2007-08-08 Co-operative Pickles

2007-08-08 Geoff Gilson Weaver Street Geoff \Weaver Street Market\co-operative\chain store http://weaverstreetgeoff.blogspot.com/2007/08/co-operative-pickles.html Co-operative Pickles Co-operative Pickles  So. When did we decide that we wanted to be a chain store instead of a co-operative? I’m guessing much about the same time that we set as our new goal the desire to be The Best Food Business in the Country.

Look, if we want to be WalMart-with-Tattoos, then let’s drop the pretence, and fully embrace corporate capitalism. But if we’re going to be a co-operative, then let’s start acting like a co-operative, and stop just playing lip service to the principles. And that means: small stand-alone co-op units, that serve genuinely local communities; and it means democracy in the workplace.

By all means, continue with the expansion. But, when it’s finished, set each unit free, to be its own, stand-alone co-operative. Multi-unit chain stores are the antithesis of co-operative principles. They can only be run with a trickle-down and reactive management style. Co-operatives, on the other hand, should be worker-driven democracies, that manage from the shop-floor upwards.

&ldquo;Look, if we want to be WalMart-with-Tattoos, then let’s drop the pretence, and fully embrace corporate capitalism. But if we’re going to be a co-operative, then let’s start acting like a co-operative, and stop just playing lip service to the principles. And that means: small stand-alone co-op units, that serve genuinely local communities; and it means democracy in the workplace.&rdquo;   