co-operatives UK has carried out a 

survey of its members to see how they 

have fared under the government support 

packages. It stresses that percentages 

given in the following figures are from 

respondents to each particular question 

– and may not be representative of the 

sector, as in some cases only a few people 

have answered that question; they are 

a snapshot of the sector rather than 

a full picture. 

The survey found that: 

• 30% say they are key workers or 

providing ‘essential’ services 

• 78% have concerns about the 

financial health of their co-op 

• 30% cite cashflow as an issue 

• Nearly half (48%) say they are 

confused or uncertain about the 

support available from government 

• 86% say a cash grant is needed to 

support their co-op 

Early data shows around 20% are 

ineligible for the government grant 

schemes’ (but will be able to access the 

JRS, SSP rebate, VAT deferral etc). 

Co-operatives UK also asked what 

government support they were able to 

access or were planning to access: 

• A third (33%) plan to furlough staff 

• 13% plan to apply for CBILS – but 

some have said they are reluctant to 

take on more debt and/or the interest 

rate was too high 

• 18% plan to defer VAT payments 

• 9% said they expected to be eligible 

for the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality 

grants via their local authority 

The team at Co-operatives UK has 

identified several issues and challenges – 

notably that some co-ops are not eligible 

for self employed support or able to 

furlough staff and do not operate from a 

rateable property; Co-operatives UK has 

written to the government to highlight 

this issue. 

It is also looking for clarification from 

the Department for Culture, Media and 

Sport that co-operative and community 

benefit societies are eligible for the £750m 

package of support for charities and 

social enterprise. 

There is some support for the credit 

union sector: the government has brought 

in Fair4All which is supporting around 50 

organisations with up to £5m of funding – 

with grants that will range from £20,000- 

£350,000 in size. 

But some credit unions are struggling 

to access financial support. Barrow and 

District Credit has told local press that 

it is continuing to operate but did not 

qualify for the fund introduced by the 

government for credit unions because 

the scheme is only available to credit unions 

with a current loan book of £2m or more. 

There are other challenges for rural 

community businesses who have found it 

difficult to access essential supplies from 

wholesalers who have been focussing 

their efforts on meeting demands on big 

stores in urban areas. 

Duncan Smith, from the Plunkett 

Foundation, the support body for rural 

community businesses, told the News: 

“Local suppliers are often stepping up 

where bigger wholesalers have failed. 

“Community businesses have to be 

resilient and flexible in how they get their 

stock. They’ve also had to be flexible and 

resilient when it comes to the volunteers 

who run their stores – many were aged 

over 70; younger ones have had to come 

on board to enable shops to do more, and 

to do different things – such as deliver 

supplies to people who are self isolating.” 

As Co-op News went to press, it was 

reported that Nisa – the mutual groceries 

wholesaler, now a subsidiary of the 

Co-op Group – has opened up its 

membership to Plunkett’s family of 

community shops, which should help 

them to secure food supply chains in their 

rural communities. 

The crisis has enabled community 

shops to show how resilient and adaptable 

they are – and how important they are to 

the people they serve. 

“For some people who have no 

transport it is not an option to go to 

the supermarket,” said Mr Smith. 

“Community pubs, which had to shut 

their doors, have re-purposed themselves 

– they have opened shops, and they are 

offering deliver services.” 

One community pub, the Green Man in 

Toppesfield, Essex, has even set up support 

lines using qualified psychologists to help 

those who are isolated and vulnerable. 

Mr Smith hopes the crisis will expand 

this flexibility of the community business 

sector and enhance its visibility. 

“Community business is ingrained 

in community, and has the flexibility to 

offer new services and diversify – this is 

becoming apparent as the weeks go on. 

People are working longer hours and 

really becoming a sort of heroes in their 

community. They are doing a service 

above and beyond what they would 

normally see. In rural areas they may be 

the only service people have. 

“The fact you’re drawing in more people 

and younger people and introducing new 

services has got to be good thing and any 

new way to serve a community can be 

beneficial. If it gets more people involved, 

it’s a positive.” 

The government’s job retention 

scheme has kicked in but, said Mr Smith: 

“I suspect shops are expanding; it’s the 


pubs where it is different. We don’t know 

how long they’re going to be closed.” 

The Campaign for Real Ale has warned 

that the lockdown means many pubs 

could go to the wall, while Plunkett has 

continued to campaign for the community 

pub sector. 

Community pubs have been busy repurposing 

themselves as shops and 

delivery services. For example the 

Abingdon Arms, in Oxfordshire, is hosting 

virtual quizzes and talks; selling about 250 

takeaway meals a week; and operating a 

temporary shop which, while not making 

money, offers a lifeline in rural areas 

where food is hard to access. 

Mr Smith added: “The lockdown has 

shaken the sector to its foundations. 

Many community pubs have had to close 

completely, and the next big test is the 

unknown – we do not yet know exactly 

how long pubs will have to remain closed. 

That brings with it uncertainty over costs 

and cash flow. 

“Ensuring these community businesses 

can sustain a potentially long period 

with closed doors is a great challenge. 

And when pubs do reopen, there will be 

a very real possibility of a deep recession. 

Should they not reopen until the autumn 

there is the further potential difficulty of 

the post-Christmas months, which can be 

a testing time for the hospitality trade. 

“Many pubs have had to furlough 

employees and have been accessing 

government support. Some tenanted 

community pubs have been able to offer 

their tenants a rent holiday, but this can’t 

be unlimited. 

“Plunkett is here to help and support 

these community pubs with advice and 

guidance throughout the coronavirus 

lockdown, and in the months of 

uncertainty yet to come.” 

Like community businesses, the 

employee-owned sector has seen growth 

in recent years but is facing lockdown 

challenges. The Employee Ownership 

Association is offering one-to-one calls, 

weekly webinars, weekly newsletter and 

an online Covid-19 resource which is 

regularly updated. 

“The nature and values of the 

businesses that make up our membership 

is to share. As an EO community we can 

support everyone to be as resilient as 

possible during these unprecedented 

times,” it said. 

p Green Man community pub in Toppesfield 

Key issues are cashflow and accessing 

finance – and, in the short term, EO 

businesses need help in accessing 

some of this government support, in 

particular CBILS. 

Head of communications Keely Lead 

said: “Access to finance for employee 

owned businesses has been an issue that 

pre-dates the coronavirus crisis, which 

has seen the EOA engage with the finance 

sector to address its lack of understanding 

and inconsistency of response to 

supporting employee owned businesses. 

“None of the main banks have explicit 

policies to support the growing number 

of businesses that transition to an 

Employee Ownership Trust. Therefore, 

in the advent of this pandemic, the lack 

of understanding means that requests 

for personal guarantees, which EO 

businesses are unable to provide, teamed 

with some banks preferring to support 

customers using their existing lending 

products (which have T&Cs that employee 

owned businesses may struggle to meet) 

means we are trying to support their needs 

by speaking to government, the British 

Business Bank as well as signposting to 

help and support to access funds.” 

There are also issues around 

engagement. “We’re hearing from 

many of our members that they 

were quick to engage with employee 

owners and explain, gather ideas and 

come up with the right solutions and 

where necessary change tack,” said 

Ms Lead. 

“Many of our members are using the 

job retention scheme and using furlough 

to keep their businesses going, but with 

excellent engagement plans in place so 

the teams still feel part of what is going 

on. We are hearing how many of our 

businesses are doing so with a highly 

engaged team all supporting each other 

and the business the best way they can 

during this difficult time.” 

She gave the example of Stockportbased 

school and corporate wear supplier 

Rowlinson Knitwear, which decided to 

furlough 75% of workers, prioritising 

those who were vulnerable and those who 

would have to use public transport. 

“Furloughed workers will have pay 

topped up as the business splits the 

difference – so are receiving 90% pay” 

said Ms Lead. “Having shown strong 

leadership, being open and transparent 

and offering mental health and wellbeing 

support has seen great feedback from 

their team and the business continues 

to prepare for the future with many of its 

furloughed workers choosing to use their 

time to train.” 

EO businesses are also adapting, she 

added. For instance, Northants chemical 

company Scot Bader has developed 

a new rheology modifier for alcoholbased 

hand cleansers in just ten days 

to help with the global shortage; and 

Middlesex manufacturer Flowstore has 

set up a socially distanced production 

lines for hospital ventilators and social 

distancing screens. 


ion to the acquisition 

RETAIL 

change how we run 

Co-op Group profit up 

n in the full report. 

by 50% in 2019 

The Co-op Group reported strong financial 

results for the year to 4 January, with total 

revenues up 7% to £10.9bn, driven by 

continued strong performance from Food. 

The retailer reported a 50% increase 

in underlying profit before tax to £50m. 

Revenue in Food rose 3% to £7.5bn with 

Attracting like-for-like sales up new 1.9%. This means and 

six consecutive years of like-for-like Food 

younger revenue growth. members 

12 | MAY 2020 

apprentice since 2011. 

Insurance saw gross written premiums 

total £491.4m, up from £485m in 2018. 

Meanwhile, Funeral and Life Planning 

revenue fell from 3.2% £317m in 2018 to 

£307m in 2019 due to investments in price 

and offer, as well as a lower death rate. 

Revenue for the legal services division 

rose 13% to £40m. 

The Group was able to reduce net 

debt reduced to £695m, excluding lease 

liability from £764m in 2018. Members 

saw £59m returned to them directly, while 

£17m went to 4,400 local causes chosen 

by members and colleagues. 

Chief executive Steve Murrells said: 

“The Co-op made further financial 

progress through 2019, showing that cooperation 

is working. While we didn’t 

know it at the time, that performance set 

us up well to withstand the impact of the 

Covid-19 crisis and to enable us to support 

the communities we operate in. 

“No part of our business has been 

unaffected by the outbreak of the virus 

and we have played a critical role in 

communities throughout the UK. Our Food 

business has helped to feed the nation 

and our Funeral colleagues have been 

there for families at their time of greatest 

ENERGY 

Our drive to attract younger how local ownership of energy (and other 

Community energy 

infrastructure) can help communities be 

members has resulted in a more 36% resilient. 

group raises £100k 

Selsey and Sidlesham Ferry Farm 

increase Covid-19 in new support members aged 

Community Solar allocated £40,000 to 

35 and under; an age group support organisations helping those in 

Communities for Renewables (CfR), its community. Funds are needed for a 

that a represents collective of local energy 30% enterprises, of the rapidly mobilised community support 

have between them mobilised £100,000 to network. Three initial awards totalling 

population. 

support those facing hardship as a result £17,500 were made in the first week 

of Covid-19. 

of lockdown: 

As community-owned enterprises, they On the day the schools closed, a 

were able to mobilise funds to support donation of £1,500 was made to the 

community-organised aid networks. The Selsey Academy to pay for a subscription 

Corona Crisis Funds were distributed to an online library to help pupils study 

from surpluses generated by communityowned 

solar arrays. CfR says this shows Community Forum, which is co-ordinating 

at home; £6,000 has gone to Selsey 

the Covid Mutual Aid network for Selsey 

and Sidlesham; and £10,000 has gone to 

Chichester Food Bank. 

Gawcott and Buckingham’s Gawcott 

Solar CIC has allocated £14,000 to a 

Corona Crisis Fund. Two donations 

have been made in the first week of the 

5,000 apprentices lockdown: Buckingham Food Bank has 

received £2,500 to provide emergency 

food to local families in crisis, and £747 

Our Co-op apprenticeship 

scheme took on its 5,000th 

need. All of this work will continue and 

I could not be more proud of our people 

who have delivered – day in, day out. 

“Co-operation is something that is 

central not just to our business model, 

but to everything that we do and we are 

committed to continue to deliver against 

our vision of Co-operating for a Fairer 

World. Against the backdrop of Covid-19 

we will review the strategy we had 

embedded across our businesses, aligning 

commercial and community objectives.” 

Allan Leighton, independent nonexecutive 

chair of the Group, added: “Our 

commitment is to do all we can to help 

our members, customers and colleagues 

through the weeks and months ahead. 

It is already clear that Covid-19 will have 

profound consequences for the UK and 

global economy and our Co-op members 

and customers will not be immune. 

“Against that backdrop, our results for 

last year show that we are in a strong 

position to keep playing our part. At the 

Co-op, however, we measure our success 

differently. Strengthening and sustaining 

our local communities is fundamental to 

us and in 2019 we gave £17m to more than 

4,400 local causes.” 

has gone to YC2 Buckingham & Winslow 

Young Carers for gift vouchers to recognise 

55 young carers looking after family 

members at home. 

Jake Burnyeat, director of CfR, said: 

“These rapidly deployed Corona Crisis 

Funds show the real value of communities 

having their own local energy enterprises: 

generating funds to deploy for the benefit 

of local communities as needs arise. 

“Other community energy enterprises 

are mobilising similar crisis funds and 

support. If every town had a community 

energy enterprise, that story could be 

repeated across the UK – something to 

bear in mind as the we plan our new zero 

carbon energy future.” 

CfR is a Cornwall-based community 

interest company which helps 

communities across the UK to set up local 

energy enterprises and works with them 

to develop, finance and manage their own 

renewable energy generation. 

Since setting up in 2012, it has worked 

with local energy enterprises in over 30 

localities from villages to cities to help 

deliver over 35MW of community solar.

Cumbrian credit union merger approved by FCA 

CO-OP FORTNIGHT 

Let’s build something 

better together 

With Covid-19 impacting every business 

and community, this year’s Co-operative 

Fortnight is looking to the future. 

Themed ‘Let’s build something better 

together’, the two weeks from 22 June 

to 5 July will use inspirational stories of 

co-operation that have emerged from 

the pandemic to harness this positive 

behaviour and encourage everyone to 

#KeepCooperating. 

Organised by Co-operatives UK, the 

original call for the 2020 fortnight was to 

#JoinACoop, but the decision was made to 

change the theme to reflect the crisis. 

“We’ve seen people from all walks 

of life stepping up during these 

extraordinary times,” said Wendy Carter, 

head of communications and marketing, 

“with three quarters of a million people 

volunteering for the NHS – shopping 

for vulnerable neighbours, delivering 

equipment and medication and checking 

in with those most at risk. And co-ops are 

playing their part in many different ways 

by keeping shelves stocked, providing 

essential services, supporting local 

mutual aid groups and much more.” 

She added that there had been many 

heartening stories of co-operation. “We 

want to make sure we don’t lose this, 

especially when some people may be 

connecting with others in this way for the 

first time. Our campaign this year aims to 

encourage people to keep doing what they 

are doing.” 

Co-operatives UK wants co-ops to get 

involved by highlighting the different ways 

that co-ops, and people in communities 

have worked together, and talking about 

the co-op values and principles. 

uPosters, graphics and logos can be 

found online at uk.coop/resources/ 

co-op-fortnight-2020 

The Financial Conduct Authority has 

approved a merger between Cumbria’s 

Affinity Credit Union and Eden and South 

Lakeland Credit Union. The merger came 

into effect on 1 April, although operations 

at both organisations will continue 

unchanged for the time being because of 

Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Members 

of Eden and South Lakeland Credit Union 

will continue to access services. 

Central England gets planning nod for new travel store 

Central England Co-op has been given 

planning approval for a new travel store in 

Beccles, Suffolk. The society lodged plans at 

the start of the year to take over the Grade- 

II listed site, previously occupied by Coral 

bookmakers. East Suffolk Council has now 

given the society the green light. Its travel 

store had previously been housed in Beales 

before the department store’s closure. 

Lambeth GP Food Co-operative launches food fundraiser 

Lambeth GP Food Co-op has launched 

a fundraiser for Seeds for Life, a 

new project which will distribute 

gardening kits to vulnerable people 

to help them through lockdown. The 

co-op, run by patients, doctors, nurses 

and residents, has been working on food 

growing projects to improve health and 

wellbeing since 2013. bit.ly/34ZhHH6 

Awards nod for Southern Co-op’s charity partnership 

The Society of St James and Southern 

Co-op have been shortlisted for the Shortterm 

Partnership Award at the Third 

Sector Business Charity Awards. The 

partnership, launched last year, has a 

focus on reducing crime, addiction and 

homelessness; so far £11,500 has been 

raised, and 4,250 hours volunteered. 

Co-operation Town continues its Covid-19 food support 

Last week, mutual aiders from the 

Co-operation Town food network delivered 

more than 100 packs of food in a day to 

Camden households on low or no income. 

The group tweeted: “We’re glad we 

were able to adapt our infrastructure to 

this emergency, but can’t wait organise 

community food co-ops again.” 


GLOBAL UPDATES 

USA 

US co-ops ruled eligible for Covid-19 paycheck support 

The US Small Business Administration 

(SBA) has published its interim guidelines, 

which clarify eligibility criteria for 

loans under the paycheck protection 

programme (PPP) created by the 

CARES Act. 

The interim rules indicate most 

co-operative business sectors, including 

agriculture, purchasing, consumer food, 

and worker co-operatives, will be able to 

access PPP loans. 

Signed into law on 27 March, the 

CARES Act is an emergency relief bill 

designed to reduce the impact of Covid-19 

on the national economy. As part of the 

US$2.2tn (£1.78tn) stimulus package, 

the government will provide US$349bn 

(£281bn) through the PPP to help 

businesses keep workers on their payrolls. 

“This is good news for many 

co-operatives and their employees,” Doug 

O’Brien, president and CEO of the National 

Cooperative Business Association (NCBA 

CLUSA), said in a statement. “The severe 

economic effects of this pandemic do 

not discriminate on the basis of business 

structure, so neither should PPP. While 

we appreciate this recent guidance from 

SBA, we pledge to continue to work with 

the co-op community to make sure that all 

employees of co-ops are covered.” 

The US Federation of Worker 

Cooperatives (USFWC) also welcomed the 

guidelines. “The fact that co-operatives 

are eligible for SBA support is a good signal 

from the Small Business Administration,” 

said Esteban Kelly, executive director 

of the USFWC. 

“Access to this relief is indicative of 

how economically devastating Covid-19 

has been in such a short amount of 

time. Relief funding is welcome news for 

co-op businesses and their workers.” 

He added: “Businesses like our workerowned 

and governed member co-ops 

are an under-served sector of the small 

business community. We have fought 

for decades for co-op eligibility across 

the spectrum of SBA programmes, 

are looking forward to continuing our 

work with the SBA to ensure that these 

guidelines inform long-term co-op 

eligibility for SBA programs. We are proud 

to be working with our national partners 

and mobilising members to ensure that 

co-operatives in the US receive the support 

they deserve.” 

NCBA and USFWC continue to engage 

with SBA and legislators to ensure all 

co-ops are eligible for the programme. 

On 1 April NCBA, along with 16 other 

co-op organisations (including USFWC), 

sent a letter to the SBA asking that 

co-operative businesses be allowed to 

participate in PPP. 

Issued through private lending 

institutions, PPP loans are 100% 

guaranteed by the SBA. If a borrower 

meets certain requirements, including 

maintaining payroll employees, much of 

the loan can be forgiven. The loans do not 

require a personal guarantee, a former 

requirement that has prevented worker 

and consumer co-ops from accessing SBA 

loan programmes in the past. 

Co-ops that are ineligible for a PPP loans 

can still qualify for an Economic Injury 

Disaster Loan, for which all co-operatives 

are eligible. Co-ops eligible for PPP loans 

can apply for the Economic Injury Disaster 

Loan as well. 


GLOBAL 

Fairtrade International releases new 

guidance to help farmers cope with Covid-19 

p Mrs Kouma, a farmer at CAYAT, a Côte 

d’Ivoire co-op (Photo: Peter Caton) 

Producer organisations will be able to use 

some of their Fairtrade Premium funds to 

cope with the impact of Covid-19. 

Fairtrade International announced 

increased flexibility in its standards 

to enable producer organisations, the 

majority of which are co-ops, to take 

immediate action to protect farmers and 

workers. The organisation hopes this 

will ease some of the negative impacts of 

the pandemic. 

“Many farmers and agricultural 

workers in the global south are already 

beginning to feel the economic effects 

of Covid-19, although in many cases the 

health impacts are still to be seen,” said 

Gelkha Buitrago, Fairtrade International’s 

director of standards and pricing. 

“The new guidance we have just 

approved makes it possible for Fairtrade 

certified producer organisations to make 

decisions and act quickly on things that 

will keep farmers and workers safe, or 

provide much-needed extra income 

during this uncertain time.” 

The new standards were approved by 

the Fairtrade Standards Committee on 27 

March and apply to all types of Fairtradecertified 

producers, from small-scale 

farmer co-operatives to larger farms with 

a hired workforce. 

Under the new guidance, producer 

organisations can spend Fairtrade 

Premium funds more flexibly to minimise 

the spread of disease, such as by 

purchasing and distributing face masks 

or other personal protective equipment, 

or by implementing hygiene campaigns. 

Furthermore, producer organisations can 

take decisions about spending premiums 

on Covid-19 related measures without 

waiting for approval at their required 

annual general assembly meetings. They 

will instead document expenditures for 

retroactive ratification. 

To protect hired labour, the workerrun 

Fairtrade Premium Committees will 

be able to distribute up to 100% of their 

Fairtrade Premium funds as direct cash 

distributions to workers, without having to 

make a formal request to the independent 

certifier, Flocert. 

The guidance also asks all Fairtrade 

producer organisations, particularly those 

employing workers, to continue to respect 

fundamental rights and freedoms and pay 

workers, including those required to selfisolate, 

as well as to enable workers to 

keep appropriate safe distance from each 

other while performing tasks. 

“We will continue to monitor the 

developments and assess the challenges 

in the implementation of Fairtrade 

Standards and will inform all stakeholders 

on any further temporary measures,” 

added Ms Buitrago in a letter to producer 

organisations. 

GLOBAL 

Co-operative insurance body Icmif shares information as UN 

launches Covid-19 service on Whatsapp 

The United Nations Development 

Programme (UNDP) in conjunction with 

the World Health Organisation (WHO) 

and Unicef have launched a Coronavirus 

Information Hub with WhatsApp. 

The hub provides simple, actionable 

guidance for all types of organisations that 

rely on WhatsApp to communicate with 

others including health workers, educators, 

community leaders, nonprofits, local 

governments and local businesses. 

The site also offers general tips and 

resources for users around the world to 

reduce the spread of rumours and help 

people connect with accurate health 

information. 

The UNDP says an important part of the 

new partnership is a dedicated messaging 

service in Arabic, English, French and 

Spanish managed by WHO to keep people 

safe from coronavirus. This easy-to-use 

messaging service has the potential 

to reach 2 billion people and enables 

information to be shared directly with the 

people that need it. 

The news was welcomed by Icmif, 

the global body for co-op and mutual 

insurers, which is a partner of the UNDP. 

All Icmif member organisations are 

invited to share information on the hub 

with their member policyholders through 

their usual distribution channels to help 

them find the latest, accurate information 

on the Covid-19 situation. The material is 

currently available in 58 languages and 

this number is growing. 


REPUBLIC OF KOREA 

How Korean co-operatives are responding to the pandemic 

Co-ops in the Republic of Korea have 

been quick to respond to the Covid-19 

crisis. From providing masks and free 

meals, to continuing to stock up shelves, 

consumer co-ops have been showing 

how they can make a difference in their 

local communities. 

The outbreak resulted in more members 

purchasing from iCoop Korea’s food stores. 

A federation of consumer co-operatives, 

iCoop runs 239 stores. 

Sales rose 40% during February, 

compared to the same period in the 

previous year. Rice and noodles were 

among the most sought-after products. 

To cope with the increase in demand 

for some products, stores put in place 

restrictions on the number of items per 

person. Customers have also shopped 

more online. 

Daegu city was one of the most affected 

areas in the early stages of the outbreak, 

with 70% of all cases. As a result, iCoop 

increased supply to the area by 30%. 

Coping with the increased demand 

also required additional support from 

staff members, who volunteered to 

deliver some of the orders using their 

personal cars. 

At the end of February, when the 

number of infections was increasing in 

Daegu, local iCoop members distributed 

10,000 masks to their members. On 3 

March they delivered 15,000 meals to 

local authorities to distribute to the worstaffected 

areas. During this period, the 

sector provided lunch boxes, masks, and 

hygiene items to medical staff and local 

communities, particularly those who were 

p iCoop staff members delivering food items 

having difficulty due to the suspension 

of social services. 

But a decline in non-food businesses, 

coupled with school closures and lack of 

public procurement, affected many other 

co-ops and social enterprises. 

iCoop also runs a Disaster Response 

Committee which, in collaboration with 

and Seed Foundation for the Social 

Economy of Korea, initiated the Covid-19 

Social Healing Project. A fundraising 

campaign, the initiative helped to raise 

KRW4.5m (£2,973) from iCoop member 

co-ops, an amount matched by a donation 

from the foundation. The funding will be 

used to support those disadvantaged as 

well as organisations in the travel sector 

and the social economy that have been 

impacted by the crisis. 

In partnership with the Asia Pacific 

Alliance for Disaster Management Korea, 

the committee has provided lunch for 

two weeks to children in Daegu. School 

closures affect families who rely on the 

meals provided by the school to feed 

their children. The lunch boxes were 

prepared by small restaurants, which had 

been hit hard by the fall in demand due 

to the crisis. The project benefited from 

a KRW200m (£130,000) donation from 

the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief 

Association. A total of 54 local restaurants 

prepared lunch boxes for 2,442 children, 

which were distributed through 110 local 

children’s centres. 

In response to the crisis, iCoop is 

encouraging home working, where 

possible, and provided employees 

with two weeks worth of food that can 

boost their immunity. Prevention is 

also an important area of work for the 

retailer, which last year launched a 

Natural Dream Food Cure & Research 

Foundation. The foundation runs a 

medical clinic and a healing centre where 

members can take part in programmes 

designed to promote healthy eating and 

exercising. The initiative aims to prevent 

the development of lifestyle-related 

diseases such as diabetes and high blood 

pressure, which have been fatal for some 

of those who contracted the coronavirus. 

iCOOP says it expects its business to 

help members protect their health in 

the future. 

To show solidarity with the rest 

of the movement, individual co-ops 

and Korean federations have joined a 

network of 56 organisations to form a 

Social Economy Response Headquarters 

on Covid-19. Among those joining the 

network are iCoop, the Korea Federation 

of Workers’ Cooperatives and the National 

Cooperatives Association. 

Initial research conducted by the Korea 

Social Economy Network between 10 and 

19 March showed that the sector is finding 

it difficult to maintain the same level of 

staff payment due to a decrease in sales. 

Around 80% of social enterprises taking 

part in the survey said the labour cost was 

the most burdensome (80%). However, 

55% also said they did not plan to adjust 

their staff’s employment status. 

To address the problem, on 27 March the 

Social Economy Response Headquarters 

created an Employment Solidarity Fund 

to raise KRW1bn (£660,693). 

Financial support will also be 

available for Korean co-ops through 

a Disaster Solidarity Response Fund 

launched by the Korea Social Value and 

Solidarity Foundation. Co-ops and social 

enterprises affected by the crisis could 

apply for funding until 8 April. This 

was in the form of a loan of less than 

KRW10 million (£6,569), with an annual 

interest of 1.5%, and a one-year lump 

sum repayment. 

To qualify for loans, co-ops and social 

enterprises have to have suffered or expect 

a fall in profit of 50% or more, compared to 

the average of the previous three months 

or the same period a year ago. 


GLOBAL 

Woccu welcomes Covid-19 flexibility from international regulators 

International standard-setting bodies 

have issued guidance to assist financial 

institutions in dealing with the 

Covid-19 crisis. 

The World Council of Credit Unions 

(Woccu) welcomed the flexible approach, 

which it has long been campaigning for. 

It says regulatory flexibility enables credit 

unions to meet the financial needs of their 

members during the crisis. 

Responding to the crisis, the Basel 

Committee on Banking Supervision 

provided relief to help financial 

institutions cope with the impact of 

Covid-19 on the global banking system, by 

delaying deadlines for the implementation 

of the Basel III framework. Furthermore, 

the committee issued a statement 

highlighting that supervisory authorities 

had additional flexibility to undertake 

further measures to alleviate the financial 

stability impact of the pandemic. 

Woccu is urging national-level 

regulators to take note of this guidance 

and similarly allow for flexibility that 

will enable credit unions to serve their 

members during the crisis. 

Likewise, the G20’s Financial Stability 

Board published a statement in which 

it encouraged authorities and financial 

institutions to make use of the flexibility 

within existing international standards to 

provide continued access to funding for 

market participants and for businesses and 

households facing temporary difficulties 

from Covid-19, and to ensure that capital 

and liquidity resources in the financial 

system are available where they are needed. 

The International Financial Reporting 

Standards Foundation, which oversees 

the International Accounting Standards 

Board, has also released guidance on how 

to account for expected credit losses in 

|the light of current uncertainty resulting 

from the pandemic. 

“We are pleased to see the international 

standard setting bodies utilising their 

tools to provide much needed flexibility 

and guidance so our credit unions can 

continue to serve the needs of their 

members,” said Andrew Price, Woccu 

vice president of advocacy. “The guidance 

issued provides the basis for nationallevel 

regulators to likewise implement 

conforming accommodations.” 

IRELAND 

Irish credit unions provide funding to charities fighting Covid-19 

Dundalk and Cuchullain credit unions are 

offering financial support to organisations 

that are putting the needs of others ahead 

of their own. 

Dundalk Credit Union has repurposed 

its Community Support Fund as a Covid-19 

Community Response Fund. Alongside 

Cuchullain Credit Union it will offer 

financial assistance to organisations like 

Cú Chulainn Blood Bikes, a local voluntary 

charity that provides a transportation 

service for blood, human tissue, patient 

records and human infant milk; Meals on 

Wheels, which delivers meals to individuals 

unable to purchase or prepare them; and 

Women’s Aid Dundalk, which supports 

women who are living, or who have lived 

with domestic violence. 

Dundalk CEO Billy Doyle said: “We see 

the true strength of community in times 

of challenge and uncertainty, and over 

the years we have witnessed the people 

of Dundalk, and indeed across Co Louth, 

rally in crisis, responding with resilience 

and solidarity, and one of these times is 

upon us.” 

Cuchullain CEO Brigene Litchfield 

added: “Community is at the heart of the 

credit union movement, and we are happy 

to play our part to help the wider Dundalk 

community to stay safe and safely navigate 

these uncharted waters.” 


USA 

Worker co-op 

sector hails growth rate 

of 25 firms a year 

A report by the Democracy at Work 

Institute (DAWI) and the US Federation of 

Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) confirms 

steady growth in the number of worker 

co-operatives across the country. 

The 2019 Worker Cooperative State of 

the Sector covers six years of business 

progress. It shows that the rate of new 

start-ups each year remains stable at 

about 25 new firms annually, while the 

number of businesses that have converted 

to employee ownership has grown slightly. 

According to the publication, the 

average wage paid at all reporting worker 

co-operatives is US$19.67 (£15.95) – more 

than $7 (£5.68) higher than the minimum 

wage in the 13 states with the most 

worker co-operatives. 

Worker co-ops that distribute surplus 

to members distribute a median total 

dividend of $190,890 (£154,765) across 

the membership each year and an average 

distribution of S$8,241 (£6,681) to each 

worker owner. 

The report shows that worker 

co-ops also continue to prioritise the 

reduction of internal inequality. The 

sector maintains a 2-to-1 pay ratio between 

highest paid and lowest paid workers. By 

contrast, the average large US corporation 

has a CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 303-to-1. 

The sector includes 465 known worker 

co-ops with 6,454 members and an 

estimated revenue of $505m (£409m). 

They span across a variety of sectors, 

from childcare and homecare to retail and 

professional services. 

The report shows that worker co-ops 

have a higher than average success rate. 

Those that are 6-10 years old have a 25.6% 

success rate while those over 26 years old 

have a 14.7% success rate. By comparison, 

US small businesses that are 6-10 years 

old have an 18.7% success rate while 

those older than 26 years have an 11.9% 

success rate. 

The report also mentions some of 

the challenges faced by the sector, as 

identified by co-ops themselves. These 

include benefits-related challenges, such 

as being able to provide health insurance 

and other work benefits, as well as nonbenefits 

challenges such as administrative 

burdens and business planning. The US 

Federation of Worker Cooperatives reports 

that access to capital is also one of the 

most common challenges for new and 

existing worker co-ops. 

In terms of demographics, the report 

reveals that female workers and workers 

of colour make up the majority of the 

employees in worker co-ops. 

The full report can be accessed by 

completing a short form at institute.coop. 

5 

Los Angeles 

USA 

Power wholesaler Tri-State Generation 

and Transmission Association Minneapolis 10 – a group 

of 43 US electric co-ops – has agreed to 

allow Delta-Montrose Electric Madison Association 

12 

to depart Boulder – 6 with terms that will cost its 

former member $136.5m (£108m). 

Tri-State has Denver been 11 embroiled in disputes 

5 Chicago 

with several of its members over the rules 

of departure, as co-ops look to leave 

contracts with the wholesale supplier 

to pursue their own Austinrenewable 7 sources 

of energy. 

Members and campaigners have for 

some time been critical of Tri-State’s use 

of fossil sources of energy, although it 

56 

has recently declared plans to move to 

renewable generation. 

If regulators approve the deal, Delta- 

Montrose will give up a combination of 

equipment, assets and patronage capital 

to leave the power wholesaler at the 

end of June. 

Tri-State said recently that it is 

implementing a new formula for 

calculating the cost for co-ops to leave 

their contracts early, but this exit 

18 | MAY 2020 

Tri-State agrees exit fee for Delta-Montrose 5 electric co-operative 

19 

agreement was not developed according 

5 Detroit 

Boston Area 

to that formula. 

7 

“The withdrawal agreement aligns 

Worcester 

with our settlement and is a 12 negotiated 

Springfield 

agreement unique to DMEA,” said 

5 Cleveland 

Tri-State CEO Duane Highley 58 New York in 

a prepared statement. 

Asheville 5 

Across Rural U.S. 

Philadelphia 

2019 

WORKER COOPERATIVES 

5 

Durham 

9 

8 

5 

Baltimore 

Washington D.C. 

50 Puerto Rico 

Portland Area 

Meanwhile, a Colorado judge on 

public utilities law was due to hold 

a teleconference in April to discuss 

scheduling and other issues arising from 

efforts by two more co-ops, La Plata 

Electric Association and United Power, to 

leave Tri-State contracts.

ITALY 

Platform co-operative Fairbnb launches Covid-19 relief campaign 

Platform co-op start-up Fairbnb has 

launched its Covid-19 relief campaign 

#IStayHome and #TravelTomorrow, 

which sees proceeds from future trips 

immediately diverted to support doctors, 

nurses and health personnel in the 

co-op’s active communities in Italy. 

Fairbnb – which operates a sustainable, 

co-operative alternative to lettings 

platforms like Airbnb – hopes that by 

postponing booked trips to a later date, 

the sustainable tourism industry in Italy 

will be in a better place to recover when 

the effects of the coronavirus begin 

to subside. 

It says the fall in bookings is “placing 

a burden on the shoulders of the owners 

and managers of the properties, and 

families who integrate their income 

without damaging the social fabric of 

their city”. 

On its website, the platform co-op said: 

“A simple message for future guests of our 

cities: by booking today, while we stay at 

home, we can immediately contribute to 

the fight against coronavirus and at the 

same time plan a sustainable holiday, 

helping Italy to recover. 

“Like never before, the society in which 

we live seems fragile: economic and 

environmental crises and now the spectre 

of a pandemic that is eroding our habits 

and safety. Tourism, among all sectors, 

has proven to be the most vulnerable.” 

But, it adds, many hosts are 

demonstrating a great civic sense, by 

making apartments available to staff of 

Italian healthcare facilities or returning 

them to the residential rental market. 

Fairbnb – still in its pilot phase – says 

it is working with authorities in Genoa, 

Bologna and Venice to divert funds to 

organisations tackling Covid-19, and 

is looking to expand this initiative to 

Amsterdam, Barcelona and Valencia. 

In Bologna, the part of the commissions 

for the projects will be donated to the 

Sant’Orsola Foundation. 

In Venice, the commissions will be 

donated to the current account activated 

by the Veneto Region for the “Coronavirus 

emergency fundraising”. 

CANADA 

Fledgling media 

co-op makes temporary 

lay-offs due to Covid-19 

A Canadian co-operative that publishes 

six daily newspapers is to temporarily lay 

off 143 employees and cease print editions 

during the week. 

The measures are designed to help it 

cope with a drop in advertising revenue 

caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. 

The co-op’s member publications will 

continue to produce a Saturday edition 

but will be unable to print the Monday 

to Friday publications. However, the 

newspapers will continue to publish 

online stories throughout the week. 

Set up in August 2019, CN2i (Coopérative 

nationale de l’information indépendante) 

is the only group of co-operative 

publications in Quebec and the largest 

in the country. It brings together six local 

papers with 360 employee-owners. The 

six publications used to belong to Groupe 

Capitales Médias (GCM), which had to go 

through financial restructuring. GCM’s 

shares were acquired by the co-op in 

December 2019 and each of the six papers 

is now a co-operative in its own right. 

Employees invested 5% of their salaries 

in the collective buyout. They also received 

loans totalling CA$12.3m and provincial 

and federal tax credits. Some of the loans 

came from Desjardins and other financial 

co-ops and solidarity funds. Local 

residents have also chipped in to support 

their papers. The six co-ops raised CA$3m 

(£1.7m) from their communities. 

Other media organisations in Canada 

are facing similar challenges. 

In March the federal government 

announced it had set up the Independent 

Advisory Board on Eligibility for 

Journalism Tax Measures to decide which 

publications could benefit from tax reliefs 

to cope with the crisis. 


GLOBAL 

International Day of Co-operatives focuses on climate emergency 

The International Cooperative Alliance 

(ICA) has announced climate change as 

the focus of the 2020 International Day of 

Co-operatives (4 July). 

The day, which sees events and 

campaigns around the world raise 

awareness of co-operatives, is celebrated 

annually on the first Saturday of July. This 

year’s theme, Co-operatives for Climate 

Action, was chosen to support the United 

Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 

(SDG) 13 on Climate Action. 

“Our common home is in danger,” said 

ICA president Ariel Guarco. “There are 

methods of production and consumption 

that are constantly attacking the 

environment. We don’t have much time to 

reverse this situation. 

“We must act now, with our values 

and principles, to demonstrate on a 

global scale that it is possible to develop 

an economy with social inclusion and 

protection of natural resources.” 

The ICA will also publish a Cooperative’s 

Communications Guide in English, 

Spanish and French to help co-ops spread 

the message. 

In addition, the ICA is launching an 

interactive map to showcase action by the 

movement to tackle climate change. 

The map is being developed in 

collaboration with DotCoop. Co-ops 

wishing to participate can get in touch 

with DotCoop to share information 

about their recent campaigns, such as 

planting trees, developing community 

solar projects or helping schools recycle. 

The map will also include virtual 

events, such as fundraisers, talks, and 

awareness events. 

To be included this year, co-ops can 

send an email to tom@identity.coop and 

provide the following information: 

• Name and complete address of the 

organisation 

• A description of any initiatives 

or events they are organising or 

participating in to battle climate 

change (maximum 800 words). 

• Pictures 

• Social media links and website 

URLs 

Co-ops can also take the message 

to social media, using the hashtags 

#CoopsDay and #Coops4ClimateAction to 

promote the day. 

The theme of the International Day 

was chosen by the Committee on the 

Promotion of Co-operatives (Copac), 

a multi-stakeholder partnership of 

global public and private institutions, 

of which the ICA is a founding member. 

Copac has been setting the theme of 

the International Day of Co-operatives 

since 1995. 


USA 

National 

Co+op Grocers 

announces Climate 

Collaborative Awards 

National Co+op Grocers (NCG), a US 

co-operative owned by food co-ops, has 

announced the winners of its annual 

Climate Awards, for initiatives that 

contribute to tackling climate change. 

In the Outstanding Company category 

the winners were Outpost Natural 

Foods and Stonyfield Organic. A chain 

of community grocery stores in the 

Milwaukee area, Outpost Natural Foods 

is owned by 23,000 members, who are 

local residents. The co-op has committed 

to eliminating the use of petroleumbased 

single-use plastic in its stores 

by 2022, working with the Plastic-free 

Milwaukee Coalition and Wisconsin state 

government. In addition to its efforts to 

reduce plastic waste, the co-op also offsets 

101% of its store electricity use and, in the 

past year alone, reduced its emissions 

by 13%. 

With half of its emissions coming 

from agriculture, Stonyfield Organic 

is helping farmers improve soil health 

and increase carbon sequestration 

through the development of an open 

source online platform their farmers can 

access to collaborate and share success. 

The business is also sharing its Open 

Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural 

Management platform with any farmers 

wishing to adopt more climate-friendly 

soil health practices. 

The Outstanding Value Chain Awards 

category features three winners: General 

Mills, Hummingbird Wholesale and 

Imlak’esh Organics. Just like Stonyfield 

Organic, these are not co-ops; but 

they help co-ops in agriculture adopt 

environmentally friendly practices. 

The awards are run in partnership 

with Climate Collaborative, a coalition of 

companies with a shared goal of climate 

action of which NCG is a supporter. 

Merger and acquisitions in the US agri co-op sector 

Domains.coop to cease hosting services 

Two agri co-ops in Nebraska which 

provide feed, fuel and agronomy services 

have announced a merger. Members of 

the Farmers Ranchers Cooperative of 

Ainsworth voted by a majority of 88% to 

approve unification with Central Valley 

Ag of York. The unified co-operative will 

retain the Central Valley Ag name with 

headquarters in York and Carl Dickinson 

serving as president and CEO. 

Domains.coop will no longer be able 

to support email and hosting services, 

including website builders, from 1 May. 

Co-ops using Domains.coop for these 

services will have to look for alternative 

providers. Domains.coop said it can no 

longer support these services because 

its email and hosting provider is 

discontinuing these products. 

Shareholders of the Co-op Bank of Kenya paid divi 

Shareholders of the Co-operative Bank of 

Kenya were paid their annual dividends 

on 23 April, which amounted to a total 

value of Kshs5.9bn (£44m). The bank 

hopes the dividend will provide relief to 

shareholders at a time of severe economic 

hardship caused by the Covid-19 

pandemic. It also donated £755,000 to a 

Covid-19 relief fund. 

Fonterra warns farmers about global uncertainty 

Dairy giant Fonterra has emailed 

its farmer members, advising them 

to consider the level of global 

uncertainty when making important 

on-farm decisions. The co-operative said 

it would retain its forecast milk payment 

to them of NZ$7-$7.60 per kgMS for the 

2019-2020 season. 

Land O’Lakes rebrand focuses on co-op credentials 

US agricultural co-op Land O’Lakes has 

adopted new packaging for its products, 

which showcases its co-operative ethos. 

First unveiled in February, the new 

packaging includes a new front-ofpackage 

design that features the phrase 

“Farmer-Owned” above the LAND O 

LAKES brandmark. 


YOUR VIEWS 

A note from ICA president Ariel Guarco 

TOWARDS A COMMON DESTINY WITH CO-OPERATIVE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES 

Humanity is involved in a tremendous 

pandemic with a high cost of human 

lives. And it has come to this moment 

in conditions of extreme fragility due to 

the enormous prevailing inequality and 

the deep environmental imbalance that 

human action is causing. 

A small number of people hold a 

patrimony equivalent to half of the world 

population. World debt (sovereign, 

household and corporate) is equivalent 

to more than three times the world 

gross product. A linear production and 

consumption mode, without brakes, 

will take us to a point of no return in just 

a decade. 

But the “discard culture” shows its 

limits today. The Covid-19 pandemic 

reveals our fragility and it indicates that 

we are still very far from the economic, 

social and environmentally sustainable 

development that co-ops agreed to seek 

in the 2030 Agenda. The question is: How 

far will we be able to twist our course as a 

civilization? 

The co-operative economy, on a global 

scale, integrates more than a billion 

members and generates employment for 

10% of the world’s employed population. 

The turnover of the 300 largest 

co-operatives is comparable to the gross 

domestic product of the sixth world 

economy. 

The entire co-operative movement is 

actively involved in the collective effort 

required to answer to a health crisis that has 

rapidly turned into an economic and social 

crisis. When it comes to co-operation, 

we people first appeal to institutions 

whose ordering principle is mutual aid; 

to institutions whose logic, precisely, is 

to make solidarity action more effective in 

responding to common problems. 

Today we want to propose to society 

in general that co-operation is not only 

for emergencies. Co-operation is the 

alternative way to build a fairer, more 

balanced and, fundamentally, less fragile 

economy in the face of global challenges 

such as the pandemic, or the climate crisis 

on our horizon. 

The competition paradigm tells us that 

to have goods and services at the lowest 

possible cost requires companies that 

have been forced to achieve the highest 

efficiency as a result of competition. And 

the ordering principle of this competition 

is the profit of the capitalist who organises 

the company. 

For almost two centuries, co-operative 

members have adopted an alternative 

path: the co-operation paradigm. We 

organise enterprises to satisfy our 

common needs; our ordering principle 

is not profit, but mutual aid; and our 

efficiency is the result of the democratic 

control of our members, workers, 

consumers or producers. 

This isn’t about the market as an empire 

of freedom vs. the state as an empire of 

equality. The point is our empowerment 

as citizens. The ability to guarantee 

that the state is at the service of our 

freedoms, and the ability to participate 

in markets under equity conditions. 

Citizen empowerment, in the vision of 

co-operativism, is largely based on the 

structures of civil society organisations. 

It is civil society, autonomous and 

democratically organised, which can add 

social co-ordination without the need for 

authoritarian control. 

No surveillance system is useful if we 

do not have responsible and organised 

citizens who control and democratize 

the exercise of public power. Nor does 

the functioning of the markets reach to 

guarantee freedom, if we do not have civil 

society organisations that democratise 

economic power. 

This is the same thing that the Pope 

Francis has told us in his recent Easter 

Letter to the Popular Movements: “My 

hope is that governments understand that 

technocratic paradigms (whether statecentred 

or market-driven) are not enough 

to address this crisis or the other great 

problems affecting humankind. Now more 

than ever, persons, communities and 

peoples must be put at the centre, united 

to heal, to care and to share.” 

This crisis confronts us with historical 

challenges. And we need to understand 

that no one can be saved alone from a 

global pandemic like that of Covid-19, but, 

moreover, that no one can be saved alone 

from a wandering destiny to which we are 

going as a civilisation worldwide. 

Those of us who daily build an economy 

based on democracy, solidarity and social 

justice, know that it is possible to generate 

development with social inclusion and 

care for the environment. Many global 

leaders share this vision. That is why I 

predict, despite the pain and uncertainty 

that are going through us today, that we 

will be able to forge a new global era, a 

common destiny with co-operative values 

and principles. 

Have your say 

Add your comments to our stories 

online at thenews.coop, get in touch 

via social media, or send us a letter. 

If sending a letter, please include 

your address and contact number. 

Letters may be edited and no longer 

than 350 words. 

Co-operative News, Holyoake 

House, Hanover Street, 

Manchester M60 0AS 

letters@thenews.coop 

@coopnews 

Co-operative News 


CO-OP WORLD CUP 

During the Covid-19 pandemic we’ve 

seen widespread co-operation in our 

communities and a renewed ethos behind 

bringing people together. 

It was in this climate that I came up with 

the idea for the Co-op Twitter World Cup as 

a way to bring co-operators together and 

to provide some light relief among the 

daily anxiety coronavirus has caused. 

It was a simple idea, but one with more 

power and a greater impact that I ever 

envisioned. 

Working with a fellow young co-operator, 

Michael Bell, we began shortlisting the 

co-operatives to participate in the world 

cup from a list of the 100 largest UK 

co-ops by membership. We knew we 

wanted to raise awareness of the 

breadth of the sector and show how 

co-operative values and principles can be 

applied throughout the economy, so we 

tried to balance our shortlist to include 

organisations from a wide geographical 

spread, of different sizes and from 

different parts of the economy. 

We ended up with 32 co-ops, and as 

we entered the opening group stage of 

the competition it became clear that it 

was going to be bigger than I expected 

as the official accounts of co-operatives 

began to tweet about the competition 

and heavy hitters from the world of 

co-operation became personally involved. 

It was heart-warming to see the 

competition bringing people together, 

creating friendly rivalries and 

showing our movement at its best as 

individuals and businesses engaged 

despite being knocked out of the 

competition; often co-operating with 

other competitors to boost support for 

smaller co-op. 

It was a fantastic competition which 

concluded with the UK’s largest society, 

the Co-op Group, facing off against the 

smaller and less well-known Revolver, 

a Fairtrade coffee co-op. Despite a slow 

start for Revolver it soon became clear that 

co-operators from many smaller co-ops 

were coming to their aid. It was a dead 50- 

50 split for a while, but congratulations to 

the Co-op Group, which narrowly won out. 

It was a thrilling final to watch and one 

which helped raise the profile of Revolver 

and spark awareness of its products to 

a larger retail co-operative. 

I hope to work with fellow co-operators 

to run another Co-operative World Cup, 

perhaps making it a larger, annual 

event. Already I have been approached 

by a number of co-ops wishing to help 

in the future – including by helping to 

further promote the event and to create 

a truly global contest with the inclusion 

of international co-operatives from 

more sectors. 

Stephen Stanners 

Labour and Co-op councillor, 

Seaton Valley Community Council 

WILL KEIR STARMER PICK HIS WAY 

THROUGH THE POLITICAL MINEFIELD OF 

COMMON OWNERSHIP? 

Keir Starmer said at a recent mass 

Zoom with Labour party members: “The 

economy as it was (pre-Covid) was not 

working. We need common ownership, 

with people having a say how water, 

buses, etc are run.” Is his use of “common 

ownership” significant? He is a lawyer. 

He chose to use this politically laden 

phrase. He used it in his leadership 

campaign too. 

The old Labour Party Clause Four said 

“To secure for the workers by hand or by 

brain the full fruits of their industry and 

the most equitable distribution thereof 

that may be possible upon the basis of 

the common ownership of the means of 

production, distribution, and exchange.” 

We protested in 1994, when Tony Blair 

proposed replacing it, that removing the 

reference removed common ownership 

worker co-ops from Labour policy. But 

Blair wanted to expunge state ownership 

and replaced it with something anodyne 

and unmemorable. 

The original Clause Four was written 

for the Labour constitution by the Webbs 

in 1919 to encompass various ideas 

for promoting economic democracy by 

factions in the party, guild socialism, 

syndicalism, worker co-operatives and 

others. Consumer co-operatives were no 

problem but worker-owned industry was an 

altogether more tricky concept. There was 

no clear agreement how the party should 

advance this cause. Unfortunately, the 

Webbs, who fundamentally disagreed with 

worker control, and other leading lights 

in the party, became infatuated with the 

Soviet Union and by the 1930s, common 

ownership was conflated with state 

ownership, corporate nationalisation. 

Until John McDonnell, (apart from Tony 

Benn in the 70s), Labour grandees 

continued to avoid the tricky problem and, 

it has to be said, so did the Co-operative 

Party. Will Keir Starmer want to pick his way 

through the political minefield of worker 

control and common ownership? The 1976 

Industrial Common ownership Act remains 

on the statute book and legally defines 

common ownership worker co-operatives. 

This is not a vague concept. 

Interestingly, common ownership is a 

theme in Trotskyite ideology and Trotsky 

described workers’ control, in typically 

patronising fashion, as ‘the schoolroom 

of socialism’. The old pre-Co-operatives 

UK worker co-op federation, ICOM – The 

Industrial Common Ownership Movement 

– was so named when a very energetic 

young Trotskyite co-op enthusiast, 

Manuella Sykes, persuaded the founders 

to use the name, so I was told by an 

attendee at the founding meeting in 1970, 

prompting a walk out by Ernest Bader and 

his fellow Quakers who had been expected 

to fund it. 

Common Ownership is a simple concept, 

that assets should be collectively, not 

individually, owned and controlled. In 

these days of a worldwide revival in 

the practical politics of the ‘commons’ 

we should also be reviving it as one 

of our solutions to the tragedy of the 

corporations, out of control, answerable 

to no one, and destroying our world like 

greedy invaders from another planet. 

Bob Cannell 

via email 


LORD THOMAS EDWARD ‘TED’ GRAHAM PASSED AWAY ON 21 MARCH 2020, A WEEK BEFORE HIS 95TH BIRTHDAY. WE PUBLISHED 

A FULL OBITUARY LAST ISSUE – BUT HERE ARE A FEW MORE OF THE TRIBUTES WE HAVE RECEIVED. 

Lord Ted had co-operation and 

co-operative values running through his 

veins as though it were Blackpool rock. 

He was the embodiment of the lasting 

impact of co-operative education, a 

co-operator who never forgot his roots 

and the co-operative organisations that 

helped him develop into one of the most 

influential co-operators of his generation. 

His mantra, “politics is the art of the 

possible”, could easily be interpreted as 

unprincipled, but with Lord Ted it simply 

meant looking for common ground without 

undermining core values. Nowhere was 

this demonstrated better than in the 

report of the Independent Review of the 

Co-operative College he chaired in 1994. 

“We started our journey towards the 

proposals we submit from the premise 

that co-operators are different and need to 

both promote and explain that difference,” 

he said. “It is in that context that we have 

to set the need for, and the place of, 

co-operative educational activities, 

including the Co-operative College. The 

provision of specifically co-operative 

education has always been a major 

objective of the College Trust. This should 

remain as its enduring function in the 

changed circumstances of both the College 

and the consumer co-op movement”. 

He spent a lifetime advocating and 

promoting co-operation with grit and 

determination behind a warm endearing 

smile. A remarkable man, a remarkable 

co-operator. 

Mervyn Wilson 

Former principal and chief executive of the 

Co-operative College 

Only just catching up with the sad news Ted 

Graham died last month, rightly described 

as a giant of co-operation. He knew my 

dad (and uncles) in the British Federation 

of Young Co-operators and remained a 

lifelong friend. He had a great sense of 

humour. [I remember him] remarking 

the co-operative movement was not very 

co-operative and didn’t move much… 

Meg Munn 

Via Twitter 

I first met Ted Graham at the 1985 Co-op 

party summer school in St Andrew’s. A 

lovely, kind, gentle and caring man with 

a nice sense of humour, who has been a 

friend ever since. RIP Ted. 

Sir Mark Hendrick 

Labour and Co-operative MP for Preston 

I had the privilege to meet Ted Graham 

30 years ago when I was a Labour & 

Co-op councillor. He was an icon of the 

co-operative movement. 

Simon Lydiard 

Chair, Vauxhall Labour 

Sad to hear the passing of Lord Ted 

Graham, a great friend of Usdaw. He 

played a significant role in the Sunday 

trading campaign. 

John Hannett OBE 

Former general secretary of USDAW 

Immensely sad to hear that Ted Graham, 

MP for Edmonton from 1974-1983 and 

latterly, Baron Graham of Edmonton, has 

passed away. He remained a stalwart of 

the Co-op Party and Labour Party and a 

supporter of the cause. He will be sorely 

missed by us and many more. 

Kate Osamor 

Labour & Co-op MP for Edmonton 

I was surprised and saddened to read of 

the recent death of Lord Graham (Ted). 

I was in correspondence with him last June 

following his visit to the house of Lords 

which was featured in the Co-op News at 

the time. He wrote back to me enclosing 

a photograph of himself which I will keep 

and treasure. 

Having met Ted many years ago during 

a NACO Conference I was immediately 

struck by his friendly, helpful and 

generous nature. Ted was a member of 

NACO and supported our union on every 

occasion he was asked, and I know 

many members would join me in fond 

reminiscence of our times together. 

I was fortunate to be invited to join Ted 

and other NACO colleagues at the House 

of Lords when he hosted us and helped us 

to form the Funeral Ombudsman service, 

which successfully helped both Co-op 

Funeral Services and their clients to a 

swift and mutually satisfactory conclusion 

in cases of complaint or query. This 

formation would have been so much more 

difficult without the help of our esteemed 

“Co-operative Lord.” 

I know he will be sadly missed, and I 

join with the many others who offer their 

tributes to such a good friend. 

Delma-Rose Yorath 

Former president of NACO (the National 

Association of Co-operative Officials, 

which transferred into Usdaw in 2018) 


Ted was a larger than life figure whose vital 

services to co-operatives were delivered 

selflessly. He was also a devoted family 

man and an excellent companion who 

never forgot his Tyneside working class 

roots. He will be greatly missed. 

In the early 1990s I worked with Ted, 

Keith Brading (former chief registrar 

of Friendly Societies) and agricultural 

co-operator Denis Carter, on an 

independent report on Ted’s alma mater, 

the Co-operative College. Ted was devoted 

to the College and tenaciously defended 

its interests within the Group preparing 

the report. 

During the late 1990s, Ted, Denis 

and I worked on a new Co-operatives 

Bill to reform the law and promote the 

co-operative business structure. By 

1995, a law reform proposal had been 

developed under the auspices of the UK 

Co-operative Council. From 1997 onwards 

it was promoted to politicians. For those 

interested in the details and origin of 

those proposals and the composition of 

the working group that developed them, 

a 2013 article in the Co-operative News 

provides access to many details, including 

the full text of the 1995 proposal (see 

bit.ly/3bgMJfV). 

Ted was a great political operator and 

knew all the key movers and shakers in 

the co-operative movement. He used 

his access as host to the House of Lords 

Dining Room to encourage them to lend 

the project their support. A wide range of 

co-operative bodies supported the project 

– consumer co-ops, housing co-ops, 

agricultural co-ops and worker co-ops. 

Because of his former work as Labour 

chief whip in the House of Lords (a role in 

which Denis Carter succeeded him) and 

his service in government and the House 

of Commons in the 1970s and early 1980s, 

Ted was able to open ministerial doors 

and gain access, from 1997 onwards, to 

a succession of economic secretaries to 

HM Treasury – the minister responsible, 

then and now, for co-operative legislation. 

The Co-operative Group, then led by 

Sir Graham Melmoth, had financed the 

preparation of a draft Co-operatives Bill in 

advance of the 1997 general election. The 

Bill was drafted by Parliamentary agent, 

and former Parliamentary draftsperson, 

Monica Peto, then of Rees and Freres. Ted 

promoted it tirelessly in the early years of 

the Blair government. 

That work played a major part, together 

with the endeavours of Peter Hunt, now of 

Mutuo but then general secretary of the 

Co-operative Party, and of Co-operatives 

UK, then led by Dame Pauline Green, in 

providing a basis for several successful 

private members’ bills which, with 

cross- party support, achieved many of 

the draft bill’s key objectives between 

2002 and 2010. In 2014, those efforts 

culminated, on the initiative of Ed Mayo 

as general secretary of Co-operatives UK, 

in the consolidation and clarification of 

most of the existing legislation in the 

Co-operative andCommunity Benefit 

Societies Act 2014. 

Throughout our time working on those 

reforms, Ted displayed all the qualities 

to which many others have pointed: a 

complete lack of pomposity or sensitivity 

about his status; a ready jocularity; 

excellent social skills; and, above all, 

total dedication to furthering the interests 

of co-operatives. 

Ian Snaith 

Solicitor at Anthony Collins LLP 

I have known Ted since 1954, or possibly 

even before that. He worked at the Enfield 

Highway Cooperative Society as their 

Education Secretary and I was an 8 year 

old member of the Wheatsheaf Junior 

Choir. The EHCS held a Music Festival in 

one of their halls and he was involved 

in arranging it. He supported us too by 

attending the festival and other concerts 

always with that full smile and lots 

of encouragement. 

Ted always took an interest in the choir 

and in us all as individuals. I gained a 

scholarship to boarding school and Ted 

arranged for me to have £10 to spend in 

the Co-op department store to help with 

buying bedding etc. He told me it was a 

thank you for the many hours I had spent 

rehearsing and singing in festivals and 

concerts representing the EHCS. 

Many years later, when he was an 

MP, I asked Ted if he could help as my 

mother was very ill but we were unable 

to obtain from anywhere the items that 

she needed to make her last few months 

comfortable. Within days we had them 

in abundance! 

From then on we corresponded from 

time to time and always at Christmas. 

My daughter, then aged 11, expressed 

an interest in politics and when this was 

mentioned to Ted in a letter he invited 

us to visit him for lunch at the Houses of 

Parliament. As always, he was very kind 

explaining procedures and introducing 

us to various MPs as we passed them. 

(My daughter continues her interest in 

politics and studied it at university.) 

He was always interested in the 

education and welfare of children. I have 

a newspaper cutting of Lord Romsey 

jumping over Lord Ted to launch a £1m 

appeal to mark the 120th anniversary of 

the National Children’s Home. In all there 

were 12 leaping peers on the 12th day of 

Christmas 1989! 

He will be remembered as a man with 

determination, learning, and a deep sense 

of justice for everyone. 

Ruth McDougall 

via email 


MEET... 

Meet … Jenny Holsgrove 

Head of Culture and Performance, 

Co-operatives UK 

Jenny Holsgrove joined Co-operatives UK in November 2019 from Northwest 

Employer, where she was head of membership services. We spoke with her 

to find out more about the role – and what she thinks the Covid-19 crisis 

means for future work cultures. 

WHAT DREW YOU TO CO-OPERATIVES UK? 

The importance of values and culture attracted me 

to the co-op sector. The opportunity to be a part 

of a team and culture that was united in its aim 

was exciting. I felt that my experience of forming 

communities, culture change and engagement in 

the workplace would be a good fit. 

WHAT DOES YOUR ROLE INVOLVE? 

My work at Co-operatives UK develops and builds 

on our strong work using coaching and strength 

based approaches. We are working hard to 

make sure that our people feel connected to our 

values and that our strategy puts culture at its 

heart, so that we can work more effectively and 

co-operatively. I am also providing support to our 

members to empower the sector to recognise the 

impact of co-op values, principles and cultures. 

HOW HAVE YOU FOUND WORKING IN THE 

CO-OPERATIVE SECTOR COMPARED WITH 

WORKING IN OTHER ORGANISATIONS? HOW 

DOES THE CULTURE DIFFER? 

When I think about culture I think about the people 

that form and shape it. Working in the co-operative 

sector, the values and principles really drive the 

behaviours – and the impact of this is massive. The 

co-operative sector brings together a wide range 

of businesses – all united in a way of working. 

Co-ops lead the way in showcasing innovation 

and challenging the way we think about work. But 

also, most importantly, they challenge how we feel 

about work. 

Leadership and communication is critical now, so make 

time to find new channels of communication and share 

updates. Build in time and space for more feedback. 

The new working environment will be adding extra stress; 

by providing extra communication and recognition, you 

can help fight those creeping insecurities 


WE ARE LIVING THROUGH UNCERTAIN TIMES. 

REMOTE WORK CAN LEAD TO ISOLATION AND 

LACK OF RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COLLEAGUES 

AS WELL AS DIFFICULTY IN MAINTAINING A 

CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH MEMBERS OR 

CUSTOMERS. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE 

CO-OPS RIGHT NOW? 

We are facing so much change at the moment, but 

the most important thing to remember is to put 

your people first and remember the basics – eat 

well, sleep well and get some exercise when and 

if you can. Leadership and communication is 

critical now, so make time to find new channels of 

communication and share updates. Build in time 

and space for more feedback. The new working 

environment will be adding extra stress; by 

providing extra communication and recognition, 

you can help fight those creeping insecurities. 

Lead by example and share how you’re feeling, 

so when someone asks you, be honest. If you’re 

struggling, say so. 

COULD THE FUTURE OF WORK MEAN MORE 

REMOTE WORKING? IF SO, HOW CAN CO-OPS 

BEST PREPARE FOR THIS? 

It is important to recognise that the way we view 

work has fundamentally shifted very quickly, 

and we are now seeing accelerated adoption of 

new technologies and ways of working. The way 

we understand and use the work environment 

will need to adapt to provide collaboration 

and creativity. Be ready to be flexible around 

working hours, location and how you understand 

productivity – we are reinventing ourselves. This 

is a journey and we don’t know where it will take 

us, but if you put you people first, you will be 

moving in the right direction. 

For more tips and advice from Jenny Holsgrove, 

visit: s.coop/23rz1 

covid-19 

round up 

Updates from the global 

co-operative community 

news Issue #7318 APRIL 2020 


APRIL 2020 

CO-OPERATION 

ON LOCKDOWN 

How Covid-19 is 

affecting co-ops 

around the world 

Plus … Food chains in 

the context of coronavirus ... 

updates from the Abcul and 

Co-op Retail Conferences ... 

Tributes to Lord Ted Graham 

ISSN 0009-9821 

9 770009 982010 

01 

£4.20 


Below: Jenny (fourth from right) with colleagues at the 

2020 Co-op Retail Conference 

thenews.coop/ 

covid-19 

FEBRUARY 2020 | 23

Agriculture 

Agriculture co-ops: feeding 

nations during the crisis 

By Anca Voinea 

As Covid-19 continues to impact countries all over 

the world, global food security is at risk. 

The pandemic is affecting food supply and 

demand, posing challenges to small-scale farmers 

who face difficulties accessing markets to sell their 

products or buy essential inputs. 

While the majority of agri food co-operatives are 

continuing to operate, they have had to adapt to a 

new environment. 

In Spain, for example, the Federation of 

Agricultural Co-operatives launched a call for farm 

workers. The federation estimates that between 

80,000 and 100,000 workers will be needed. 

The appeal follows a decree issued by the 

Spanish government on 7 April, through which 

tens of thousands of migrants or unemployed 

people who receive state benefits will be allowed 

to work in agriculture for a three-month period. 

Agustín Herrero, general director of the 

Federation, said: “Covid-19 is having such an 

impact because it is a circumstance we could not 

predict, and which has affected everyone to a 

larger or smaller extent. 

“In the case of our sector, generally, co-ops 

continue to operate as normal as possible, but they 

are highly dependent on the production sector and 

the marketing channel to which their products 

are destined.” 

He explained that certain sectors are more 

affected than others due to the shut down of the 

hotels, restaurants and the catering sector, which 

made up the main market for wine and for meats 

such as lamb and beef – especially the cuts that 

have the highest added value. 

The plants and flowers sector has ceased 

operating following the closure of florists, local 

markets and the cancellation of weddings and 

other parties, which see a significant proportion of 

usual sales. The goat milk sector is also affected 

because there are currently no buyers for the 

manufacture of cheese. 


“The situation is changing as the days go by, 

and other sectors may encounter new problems 

due to changes in the consumption habits of 

citizens,” said Mr Herrero, adding that the Spanish 

government is working to provide direct aid to 

sheep farmers, in addition to a comprehensive 

package of state-backed loans. 

“We hope that the European Commission will 

implement intervention measures in the meat 

sector, which will be the most affected by the 

closure of the Horeca [hospitality] sector,” he said. 

Copa and Cogeca, the united voice of European 

farmers and their co-ops, also has serious concerns 

about the impact the pandemic is having on the 

sector. It is calling on the European Commission to 

take urgent action to protect food security. 

The organisation presented data from its 

members showing how the dairy, beef, sheep, 

goat, and fruit and veg sectors are being affected. 

“At the same time, the sector is currently facing 

unprecedented circumstances caused by factors 

beyond agriculture,” said Pekka Pesonen, Copa 

and Cogeca secretary general, in a statement on 

7 April. “While we recognise the efforts of the 

European Commission and member states 

to ensure that the internal market functions 

smoothly, we reiterate the need for additional 

targeted market measures for the livestock sector, 

including exceptional measures, financed outside 

of the CAP budget,” 

While the dairy sector is in peak season, prices 

of several products have dramatically decreased. 

Thierry Roquefeuil, chair of the Copa and Cogeca 

Working Party on Milk and Dairy Products, believes 

the EU dairy market should not be allowed to 

deteriorate any further. 

He said: “Copa and Cogeca are calling for 

timely action to trigger the necessary measures 

and for private storage to be activated for all dairy 

products. Ensuring private storage for skimmed 

milk powder, all types of cheeses and butter – 

including for frozen storage of buffalo milk and/ 

or buffalo curd – would have a beneficial impact 

on guaranteeing year-round food security. It is also 

important to assess the impact that the closure of 

schools has had on the delivery of milk and dairy 

products to children and to avoid unnecessary 

restrictions stemming from competition law in this 

force majeure situation.” 

The apex body raised similar concerns about 

the impact Covid-19 is having on the beef and veal 

sector, affected by drops in demand and increased 

costs. Likewise, in the sheep and goat sector, the 

Covid-19 outbreak has led to a downward trend for 

prices at a time when there would usually be an 

upward trend. 

Michèle Boudoin, chair of the Copa and Cogeca 

Working Party on Sheep said: “The seasonal 

nature of production means that this cannot be 

pushed back to later in the year. At the same time, 

imported products are coming onto the EU market 

at the only time of the year when the market can 

generate a revenue for sheep and goat producers.” 

Copa and Cogeca is also asking the European 

Commission to adopt “a more targeted tariff rate 

quota management”. Tariff rate quotas allow 

a pre-determined quantity of a product to be 

imported at lower import duty rates than the duty 

rate normally available for that product. 

According to the trade body, the fruit and veg 

sector is also being disrupted by shortage of 

labour, changes in demand and consumption and 

problems in the transportation of goods and the 

movement of people. 

“Copa and Cogeca call for exceptional measures 

to be made available to all affected fruit and 

vegetable growers and for adjustments to the 

administrative management rules of operational 

programmes of producer organisations to 

reduce the constraints that they are currently 

experiencing,” said Luc Vanoirbeek, chair of the 

Working Party on Fruit and Vegetables. u 

Vivescia, France’s largest 

grain co-op, has started 

to produce hand sanitiser 


Titus Pinto, chair of 

the Fairtrade-certified 

United Nilgiri Tea Estates 

in Tamil Nadu, India, 

reminds consumers 

that their choices make 

a difference (Fairtrade 

/ Funnelweb Media©) 

u “With this unbalanced market situation 

spreading across several EU agricultural sectors, 

Copa and Cogeca ask the Commission to allocate 

a dedicated budget that falls outside the CAP 

budget,” added Mr Pesonen. 

Copa and Cogeca warned that Covid-19 will 

have long-lasting effects on the agri food sector. 

Similar challenges are faced by co-ops in other 

regions. Canadian dairy business Agropur, for 

example, is reviewing its operations and cutting 

jobs, in light of the crisis. 

“Our goal is to bring the 

temporarily laid-off employees 

back to work as soon as we 

can resume the normal course 

of business. A support team 

has been set up to help the 

employees who will be leaving 

the organisation transition and 

guide them through the process 

of applying for the government 

support programmes” 

The co-op says it will eliminate certain positions 

and temporarily lay off some employees who are 

not assigned to essential operational duties. 

The restructure will affect 260 Canadian 

employees, who represent 3% of Agropur’s 

global workforce of 8,800. On 2 April the co-op 

announced that 60 positions were being eliminated 

and 200 employees were being temporarily 

laid off. 

“These are difficult decisions to make but 

they are necessary in order to maintain the 

sustainability of our business,” said CEO Émile 

Cordeau. “Our goal is to bring the temporarily 

laid-off employees back to work as soon as we can 

resume the normal course of business. 

“A support team has been set up to help the 

employees who will be leaving the organisation 

transition and guide them through the process 

of applying for the government support 

programmes.” 

The co-op says it has also taken measures to 

protect the health and safety of its employees and 

adopted a business continuity plan to ensure it can 

continue delivering high-quality dairy products to 

its customers and consumers. 

Responding to the pandemic, Agropur has 

provided staff with detailed guidelines regarding 

travel restrictions, teleworking, hygiene, 

disinfection, and mandatory reporting of illness. 

Access control at all sites for all employees, 

suppliers and visitors has been toughened. 

Alongside regular operations – or sometimes 

instead of them – some co-ops are beginning to 

produce protective equipment for internal use, 

and for distribution to medical services. 

France’s largest grain co-operative, Vivescia, 

has responded to the Covid-19 crisis by starting to 

produce hand sanitiser. Since the start of the crisis, 

Vivescia Group’s biotechnology R&D subsidiary, 

ARD, has produced 15,000 litres of hand sanitiser, 


following World Health Organisation guidelines. It 

was initially produced to supply workers at ARD, 

Vivescia and its other subsidiaries; but when 

the national shortage of hand sanitiser became 

apparent, the co-op stepped up production, to 

supply the medical sector. 

Vivescia says several tonnes of hand sanitiser 

have already been delivered to a number of 

hospitals and public institutions, including Nord 

“Though financial contribution 

is very important in the fight 

against the pandemic, social 

awareness remains a very 

important aspect of containing 

the spread” 

Ardennes Charleville-Mézières Intercommunal 

hospital, Rethel hospital and retirement home, 

Amiens university hospital, local police stations, 

pharmacies, medical centres, and general 

practitioners. ARD is looking at stepping up 

production from 5,000 to 7,000 litres of gel per 

day to respond to demand. 

In India, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser 

Cooperative (Iffco) is using its extensive marketing 

network to deliver critical goods in areas otherwise 

hard to access. 

Iffco has distributed over 350,000 vitamin C 

tablets, 50,000 medicinal soaps, 20,000 masks, 

5,000 sanitisers and numerous medical kits to 

different locations throughout India. Medical 

equipment for hospital staff and health workers 

was also provided in places facing a shortage 

of equipment. 

All of Iffco’s plants remain fully operational 

given the critical importance of the industry. The 

co-op is providing workers with a regular supply 

of sanitisers, soaps and masks, and has sought 

to implement social distancing policies across 

its sale points, warehouses and societies. Trucks 

used for transportation of fertilisers are also being 

sanitised regularly. 

To further support workers, Iffco has distributed 

food supplies to those from disadvantaged 

backgrounds, who are likely to be most affected by 

the crisis. And to prevent the spread of the virus, 

Iffco is leading an awareness raising campaign, 

informing staff and members about how they 

can stay safe. The co-op has also contributed 

Rs 250m (£2.6m) to India’s national Covid-19 

emergency fund. 

Dr U. S. Awasthi, managing director of Iffco, 

said: “Though financial contribution is very 

important in the fight against the pandemic, social 

awareness remains a vital aspect of containing the 

spread. That is why Iffco, through its employees, 

is contributing in this time of need. I believe 

the campaign will help the farming and rural 

community by not letting the virus spread into 

rural areas.” 

Similar measures were implemented at Fairtrade 

certified co-op United Nilgiri Tea Estates (Unitea) in 

Tamil Nadu, India. Chair Titus Pinto told Fairtrade 

International: “We have issued 10kg of rice, 1kg 

of sugar, 750g of lentils, half a litre of cooking oil 

and 100g each of salt, pepper and other spices to 

each family. This has all been paid for out of the 

Fairtrade Premium.” 

He added: “We sanitise all dwellings and public 

places once every two days. The estate doctor has 

kept the clinic and hospital open, and we have 

trained all workers on health and safety and 

precautionary measures. 

“If they have to carry out essential work, they 

are only allowed to do so if they have a doctor’s 

certificate.” 

Co-ops across the world are trying to continue to 

feed nations while also making a difference during 

the pandemic. 

However, the volatile market environment, 

coupled with labour shortages and closures of 

restaurants is posing considerable challenges to 

the sector. Governments will have to support the 

sector, both on short and long term, to ensure 

co-ops are able to continue producing and 

marketing food. 

Iffco distributed food 

supplies, hand sanitisers 

and masks to members 

and workers 


Social 

So 

care 

How employee-owned and 

co-op care providers 

are tackling Covid-19 

By Miles Hadfield 

There are several co-op and employee-owned 

providers in the UK social care sector which 

are having had to adapt to life under the 

Covid-19 lockdown. 

One such organisation is Equal Care Co-op, 

an emerging platform co-op in the Calder Valley, 

West Yorkshire. 

Still in the early stages of its development, Equal 

Care hasn’t been faced with challenges on the 

scale of larger organisations which have a large 

roster of colleagues, and people getting support, 

to make provision for. 

But Emma Back, one of the founders of the 

organisation, says it has faced some difficult 

decisions – and the sociocracy model of 

governance, baked into Equal Care’s co-operative 

model, helped it find answers. 

“Our registration with the Care Quality 

Commission is still pending so we can’t take 

referrals from the local authority,” she says, “and 

lockdown means the number of people looking for 

support from us is falling as people self-isolate. 

“That means we’ve had to furlough people – 

but that’s been done with full consent, a decision 

made with the whole team. Sociocracy worked: 

the decision about how and when, the ins and outs 

of it, were made by building consensus among 

the team.” 

Government furlough support has helped with 

staff, but for Equal Care’s independent care worker 

members, they are in a tough position. They are all 

newly self-employed so are not eligible for state 

support other than universal credit. 

“What we’ve done is accelerated a plan for a 

bread fund, using the £10,000 small business 

rate relief; we are putting that in as seed money,” 

adds Ms Back. “Independent care workers, people 

and families getting support and investors can all 

contribute, to help ensure there is a safety net. It’s 

designed to cover lost income for when people 

have lost clients through self isolation.” 

This is in line with Equal Care’s effort to build a 

fairer and safer gig economy model using the ideas 

of the platform co-op movement. 

The co-op – which has supplied PPE to all 

those involved in its operations, including family 

members – is also making a shift to online and 

remote working, not just in terms of admin but also 

in terms of emotional support and team liaison. 

Ms Back thinks this will lead to more permanent 

changes, as people find remote work is often more 

productive – and productivity is hugely beneficial 

to people getting support, in terms of care 

outcomes. And there are wider cultural benefits 

too in terms of tackling loneliness. 

“I think it’s interesting that my 96-year-old 

nan knows how to use Zoom,” she adds. “This is 

a completely new thing … this virus has created 

more digital inclusion in three weeks than a 

decade’s worth of work has managed.” 

Life in lockdown has also encouraged more 

supportive practice among colleagues, she says. 

“We’re doing a lot of buddying and there’s a daily 

check-in for connection, support and wellbeing.” 

Lockdown is also allowing the team to finish its 

induction process and complete its training in the 

organisation’s co-op model. 

Urgent Care Practitioners 

with their donated more 

face shields 


“Principle 5, education, is important and 

people are adapting to the ideas under the Equal 

Care model – around platform co-operativism, 

sociocracy and distributed leadership. 

“And team members are volunteering for the 

NHS and getting involved in mutual aid – there is 

more time to do that.” 

Meanwhile, Be Caring, an employee-owned 

provider of domestic social and healthcare support 

in Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester, is 

working to continue care and support but warns 

this “might need to change, for example, reduced 

call times, additional ‘pop-ins’, shopping calls, 

and working local volunteer groups to provide 

additional support”. 

Lockdown brings a range of complications and 

extra pressures, with people getting support, and 

their families, self isolating; and care workers and 

their families doing the same, it says. Care workers 

with children have also found their ability to work 

and provide care continuity affected by school 

closures and childcare needs. 

To make matters harder, Be Caring says the 

closure of local services and community groups 

potentially increases the care and support that 

people need. 

In response, Be Caring has been contacting 

everyone its team supports to agree any changes 

– including planned reductions as the outbreak 

impacts its workforce. 

City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP), an 

employee-owned business which offers health 

and care services in Hull, the East Riding of 

Yorkshire, Knowsley, Wigan and St Helens, has 

teamed up with other organisations to tackle 

the crisis. This includes Dove House Hospice in 

Hull, where an empty bedded unit is being used 

for Covid-19 patients who need intermediate 

care and rehabilitation after being discharged 

from hospital. 

This will help to free up beds at Hull Royal 

Infirmary and Castle Hill for people who need 

hospital treatment for coronavirus. 

The Needler unit has 12 beds and is a selfcontained 

unit with its own entrance, separate 

from the main hospice site. It will be staffed by 

CHCP’s nurses and allied health professionals. 

Dr Anna Wolkowski, chief executive of Dove 

House, said: “We’re proud to be supporting each 

other at this tough time to provide essential care as 

well as providing support to the local community 

to overcome this pandemic.” 

Julia Petty, general manager of integrated 

community services at CHCP, said, “I have been 

absolutely overwhelmed by the staff working and 

pulling together in making the Needler unit at 

Dove House a reality. While it has been very busy – 

everyone has tackled it with a true problem solving 

approach and nothing has been too much trouble 

for anyone.” 

Key workers in co-ops 

are using values and 

principles to help solve 

new problems 


Retail Sector 

Ret 

tor 

The world of retail: 

The new frontline 

By Rebecca Harvey 

Retail workers are the interface between the public 

and essentials they need. They are also most likely 

one of the only points of social contact people 

have day-to-day as the global lockdown continues. 

There are over 110,000 colleagues employed by 

the UK’s 18 co-operative retail societies – and that 

doesn’t include the many smaller worker co-ops, 

community shops and food producers that are 

helping to keep the nation fed. 

In a letter to colleagues in April, Co-op Group 

chief executive, Steve Murrells, wrote: “Some of 

you will be preparing to come into work today 

after a busy weekend shift. Others are preparing 

to come into work as you’ve never known it before, 

full of angst and worried customers. Others will 

be preparing to be full time colleagues, full time 

home-school teachers and full time parents. 

Simultaneously. Others will be wondering how to 

fulfil your role and maintain your relationships 

over Teams and conference calls. 

“All of us will be coming into work determined 

to do our best for our members, customers and 

their communities. Bringing our skills, energy 

and determination to the job at hand. Be confident 

that our work is hugely valuable at this time. Our 

customers and their communities need us. Be 

patient with yourself and each other. We’re all 

learning. We will get through this together.” 

While the UK has been rightly applauding NHS 

workers for their work during this toughest of times, 

there has also been public acknowledgement of 

the essential role that retail workers play. A letter 

sent to co-op retail societies co-ordinated by 

Alex Norris MP and signed by every Co-op Party 

parliamentarian, expressed “sincere thanks and 

appreciation to co-op retail staff for the incredible 

work they are doing in these unprecedented times.” 

It added: “Across the country, the efforts of your 

staff and colleagues in co-operative societies have 

done so much to support the local communities 

they proudly serve and ensure essential 

food and supplies are available, despite the 

challenging circumstances.” 

The Party also organised a virtual thank you 

card for shopworkers, which to date has been 

signed by over 10,000 people, many of whom 

added personal messages. “As a nurse in the NHS 

for 31 years I say thank you for keeping the country 

going. Without all of you, we couldn’t do our job. 

Stay safe and remember we, the NHS staff, clap on 

Thursdays for you all and every key worker,” wrote 

one person. 

Co-op MPs helped to ensure that retail workers 

were included in the Government’s list of key 

workers, and have a long record of standing up 

for better protections for retail workers facing 

violence. This is needed now, more than ever; 

figures released by Usdaw at the end of April show 

that, of the 4,928 staff surveyed, one in six shop 

workers have been abused “on every shift” during 

the coronavirus crisis. 

Tanya Noon, member and community relations 

officer (MCRO) and director of Central England 

Co-operative has worked for the organisation in 

different capacities for over 30 years – and has 

seen many changes in the business, but says the 

current health challenge around coronavirus is 

in unprecedented. 

As an MCRO, Ms Noon’s main role is to support 

local communities and members in a number of 

ways, including running member groups, such 

as Tai Chi, keep fit, or painting groups. “Prior to 

the Government’s announcement of lockdown, 

the MCROs took a decision to close all of its 

groups until the end of May, when this would be 

reviewed,” she said. 

“This was a difficult decision and members got 

very upset and tearful. The groups are a lifeline 

for a lot of people, a way to get out and interact 

with others.” 

From 23 March, Ms Noon and other MCRO 

colleagues were redeployed into food stores, and 


from there she joined a Community Hub project 

run from Central England’s store in Littleover, 

Derby. The Community Hub projects assist 

vulnerable people with their shopping through a 

link up with local councils. 

“The change was emotional,” she says. “We had 

to cancel a lot of events and we were concerned 

for our regular members and how they were going 

to manage. But it was also good to be helping 

colleagues at the front end of the business. We 

have also continued to speak to the membership 

and community council (MCC) members through 

email updates and Zoom meetings. 

“I am so proud to work for a co-operative that 

has such a diverse business and very direct contact 

with its members. Although I have missed my day 

job, the experience has been invaluable and to 

be classed as an essential worker made me feel 

very proud.” 

Tanya Noon is also a mental health champion for 

the society – so the emotional welfare of her fellow 

colleagues was something she had particular 

interest in. She noticed that some colleagues were 

in fear of their health and were worried about what 

would happen if they became unwell. 

“I have to say, the colleagues who are putting 

themselves out there every day to keep stores open 

and stocked are a real credit to the business,” 

she said. 

“There are colleagues who have children and 

elderly parents to consider and they are putting 

themselves on the frontline, subjecting themselves 

to possible infection of the Covid-19 disease. As 

both a colleague and a director, I am so proud of 

their attitude and commitment to the business.” 

She adds: “Some colleagues were very anxious. 

We all have a different approach to mental health, 

some people have had real issues around working 

on the shop floor and passing customers who are 

coughing and sneezing. We do not know anything 

about the customers coming into store, if they are 

self-isolating, if they had received a letter form the 

government to isolate for 12 weeks, or if they have 

anyone in their family are ill or are ill themselves. 

But staff are supporting each other, and that 

is brilliant.” 

As a director who was working in a store, she 

also found it good to be able to reassure colleagues 

about stock levels and how the product and 

category team was working to fix any gaps. “That 

none of our stores had closed was a real credit to 

our colleagues and their attitude towards their 

stores,” she said. 

Ms Noon also applauds the board’s decision to 

bring forward the society’s colleague pay award 

and to also pay colleagues on the frontline one 

week’s wage for all their commitment. “This came 

at a particular good time as though the colleagues 

were doing a brilliant job, their morale was starting 

to waiver – this was a fantastic incentive to show 

them how much they were valued.” 

Ms Noon is looking forward to re-connecting 

with the member groups and having time to reflect 

and look at how the society can improve the 

membership offer and re-engage with schools and 

the community on new and innovating projects, 

where they can look at more digital solutions to 

assist in the work and connected people together 

in different way. 

“I believe that face-to-face connections 

are essential for anyone’s mental health and 

wellbeing,” she said, “but it’s also important to 

use and learn about the additional digital tools 

that can assist us, especially so we can prepare for 

any future lockdowns that may incur.” 

Social distancing 

measures in place for 

colleagues at a Central 

England food store 


Retail Sector 

Ret 

tor 

Interview: 

Phil Ponsonby 

Covid-19 has affected different co-operative organisations in different ways. 

At Midcounties, the largest independent co-operative in the UK, a unique 

challenge has been managing the situation across the diverse range 

of businesses it operates – from food and funeralcare to travel and childcare. 

We spoke with Group Chief Executive Officer, Phil Ponsonby, on how the 

society reacted to the coronavirus crisis as it unfolded - and how it has 

been supporting colleagues across several very different sectors. 

“Like everyone, we were watching the news and 

monitoring events worldwide,” says Phil Ponsonby, 

from his home in Warwickshire. “Because of our 

travel business, we were getting travel guidance 

from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office early 

on, but I think, as with most people, we started 

realising this was going to have a significant 

impact at the beginning of March.” 

Midcounties held its first Covid-19 steering 

meeting on 10 March, mobilising its continuity 

plan and focusing on five key areas: resilience; 

colleagues; financials; suppliers; and customers 

and community. 

“We wanted to make sure that we were 

putting the right amount of focus in each area,” 

says Mr Ponsonby, “especially given our range 

of businesses.” 

Midcounties operates in food, travel, childcare, 

healthcare, funeralcare and post offices and 

utilities. “We have had to temper and balance off 

the enthusiasm in food, where demand is through 

the roof, with a travel business that is dealing with 

angry and worried customers,” he says. 

“If you looked at the businesses in silos, you’d 

make very different decisions. We have to look at 

them as a collective.” 

The executive and key members of Midcounties’ 

leadership team meet for daily briefings to speed 

up decision making. Mr Ponsonby says this 

enables the organisation to be more flexible - with 

suppliers, for example. 

“The national distribution network, which 

normally runs quite close to capacity anyway, is 

under real pressure. We are aware that despite 

their best efforts they can only distribute so much 

in a week. So introducing and supporting more 

local suppliers was quite important. Making 

decisions quickly and getting them on board fast 

was a big part of that.” One such supplier is Aldens 

butchers, a 225-year-old family business which 

pre-lockdown supplied the Houses of Parliament 

and Oxford University. Facing closure, it now 

supplies Midcounties food stores in Oxfordshire. 

This approach has also helped the organisation 

rapidly develop and expanding new approaches, 

such online pharmacy services and home 

deliveries. “It’s about looking at our customers, 

thinking about how we can provide services to 

them in new ways, and adapting quickly.” 

COLLEAGUES FIRST 

Colleagues have been at the forefront of 

Midcounties’ thinking throughout the crisis. 

“Colleagues present us with questions and 

challenges, and at every step we have run by 

them our policies and what we’re looking to 

do. We’ve made some bold decisions around 

personal protective equipment (PPE); there has 

been a sourcing challenge because retailers are 

competing, but all our colleagues are equipped 

with gloves, masks and hand sanitizer, and there 

are screens in stores and pharmacies.” 

Two-way communication has been key, adds 

Mr Ponsonby. Midcounties’ Colleague Connect 

website is used daily to give out information and 

get feedback. “Some challenges that colleagues 

raise are thought-provoking and some are quite 

specific, for example ‘should I put hand sanitiser 

over my gloves?’ Having that open contact with 

colleagues where they can say what they like to 

everybody, including me, means you get some 

By Rebecca Harvey 


eally good feedback but also that colleagues don’t 

have to wait too long to get answers to questions,” 

he says. 

Midcounties appointed a new chief HR officer – 

Clare Moore – last summer, whose “dynamic 

and innovative approach has played out really 

well in this situation” and in January, the society 

partnered with national charity, GroceryAid. 

Through this, all Midcounties colleagues can 

call the confidential GroceryAid helpline 24/7 

for free advice, counselling and other support. 

In the current crisis, the society has worked with 

mental health charity Mind to develop a bespoke 

video for colleagues, and has also set up Welfare 

Wednesdays, where colleagues can take part in 

different activities, such as quizzes. 

“More than anything, it’s about keeping in 

touch,” says Mr Ponsonby. “Some colleagues who 

are self-isolating or working from home live on 

their own – that’s very lonely when you’re used 

to an office environment or your social interaction 

is usually dependent on work colleagues. So 

we’re encouraging virtual social interaction in all 

parts of the business. Every Friday evening, for 

example, we have a virtual drinks gathering with 

the executive team and key leadership committee, 

with something like a quiz or music competition 

It’s a chance to reflect on the week and have a bit of 

a break, which is important in these tough times.” 

The society has furloughed around 1,300 

colleagues, predominantly from childcare and 

travel. Some from these businesses were deployed 

to food stores, while around 100 were retained to 

work in the virtual call centre. 

“We took the decision early on that we would 

maintain furloughed staff on 100% pay for the 

first four weeks, and we’ve recently extended that 

to align to the government’s extended lockdown,” 

says Mr Ponsonby. “Alongside that, the executive 

team has also taken pay cuts. I’m extremely proud 

of them – none of them questioned it, it was 

something they volunteered to do. That’s just part 

of their thinking.” 

He has witnessed this attitude throughout the 

business. “Our co-op colleagues have really been 

going out of their way,” he says. “Over the Easter 

weekend for example, one of our store managers 

was handing out bottles of water to people in 

the long queue. Little things like that make a big 

difference. Colleagues are thinking about how 

they can help and that makes me really proud.” 

THE FUTURE 

Midcounties is hosting its annual general meeting 

(AGM) on 16 May. “One of the things we did last 

year – and I promise this wasn’t as a result of any 

kind of premonition – was to run one of our halfyearly 

meetings online, to test the technology, 

format and appetite among members. It went really 

well, and was actually one of the best attended 

meetings, because it’s convenient.” The event will 

be an interactive one, with members able to vote 

and ask questions in a live environment. 

Midcounties’ financial year is to 31 January – 

so although last year’s accounts won’t be directly 

impacted by Covid-19, future forecasting will. “It’s 

hard because we’re obviously not sure how long 

this situation is going to go on for. We’ve been 

really detailed and active in building assumptions, 

double checking and changing them, interpreting 

government policy. We’re a £1.5bn business, but 

it’s made up of lots of different businesses, so the 

implications are profound.” 

He adds: “More than anything, we are keeping 

co-op values at the heart of our decision making. 

We try to make sure we are doing the right 

thing by our colleagues, members, customers 

and communities.” 

Integral to Midcounties’ future is its ‘Survive, 

Revive and Thrive’ strategy. “All teams – both 

centrally and our trading teams – have been asked 

to look at their operations and break down their 

activities into these three areas,” he says. 

“Right now, there is a concentrated operational 

focus. But in terms of revival, how will we reopen 

our businesses and accelerate some of the things 

we were going to do anyway? And then thriving is 

about what the new landscape looks like and what 

that means for our businesses. Over the last few 

weeks we have really been testing our businesses 

and are thinking more creatively and innovatively. 

We’re also closer to our colleagues, members and 

customers than ever before; that’s one thing that 

certainly isn’t going to change.” 

Top: Midcounties 

colleagues are sharing 

stories of giving a 

thumbs up, to keep 

morale high and to 

show that as 

co-operators, they are 

“all in this together as 

#TeamMidcounties” 

Above: Phil Ponsonby, 

chief executive, 

Midcounties Co-operative 


Podcast episode explores the benefits 

of working in a different way 

How would the UK economy be transformed if more 

businesses were worker and employee owned? 

This was one question posed in an episode of 

More Than A Shop, a podcast series produced as a 

collaborative effort between Co-operatives UK, the 

Co-operative College, the Co-operative Heritage 

Trust, Co-op Press and the Co-op Group. 

Recorded before the coronavirus pandemic – 

but still very relevant in the context of Covid-19 

– it saw presenter Elizabeth Alker joined by Beau 

Bulman from worker co-op Suma Wholefoods and 

James Wright from Co-operatives UK. Mr Bulman, 

whose role of people development manager 

resembles that of an HR manager, explained why 

Suma chose a different term for the job. 

“Humans are not just resources. They are 

much more than that,” he says. In addition 

to doing office work, he helps out in the 

warehouse. When recruiting, Suma, which is 

Europe’s largest equal-pay employer, usually 

looks for people with co-operative values. The 

co-op currently employs 300 people, 200 of whom 

are members. They take part in decisions through 

quarterly meetings and a board and members’ 

council structure. Workers are paid equal amounts 

for the hours they work but some choose to work 

longer hours to earn more. Others want to work the 

minimum amount of hours. 

“We do sometimes make decisions by majority 

vote. And often that majority is highest, like 75% 

majority. But we look for consensus,” says Mr 

Bulman, acknowledging that not all employeeowned 

businesses have Suma’s governance 

structure or equal pay policy. 

“There are a lot of different ways to do worker 

ownership,” adds James Wright, policy officer 

at Co-operatives UK. “There’s a lot of flexibility 

in terms of the legal arrangement, how worker 

ownership comes about in the first place, and 

how things are organised day to day. But generally 

speaking, if the business is worker-owned from the 

outset, the likelihood is that it’s going to be a very 

democratic worker co-op with lots of innovation in 

organisation management.” 

Another well-known model is the John Lewis 

Partnership; JLP did not start out as a worker 

co-op but converted to employee ownership. 

“If it’s a more established business that converts 

to employee ownership, they tend to use a slightly 

more complicated legal arrangement,” says Mr 

Wright. “The degree of employee control varies. 

And they might also inherit some more traditional 

practices and ways of working, but even most of 

those businesses tend to be quite innovative and 

forward thinking and become more so over time.” 

Asked to identify the main challenges for the 

sector, both guests pointed to a lack of awareness 

about co-ops and employee-owned businesses. 

“People don’t really know what co-ops are. 

We’re not really thought of by people setting up 

new businesses as an option,” says Mr Bulman. He 

thinks the problem goes back to the 1980s when 

the idea of society was being challenged. 

By Anca Voinea 

Left: Beau Bulman 

Suma Wholefoods 

Right: James Wright 

Co-operatives UK 


James Wright agrees: “The evidence we have 

suggests there’s a growing interest in society, 

in businesses doing things differently and 

working more collaboratively, more ethically, 

more justly. The problem is that the people 

who are interested in doing that ... tend to 

find out about [co-ops] by chance rather than 

because the system actually helps them do it.” 

This is despite the fact that evidence suggests 

co-op start-ups are more resilient than non 

co-op start-ups, and that worker control is 

linked to worker wellbeing and improved 

business performance. 

The episode also featured Leeds Bread Co-op, 

a worker-owned co-operative bakery in Leeds. 

Lizzie Fellows, who has been at the co-op since 

2013, deals with finance and HR. She explains: 

“There are no managers or bosses that come in 

and tell us what to do. We work on a consensus 

decision-making basis, so every member is a 

director. We have a staff team of about 30, and that 

includes a mix of contracted and casual staff. 

“Every member of staff gets the same basic pay. 

We have a small-enhanced salary for members of 

the co-op. So for four hours a week we have an 

additional 25% of basic pay, which gets paid. But 

all members of staff basically come in on the same 

rate of pay. 

“The idea is that if everyone’s contributing to 

making the business a success, then all of our 

wages go up. So everyone has equal motivation. 

We’re all here for reasons beyond just the money. 

But essentially, we’re all here for employment as 

well. And that’s one of our values as a business: 

to be a good workplace and to provide an ethical, 

enjoyable livelihood for people.” 

Beau Bulman agrees: “I think having more 

people engaged in decision making in their 

work actually makes their work better. And that 

makes society better; people are happier to go to 

work. They’re not just doing it to put money in 

the pocket of one man – and it is usually a man, 

unfortunately – but to develop themselves. It’s got 

to be laudable.” 

“I think having more people 

engaged in decision making 

in their work actually makes 

their work better. And that 

makes society better; people 

are happier to go to work” 

So how can co-ops make themselves more 

visible? Mr Bulman thinks the movement often 

fails to reach those outside it. “We’re very good at 

preaching to the converted,” he says, “but beyond 

that, it’s getting ourselves out there, getting our 

products out there, and telling our story through 

our products and our different channels.” 

James Wright agrees that there is a new 

generation of people coming through who, for 

very good reasons, do think differently about how 

the world should work. “At the moment they’re 

perhaps thrashing around vaguely looking for 

something different. If we can put the co-op model 

in front of them as one solution to change the 

world and the way they want to change it, then we 

will be reaching a much bigger audience than we 

are now,” he says. 

Subscribe and download now at: 

morethanashop.coop 


Thinktanks call for community wealth 

models and plural ownership in 

post-Covid settlement 

Community wealth building and democratic, 

pluralistic ownership of the economy are crucial 

to any fair reconstruction programme after the 

Covid-19 crisis, says a report. 

UK thinktank the Centre for Local Economic 

Strategies (CLES) worked with US organisation 

the Democracy Collaborative (TDC) on the Owning 

the Future report, which argues: “The Covid-19 

pandemic has caught the United Kingdom 

woefully under-prepared. We face a major public 

and economic event of historical importance, 

potentially unprecedented in its magnitude 

in peacetime. 

“In the face of this, community wealth building 

policy and practice must shift to meet the scale 

of the crisis, rapidly building a new institutional 

power base for a new politics of community 

control from the ground up.” 

Both organisations have been key players in 

the community wealth building movement: in 

the UK, CLES has worked on projects such as the 

Preston model, while TDC is involved in the new 

municipalism project in Cleveland, Ohio, which 

partly inspired the Preston project. 

The report says the crisis exposes the 

flaws of “neoliberal capitalism … beset 

with the compounding problems of toxic 

inequality, ecological collapse and democracy 

in decay”. 

It warns: “The effects on our social, economic 

and political future will inevitably be profound 

and long-lasting. While we do not know exactly 

how events will progress, we can be sure that 

things will never be quite the same again.” 

To steer the right course through this uncertain 

future, and ensure that communities weather 

a post-lockdown depression and benefit from 

a reconstruction programme, the report urges 

policymakers to “avoid the mistakes of the global 

financial crisis” and instead take inspiration from 

FD Roosevelt’s New Deal response to the Great 

Depression in the USA. 

It advocates national and local state holding 

companies to acquire failing businesses 

until they can re-launched as part of the 

economic recovery, and wants see the “UK’s 

discredited industrial strategy [replaced] with 

a Green New Deal, funded by a green stimulus 

recovery package”. 

It also calls for a new social contract and welfare 

system which recognises that “austerity was 

a mistake” and expands “real community power”. 

The paper’s programme echoes calls by a 

number of campaigners for a post-lockdown 

economy to avoid a “return to normal” and 

instead create a fairer and more democratic 

alternative. Its ideas include a number of 

principles of the Preston and Cleveland models 

of community wealth building, already being 

trialled by the wider UK co-op council movement 

– giving space for community control and 

worker ownership. 

“Replacing the extractive features of our 

economy with more democratic and sustainable 

features must become the new economic common 

sense,” the report argues. 

This means “democratic and plural ownership 

of the economy – rethinking business support and 

economic development more generally to advance 

democratic ownership models of firms. Also, 

a new era of municipal ownership”. 

It argues for fiscal devolution to give local people 

more democratic control of their economies, and 

for an expansion of community finance initiatives. 

It also advocates for the spread of Preston-style 

procurement policies, where the spending power 

of state organisations and anchor institutions 

spreads local social value. 

Community ownership gets a mention in the 

report’s plans for “socially productive use of land 

and property”. 

It wants reforms put in place to “roll back the 

enclosure of public land through municipal 

development vehicles, community land 

ownership and a democratic revolution in the 

planning system”. 

It also wants action to ensure more fair and just 

labour markets. 

By Miles Hadfield 


The paper is accompanied by a document drawn 

up by CLES to present to local authorities, titled 

Rescue, Recover, Reform. This says “community 

wealth building policy and practice must shift 

to meet the scale of the crisis, rapidly building a 

new institutional power base for a new politics of 

community control from the ground up”. 

Among its reforming ideas for local economies is 

“the creation of a new local economic architecture” 

(mutual credit, platform co-ops and new forms of 

investment) for smaller businesses. 

These co-op models are a more resilient and 

democratic alternative than some of the predominant 

business models which have extracted wealth from 

communities, the report argues. 

If policymakers avoid a repeat of harsh austerity 

measures, and do not attempt “a full-on ‘shock 

doctrine’ disaster response, combining a new 

state authoritarianism with ongoing uncontrolled 

corporate capitalism”, then there is the possibility 

of a positive outcome, CLES hopes. 

“The Covid-19 pandemic could become a 

moment of crystallisation, with citizens and 

governments working together to build a new 

social contract and a genuinely inclusive economy. 

“This could be prefigured and sustained by the 

extraordinary rise of social solidarity and mutual 

aid generated by the pandemic, which could then 

snowball into a movement for deep and lasting 

political-economic change.” 


Co-ops’ covid crisis 

It is too soon to assess the impact of Covid-19 – but 

we know it is terrible in health, social and financial 

terms. The eventual impact will be determined by 

the virus itself and how governments mitigate it. 

Can a vaccine be developed, and if so, how quickly? 

Do people who have caught the illness and recovered 

obtain immunity to prevent them from catching 

it again? Can anti-viral drugs be developed? Can 

immunity enhancing drugs be used? And how will 

Covid-19 mutate? 

With the answers to these health-related questions 

unknowable at present, it is impossible to predict 

the likely extension of social distancing measures, 

and therefore the financial toll on the global and 

national economies, and individual co-operatives. 

But we can say positive things about the leadership 

of the sector. Both Co-op Group CEO Steve Murrells 

and Nationwide Building Society CEO Joe Garner 

have volunteered for 20% pay cuts. Meanwhile, 

many mutuals have adopted generous support 

packages for staff who have been quarantined. 

Financial mutuals are in particular difficulty. 

Many financial support measures adopted by 

the government are being implemented via 

the financial institutions: the banks, building 

societies, credit unions and insurers. Businesses 

are to receive emergency funds via the banks, 

through new loans, while individuals have been 

told by regulators they can extend overdrafts, 

loans and card repayments. This will inevitably 

lead to more loan defaults. 

In the United States, the largest banks have 

already increased provisions for loan losses. Initial 

assessments are equal to about an additional 

7.5% of annual defaults. The banks also reported 

reduced income of nearly 50% in the first quarter. 

Similar effects are likely in other countries, with 

the Office for Budget Responsibility reporting that 

the UK economy reduced in size by 35% during 

the initial period of the crisis. British banks had 

to abandon £8bn of proposed dividend payments, 

after pressure from the financial regulator. Lenders 

for car purchases report requests for relief on loan 

repayments have risen by 20 to 30 times their 

normal level. 

Administrative challenges are immense. 

Commercial and personal customers in the UK 


have complained about the problems in accessing 

financial support, with call centres overloaded with 

enquiries. The Building Societies Association’s 

spokeswoman Amy McCluskey said: “Along 

with the rest of the financial services sector our 

members have been facing significant operational 

challenges for the past month and more. They 

have been working flat out on issues that affect the 

health and wellbeing of both customers and staff, 

whilst grappling with very practical operational 

challenges such as a circa 30% staff absence rate, 

and moving staff onto home-working. 

“A lot has been achieved including these two 

examples. Keeping around 90% of branches 

open – most on reduced hours and for essential 

transactions only – while observing social 

distancing. This has been particularly important 

for vulnerable customers who require access 

to cash as they have no other form of banking 

product. Granting around a quarter of a million 

three month mortgage repayment holidays to give 

those affected a breathing space.” 

Mortgage lending is under serious pressure. 

“Clearly the economy generally and employment 

and housing market specifically will take some 

time to recover and this will have a widespread 

effect going well beyond our sector,” added Ms 

McCluskey. “So we are well aware that we are in 

this for the long haul [ensuring that] the sector is 

well-positioned to not just cope but play an active 

role. The sector is well capitalised, having built its 

financial resilience up since the financial crisis 

of 2007-9.” 

The Nationwide Building Society is unable 

to discuss the financial impact on the society 

in the run-up to its results announcement. It 

said operations had been kept going because 

of the positive attitude of its staff. The society’s 

spokesman said: “Hundreds of our colleagues 

have volunteered to support our member-facing 

teams, and we are deploying this additional 

resource to help with the increased demand.” 

Nationwide is asking members to move to online 

transactions where possible, to reduce demand on 

branches and call centres. 

Many enterprises have criticised insurers for 

declining claims on business interruption policies. 

But insurers, including mutuals, are fearful of the 

impact if they too generously pay out on these 

policies. NFU Mutual – which provides cover to 

the farming sector – warned customers: “In line 

with UK market practice, our standard business 

interruption cover usually requires damage to 

property, such as storms or fires, in order to be 

triggered, which means the majority of customers 

will not be covered for coronavirus. At NFU 

Mutual, we always seek to support our customers 

wherever possible and will look to extend cover 

whenever we can. However, as a mutual, one 

of our duties to our members is to remain solvent. 

Global pandemics such as coronavirus require 

a much larger solution and financial package 

from authorities and central governments than is 

possible for insurers to provide.” 

NFU Mutual is, however, providing £32m 

of support to customers and communities, 

including an increase in cover. This is expected to 

provide £12m of payouts for members affected by 

the illness this year. 

Credit unions are especially concerned about 

the impact on them, with a number having ceased 

trading as a result of the Great Recession. The Irish 

League of Credit Unions – which has members 

on both sides of the border – has requested 

the Irish regulator to adopt some flexibility 

in rules enforcement, to allow credit unions 

to provide greater assistance to members in 

financial difficulty. 

Abcul, the Association of British Credit Unions, 

admits that the latest crisis will place pressure 

on its members. It is now working with the 

UK government, regulators and the devolved 

governments in Scotland and Wales to enable it 

to provide financial support to people in need. 

“Our requests are seen as critical to ensuring 

the ongoing sustainability of the sector and in 

supporting our ability to assist members who need 

it most at this time,” said an Abcul statement. 

Abcul has worked with Fair4All Finance to 

provide £5m from its resilience fund to credit 

unions and community development finance 

institutions (CDFIs) in England. In Scotland, the 

devolved government has established dedicated 

funds to support credit unions through the crisis, 

including a resilience fund as well as £20m 

of loans and grants. 

Robert Kelly, Abcul’s CEO, said: “These support 

measures will undoubtedly assist credit unions 

across Britain and we look forward to supporting 

and assisting credit with these initiatives in the 

weeks and months ahead. Abcul has hosted online 

conference sessions with credit unions from all 

over Britain to identify issues of emerging concern 

and ensure these are addressed and the business 

strengthened to deliver essential financial support 

to members and to staff.” 

While it is too early to assess the financial impact 

of Covid-19, leaders of mutuals have recognised 

that the crisis provides an existential threat to 

many businesses. In this they are showing they 

have learnt from the global Great Recession of just 

over a decade ago, when many of the institutions 

were guilty of complacency, leading to the 

failure of some. But this time it is different – this 

crisis will severely damage the strong as well as 

the weak. 


Bringing 

co-ops together: 

Individually, we’re vulnerable 

Now, more than ever, it’s urgent to co-operate 

By BALU IYER, 

regional director 

of International 

Cooperative Alliance 

- Asia and Pacific 

As the apex body representing co-operatives, how 

could the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) 

lead the way for its members – who represent 

national federations, government departments 

and supranational organisations – during these 

uncertain times? 

The year 2020 marks 125 years of the ICA. 

As an agency representing 311 co-operative 

organisations across 109 countries with 1 billion 

members, this year should have been marked with 

joyous celebrations. However, here we are staring 

ahead at darkening clouds which portend an 

uncertain and uncharted future. 

This is not the first time the ICA has faced such 

an existential crisis. It has seen through two world 

wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945), depression 

(during the 1930s), Cold War (1946-1991, two 

phases), and financial crisis (2008). Even though 

the coronavirus crisis is projected to be of a larger 

dimension, there is much we can learn from our 

history. During times of crisis, the ICA also had 

to face financial contraction and contend, like 

its member organisations, with the dislocation of 

trade and production, brought about not only by 

wars but also by economic consequences. 

Two books, The International Cooperative 

Alliance – During War and Peace by Rita Rhodes 

and The International Cooperative Alliance 1895 

to 1970 by W.P. Watkins, provide some direction. 

Co-operatives were seen as ‘living organisms’ in 

constant evolution, modifying their original forms 

and functions according to the circumstances 

and needs of their members. The co-operative 

spirit permeating was more important than a set 

of principles; the focus on self-help and mutual 

aid, and on undertaking economic activity for 

service rather than profit; and co-operation 

among co-operatives a distinct feature of 

co-operative activity. Among the reasons for the 

ICA re-emerging from each crisis were: its ability 

to evolve and change while retaining a strong 

moral tone; the constitution which remained 

remarkably constant; internationalisation of 

national co-operative movements which had 

the belief that, in economic and social activities, 

co-operation was superior to competition; getting 

members to equitably share their common 

interests – at once adding to the stock of positive 

knowledge about co-operation throughout the 

world and clarifying ideas; and mission-minded 

leadership from the Central and Executive 

Committees and the Secretariat. 

Co-operatives step up! 

During the coronavirus crisis, co-operatives 

have stepped up to support their members 

and communities. In Australia, apex body the 

Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals 

(BCCM) is providing information to its members 

on government assistance for coronavirusimpacted 

businesses and what it means. In India, 

the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (Iffco) is 

leading efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 

by organising social awareness campaigns to 

highlight the preventive and precautionary 

measures like social distancing, sanitisation, 

healthy diet and prevention through face masks. 


In Iran, the Iranian Women Co-operators’ Think 

Tank, comprising, among others, the Tehran 

Handicraft Cooperative Union, Iran Chamber of 

Cooperatives, the Iranian Cooperators’ Association, 

and Rah-e-Roshd Cooperative School has been 

running projects in different provinces to produce 

masks and isolation gowns. In Korea, more than 

25 members co-ops from iCOOP donated goods to 

health centres, hospitals, and low-income groups. 

In Nepal, to mark the 63rd National Cooperative 

Day, the Cooperatives’ Coronavirus Control Center 

has been set up at Manmohan Memorial Hospital 

in coordination with the National Cooperative 

Federation. The Palestine Agriculture Cooperative 

Union is supporting the community by collecting 

fresh vegetables from members as grants and 

distributing them to the closed governorates 

affected by the virus. In the Philippines, 

co-operatives have launched a nationwide 

campaign of donations to combat the virus and 

help the elderly, who are the most vulnerable. 

These include washable face masks, vitamins, and 

other kits. 

ICA has launched a forum on Loomio for its 

members to participate in coordinating a global 

co-operative response to the ongoing Covid-19 

crisis. Members are encouraged to open an 

account here, join the platform and contribute to 

the ongoing discussion. 

Rally around the co-operative 

identity 

While the above are responses on the part of 

co-operatives to address immediate challenges, 

there is a need for the ICA and its members to look 

ahead as a movement. 

After the destruction of the First World War, 

co-operators came back to the 1913 Glasgow 

Resolution of Peace as a rallying point around 

which to muster their movements and chart 

their own contribution to a better and more 

peaceful world order. This was because the 

response of governments at the time was one of 

economic nationalism, closing borders, locking 

down and trying to lift themselves by their own 

bootstraps. The response to Covid-19, given its 

transmission across borders, is eerily familiar. 

During those ICA meetings and Congresses, 

delegates thought of themselves as co-operators 

first and by nationality second – remarkably free 

of chauvinism. 

This is the time for ICA and its members to 

again unite and rally under the common banner of 

Co-operative Identity. Indeed, the theme of the 

33rd World Congress to celebrate the ICA’s 125th 

ICA anniversary, ‘Deepening our Cooperative 

Identity,’ provides the rallying cry! The Statement 

on the Cooperative Identity, which includes 

definitions of the principles and co-operative 

values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, 

equality, equity and solidarity, have never been 

truer. As are the four ethical values: honesty, 

openness, social responsibility and caring for 

others. However it is not the words, but the deeds 

which matter. As has been seen in the history of 

the ICA, it is the adherence to the actions that has 

enabled co-operatives to stand the test of time. 

Superiority of the co-operative system is 

demonstrated by exercising the utmost vigilance 

and economy in purchasing and handling stock; 

by distributing all commodities to members at the 

most equitable prices; by resisting all attempts 

of capitalist enterprise to exploit the situation 

for private profit; and to employ every means to 

mitigate the evils and distress attendant upon 

the increasing unemployment of workers across 

the world. 

Now is the time to rally co-operatives around the 

co-operative identity! 

u 

Top: Iffco’s social 

awareness measures 

take the fight where it 

matters most 

Above: Daegu Corona 

Emergency Assistance 


Spotlight on the International 

Day of Cooperatives 

The first International Day of Cooperatives (IDC) 

was celebrated in 1923. Since then, it has been 

celebrated every year, in every country on the same 

day (the first Saturday of July), in order to attract 

the attention and interest of the whole world and 

communicate the message of ‘each for all, and 

all for each’. Its impact to strengthen the unity of 

co-operatives has been incalculable. Since 1995, 

the United Nations, through the Committee for 

the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives 

(Copac), a multi-stakeholder partnership of global 

public and private institutions that champions and 

supports co-operative enterprises as leaders in 

sustainable development, has also been celebrating 

the day of co-operatives. 

The 2020 edition will be the 26th United 

Nations International Day of Cooperatives and 

the 98th International Cooperative Day: its 

theme is Cooperatives for Climate Action. Given 

the ravages of Covid-19, the focus on climate 

action is more critical than ever. According to the 

World Health Organization (WHO), changes in 

infectious disease transmission patterns are likely 

a major consequence of climate change. Rising 

temperatures can create favourable conditions for 

the spread of certain infectious diseases, while 

disappearing habitats may force various animal 

species to migrate, increasing the chances of 

spillover pathogens between them. Whether it’s 

in terms of health, economic or any other type of 

shock, the people most affected are the poorest 

and the most vulnerable. When health disasters 

hit – and in a business-as-usual scenario they will 

do so increasingly – global inequality is sustained 

and reinforced, and paid for with the lives of the 

poor and marginalised. 

Similar to the spirit in celebrating IDC in 2012, 

the International Year of Cooperatives, this year 

co-operatives need to ‘shout out loud’ or ‘spread 

far and wide’ the message that our methods of 

production and consumption are constantly 

attacking the environment and cannot go on. We 

need to ensure production does not take a toll on 

the very soil it depends, reduce the demands we 

place on nature by optimising consumption, build 

direct supply chains between the producer and 

consumer, substitute animal proteins with plant 

proteins, and decrease pollution. 

Left in the lurch: migrant 

workers, the gig-economy, 

the informal economy 

The millions of migrant workers streaming out of 

cities in India; six million claiming unemployment 

in a week in the United States; a quarter of a 

million garment workers in Bangladesh out of 

a job. Each day brings with it more daunting 

numbers. Gig workers, independent contractors, 

and freelancers are experiencing income losses 

without the support of severance or benefits 

and many are finding out they don’t qualify 

under stimulus packages. According to the 

International Labour Organization (ILO), the 

Covid-19 crisis is expected to wipe out 6.7% of 

working hours globally in the second quarter 

of 2020 – equivalent to 195 million full-time 

workers. The impact of the pandemic will affect 

more women than men as they are more vulnerable 

to economic shocks. 

This is an opportunity for the ICA and its 

members to rally once again for workers. This is 

not something new to the ICA. In its early years 

it was a body whose affiliated membership was 

predominantly made up of wage-earners, who 

subscribed to working-class culture, and whose 

goal was improvement of co-operative members’ 

living standards. The First Article of the ICA’s 

original constitution included the objective 

of the amelioration of the lot of working classes 

(wording later dropped) – hence its association 

from the early days with the ILO and trade 

unions. The crisis has shown the importance 

of having service and social co-operatives to 

meet the needs of informal workers and address 

issues around health and ageing. During these 

times, even in the worst affected countries 

like Italy, co-operatives are stepping up to 

the task. 

The works: stimulus, bailouts 

and everything in between 

Governments are scrambling to enact stimulus 

packages in the billions and trillions. Unlike the 

stimulus packages of 2008 where companies used 

it for themselves (stock buyback and top honchos 

payment), this time around the effort is to ensure 

workers get their fair share. Given what we have 

seen in regard to the plight of migrant workers, 

farmers and artisans, governments are going to 

look for the support and good will of these groups. 

Apex organisations and federations need to get 

out of their shells and ensure that co-operatives 

are not left out of the process. The BCCM and 

the National Cooperative Business Association 

(NCBA) in the USA are doing just that, making 

sure the interests of co-operatives and mutuals 

continue to be represented in a challenging 

business landscape. u 

Right: Food being 

delivered to those 

who need it 

Right: The impact of 

the pandemic will affect 

more women than 

men as they are 

more vulnerable to 

economic shocks 



It is apt to quote what Henry May, secretary of 

the ICA (1913-1939) who upheld the dignity and 

increased the prestige of the ICA all over the world, 

wrote in the Review of International Cooperation: 

“United and common action on the part of 

Co-operators is necessary. The organisations of 

capitalism, private trade and industry will not 

remain meekly in the background to accept the 

crumbs that fall from the conference table. Neither 

should we, but rather take all actions to present 

the claims of the organised consumers and the 

superlative value of the co-operative economic 

system as an equitable means of sharing the 

world’s resources and guaranteeing good relations 

between all people. It is ours to formulate the 

co-operative point of view and to educate public 

opinion to accept it.” 

Co-operation among co-ops 

This is the time to enhance Principle 6: 

Co-operation among Co-operatives. It was done 

on a global scale in earlier times through the 

Co-operative Wholesale Society and the 

Co-operative Trading Agency. The latter was 

based on identified consumer needs; therefore 

production it called forth was not speculative, 

ensured economic use of resources and enabled 

economies of scale. This time we can leverage 

technologies and emerging platforms to ensure 

trade on scale happens. 

Co-operatives, as people-centred businesses, 

can look at member needs and ascertain 

support requirements. For example, some credit 

co-operatives are already deferring loan 

repayments; while this could impact their business 

in the short-term they are keeping their member 

interests at the centre. Credit and insurance 

co-operatives can step up and provide assistance 

to many of the worker and services co-operatives, 

which have had to shutter their operations, defer 

payments and lay off their workers. 

Some co-operatives are using their Co-operative 

Development Fund meant for education to provide 

medical and other supplies. This short-term 

measure can, in the medium and long term, extend 

to enhance and long-term to enhance co-operation 

among co-operatives. Members themselves need 

to ensure they adhere to measures put in place by 

the government and support their co-operatives 

rather than look for short-term gains outside. 

A stark future for youth 

Surprisingly, in the history of ICA’s emergence and 

re-emergence, there is little mentioned in terms 

of involving and engaging the youth. This time it 

has to be different because of the magnitude and 

the degree of impact on younger people. Many 

millennials have had to weather two economic 

crises – one, the 2008 global financial crisis, 

near the beginning of their careers; and now, 

midway in their career, Covid-19. In the US, 

62% of millennials reported living paycheck to 

paycheck in 2019, and even those who feel they 

have a secure job are wondering if it’s just a matter 

of time before they don’t. The current downturn 

stands to derail millennials during a phase of life 

considered crucial for earning potential and major 

life choices. 

ICA president Ariel Guarco, while inaugurating 

the ICA Global Youth Forum in Malaysia, said: 

“Young people are not the future of the movement. 

They must be the present, because the urgent 

problems of today mean the future of our 

movement and our civilisation is at stake.” 

Look to our leaders 

Among the reasons for the ICA’s continuity and 

re-emergence despite all odds were the adherence 

to ICA’s Constitution, which provided equity 

and legitimacy; Congress, which overcame 

nationalistic chauvinism to unite under a common 

banner (ICA); Central and Executive Committees, 

which provided visionary leadership and ensured 

ICA’s place around global tables (ILO, UN); and the 

Secretariat, which provided continuity. 

Today, the ICA is not just central, but with 

regional and sectoral branches; its governance 

is not just global, but across all regions; its 

composition is not just Eurocentric, but diverse 

in gender and culture. It is up to this global and 

diverse leadership to step up, provide the vision 

and direction, and unite co-operatives under the 

banner of the ICA. 

In conclusion: all in it 

The ICA and its member co-operatives have 

united to overcome perilous circumstances by 

constant evolution, modifying their original forms 

and functions according to the circumstances 

and needs of their members. During these 

times, they have had to contend with financial 

stringency as a consequence of dislocation of 

trade and production, compounded by economic 

consequences – but they stuck together, knowing 

that international collaboration between national 

co-operative movements, in economic and social 

activities, was superior to competition. We are all 

in it, let us do it! 

The views expressed 

here are done so in a 

personal capacity 


The 2020 Co-operative Press 

Annual General Meeting 

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it is unlikely that we will be able to hold a physical 

Co-operative Press AGM. We will instead be aiming to convene a digital AGM, with further 

details – including those of director elections – to be confirmed. 

1–3pm, 19 June 

In accordance with Rule 20 of the Co-operative Press Rules, any member may submit a 

proposal to the Annual Meeting of members in writing to the Secretary. 

The timetable is as follows [please note the updated dates]: 

Friday 22 May 2020 

Closing Date for Receipt of Proposals and Director Nominations 

Tuesday 26 May 2020 

Agenda, Proposals and Election Ballots sent out to members 

Wednesday 17 June 2020 

Closing date for receipt of Ballots and amendments to Proposals. 

Annual Accounts sent out to members and made available online. 

With regard to amendments to any proposals (as stated in Rule 21), any member may send to 

the directors any amendment to any proposal appearing on the agenda or any amendment 

to any matter forming part of the business of the meeting, and provided such amendment be 

received by the secretary prior to the Annual Meeting, it shall be circulated to members as 

soon as is practicable as an additional business paper for consideration at the meeting. 

Please note that by submitting a proposal, members are committing themselves to attend the 

Annual Meeting if their proposal is accepted onto the Agenda. 

For further updates on the AGM and Director Election, please visit 

www.thenews.coop/AGM2020 

The Secretary 

Co-operative Press Ltd, Holyoake House, 

Hanover Street, Manchester, M60 0AS 

secretary@thenews.coop

DIARY 

The Covid-19 crisis had 

led to the postponement 

of many co-op events – 

including some of those 

listed below. 

If you would like to add any 

postponements – or let us 

know of any virtual events 

taking place instead, 

please email us at: 

events@thenews.coop 

Co-operatives UK has moved a number 

of events online. 

Check out uk.coop/all-events for updates 

Co-operative College Webinars: 

A number of webinars are available to 

view on the college’s website on a range 

of topics including: 

• The Hidden Alternative: Co-operatives 

• Leading Co-operatives – democratic 

practice 

• Gender and the Co-operative Difference 

Available at: co-op.ac.uk/event-calendar 

Think 20 (4-7 May, Dallas) 

CO-OP Financial Services has postponed 

the event until 17-20 August. It will 

also hold a one-day virtual conference 

in May, with the exact date and content 

to be confirmed. All those currently 

registered will be automatically registered 

for both rearranged events. However, 

those who cannot attend the new dates 

have until 1 August to cancel and receive 

a full refund. 

Worker Co-op Weekend 

(15-17 May, Peak District) 

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic this 

year’s Worker Co-op Weekend has been 

cancelled. Those who have booked will 

be contacted and offered a full refund. 

Platform co-ops now! 

An entrepreneurship online course 

to create platform co-operatives 

(May 26 - July 20) 

An emergency Covid-19 online course 

to support the rising ecosystems of 

co-operative digital labour platforms 

in response to unemployment. 

Open 2020 (11-12 Jun, London) 

The Open 2020 conference has been 

postponed until later in the year. All 

tickets purchased for the June event 

will be automatically transferred to the 

new date. Organisers will still be holding 

an online event on 11-12 June 2020. 

More info on this at: 2020.open.coop 

UK Society for Co-operative Studies 

to host virtual lecture on governance 

(29 Jun) 

This year’s Co-operatives Fortnight 

lecture, hosted by the UK Society for 

Co-operative Studies, will be delivered 

online on 29 June, from 6.30-8pm. 

In her lecture, Prof Sonja Novkovic, 

from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, 

Canada, will focus on governance in 

co-operatives from a humanistic 

economics perspective. 

Details of the free lecture and how to 

book are available at: bit.ly/2VpywrI 

UKSCS conference (2-4 Oct) 

The UK Society for Co-operative 

Studies has called for papers for this 

year’s conference, at the University of 

Lincoln. Proposals can be orientated 

towards generating debate, facilitating 

experimental learning activities or 

reporting the findings of research. The 

deadline for submissions is 30 May. 

https://ukscs.coop/call-for-papers/ 

NCBA Impact Conference (7-10 Oct) 

The 2020 Co-op IMPACT Conference, 

scheduled for October 7-9, will continue 

as planned, with the addition of an 

all-new virtual online component. Now 

a hybrid event, IMPACT 2020 will still 

include live, in-person programming at 

the Marriott Metro Center in Washington, 

DC. The rescheduled Cooperative Hall of 

Fame reception, banquet and induction 

ceremony will also be held at IMPACT 

2020. The Co-op Festival has been 

postponed until 2021. 

LOOKING AHEAD (TBC) 

Stir to Action Festival (14-16 Jul) 

CCIN Conference (7-8 Oct) 

Co-operative Party Conference (16-18 Oct)

Co-op News - May 2020

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