I hear on the grapevine that, at the last Weaver Street Market Co-operative Board Meeting, it was suggested that the Board might want to change WSM's Mission Statement/Ends. Sigh. Do the powers-that-should-not-be in our co-op have absolutely any idea of what co-operation, democracy and owner-control actually mean?
I have written to the Board. If you care to be involved in any process to review the Ends of WSM, I suggest you write to them too - board@weaverstreetmarket.c
"Dear Board,
I do wish a response to this e-mail. I understand, although I was not present, that, at the last Board Meeting (in June?), the subject of the Mission Statement (otherwise known as Ends) of the Weaver Street Market Co-op arose. I hear that the suggestion is that the Board may want to change them.
That Mission Statement was put together after an intensive and extensive exercise undertaken by the owners. It should not be for the Board arbitrarily to seek to change those Ends, simply because they are irritating. They are the owners' guarantee that the Board and management of WSM maintain the vision of the co-op as determined by those ultimately responsible for that vision, namely the owners.
I notice that the new WSM web-site no longer even makes mention of those Ends. Indeed, that web-site is singularly non-reflective of the fact that WSM, as a co-op, and in accordance with the international definition of co-operation, should be democratically controlled by its owners. Not by the Board. And not by management.
If the Board think it an appropriate time to review the Ends, then the proper process is to set up a Board Task Force of Owners, and give that Task Force the authority to recommend any changes. Not for the Board to undertake changes itself.
I wish to hear from the Board that the Ends will immediately be posted on the WSM web-site, and that no change to the Ends will take place unless the process of change is driven by the ownership at large.
Your truly,
Geoff"
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