The revival of the coop movement in the UK
Ed Mayo, secretary general of Co-operatives UK, published this in an editorial in The Guardian:
“Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell has called for public services to be delivered by new co-operatives, in which users and staff will have a say. And last month she announced an independent commission on ownership to develop new proposals on shared ownership.
The Conservatives are preparing to launch their own co-operative society, and there has long been interest in co-operatives and mutuals from the Liberal Democrats and Green party. The Scottish government has established a national Co-operative Development Agency, while the Welsh assembly has launched its own cross-party initiative.
So, is this all a genuine conversion, or just a cynical way to save money?
There are good foundations for a new co-operative heyday. Co-operatives are behind a wide range of everyday products, such as UK milk from United Dairy Farmers to Danish bacon. The majority of Parmesan cheese and fairtrade products are co-operatively produced. And new-start co-operatives, from village shops to renewable energy, are on the rise. Co-operative shops, which were dowdy a decade ago, are fresh, affordable and winning market share. Farmer co-operatives are at the forefront of the local food movement and help to win a better deal for producers. The Co- operative Bank, a pioneer of ethical action, merged with Britannia in 2009 and recently won the Which? award for the best overall deal from a bank.
It used to be argued that giving staff ownership rights distracts from serving customers. In reality, co-operatives at their best seem to work for both. I know from my past work as head of the National Consumer Council just how much John Lewis, which describes itself as the UK’s largest employee co-operative, is loved by its customers.
Co-operatives, of course, are not “business as usual”. The mayhem of markets and the credit crunch has done more to showcase their strengths than anything. As the theme for the UK’s first Co-operative Fortnight, from 19 June to 3 July 2010, proclaims, “there is an alternative”.
Yet co-operatives are not immune to recession and, as businesses, they will fail from time to time. Effective governance, an active membership and good management are key to success.
It is for public services that politicians are now pushing the mutual model. Involving citizens as co-producers of services, from social care to public health, is now widely accepted. That you should do so in a context of financial cuts is inevitably more risky.
The good news is that the political rhetoric is moving from a ceaseless diet of praise for John Wayne-style leaders towards the rediscovery that people can make things work by doing it together. Co-operatives work best where there is a community that comes together. The best models, including the rise of tenant management co-operatives in the 1980s and co-operative schools today, combine opening up the opportunity to develop as a co-operative with a patient and accountable process for supporting those who do.
But we have to be seen as a long-term solution, rather than a quick fix. For if mutual models are imposed as a solution on a sceptical workforce, they will fail.”