Worker-Owner Director Election Hustings - The Redux

I have really agonized over my interaction at the Southern Village Weave election hustings yesterday. I feel frustrated and annoyed. Am trying to work out why. Am trying to move on. Am trying to be positive.

Frankly, I'm sick and tired of managers listening to me and telling me I'm being confrontational. That I hate our co-op. That I have nothing positive to offer.

I love our co-op. I want it to be a better co-op and a stronger business. The people who are being confrontational and negative are the same managers who ignore the co-op policy they don't like. Who ignore workers they don't like. And all the while co-opt the language of co-operation to pretend they support and are implementing its precepts, when in fact they are reading from the Wal-Mart corporation handbook.

Co-operation is not an ownership model. It is a business model. The notion is that we avoid catastrophic cock-ups by ensuring that decision-making made by the few is always accountable to the many.

What has happened, and continues to happen in this co-op, is that a self-appointed few in the WSM corporate office deliberately and methodically set out to denigrate and minimize all possibility of genuine accountability. And the truly clever part is that they regularly employ tactics that look democratic, but aren't.

So, for example, this year, they have completely abandoned the Annual Meeting of Owners. And have replaced it with a Co-op Fair. They have produced truly pretty and enticing literature and rationale, which dances the merry co-op dance. Offers tasty treats and the Food House equivalent of dancing on the lawn. But doesn't permit rigorous questioning of the corporate office as to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be spent in the next year on capital projects that owners have had no hand in approving.

And so it was that, at the hustings yesterday, I suffered the worker-owner equivalent of this dishonest sleight of hand. I listened to a senior manager expounding upon Policy Governance, as if it was supposed to reduce the Board of Directors to nothing more than an advisory group.

There is nothing written about the Policy Governance model which suggests other than that the Board of Directors should be the body producing strategic design for our co-op, and that its design should be implemented by the General Manager, not be subject to his veto.

Of course, the latter suits management, because, notwithstanding their protestations to the contrary, they have absolutely no interest in the co-operative democratic model. That would mean diluting their authority. Which is, of course, the whole point of co-operation and accountability and consensual decision-making. I don't mind management holding that point of view. I just mind their pretending it is the co-operative model. And I mind the fact that, when I call them out on it, they call me confrontational and a hater.

I mind incumbent Worker-Owner Directors wringing their hands and bemoaning their lack of progress on behalf of workers, when we do not see them from one end of their term in office to the other, and when the reason they have achieved nothing is that they do not have the courage to stand up to the General Manager, and to insist that he comply with co-op policy.

I can handle Worker-Owner Directors who think I talk a crock. I have a real problem with Directors who pretend they support worker inclusion in decision-making, but lobby against it the minute no-one but Ruffin Slater is watching. In other words, I can't handle bullshit. I was being served a truck load of it at the hustings yesterday, and I couldn't take it any more.

I wanted to ask the candidates what they would do to ensure that the Board insist that the General Manager begin to comply with co-op policy on including employees in operational decision-making. I wanted to ask the candidates what they would do to comply with the Policy Governance model, and remove the General Manager from the Board. I wanted to ask the candidates what they would do to ensure the reinstatement of the Annual Meeting of Owners. To provide more regular interaction with their worker-owners. Truly to represent their interests. And not merely be a rubber-stamp for WSM management.

But anger and frustration got the better of me. I was about to lose my temper. In the face of bullshit. So, I got up and left. And that has left me even more frustrated.

I hear managers justify their stance on the basis that, whatever may be the democratic precepts of co-operation, they think the WSM corporate office make good decisions, and that they, the managers,  don't want democracy interfering with that.

Even though that is a million miles removed from co-operation, they are entitled to their point of view. And I honor it, because we are a co-op, where democracy is supposed to prevail, and all are equal.

But, on that same basis, we are all equal, we are a democracy. And I say that the decisions being made hurt workers (literally), hurt the co-op, and I am entitled to say that publicly, in any forum, including the workplace (as managers are), without being denigrated, minimized or threatened.

Ah well. I write this rant. I get it off my chest. I enjoy my two days off. I go back to work on Saturday. I re-enter the fray. Continue the advocacy. And suffer the slings and arrows of management saying I'm confrontational and a hater ...

Worker-Owner Director Election Hustings

I may have slightly disgraced myself at the election hustings at the SV Weave today.

I was asking short, well-mannered, low intensity questions about what the candidates intended to do about representing worker interests on the Board of our co-op, which we are regularly reminded is half-owned by its workers.

I got as far as asking the incumbent Worker-Owner Director, who has been on the Board for five years now, is running for re-election and is Chair of the Board (which, um, should carry some weight, somewhere), I got as far as asking him what he had actually done about setting up a Board Task Force to examine worker's issues, a Task Force he was merrily propounding, and the answers became double-speak.

Well, we've discussed it. Did you set it up? Well, no-one suggested it. I did. On several occasions [Manager stands up and leaves, with 'here we go again' expression on his face]. Well, suggest it again.

You've been on the Board for five years. You've done nothing to set up anything like a Task Force. And the best you can offer is, try suggesting it again?

I stood up and said it was time to go. I can take only so much bs from Board Worker-Owner Directors, whom we never see, and who seem to believe that telling us what they haven't done every two years is representing us.

I told the incumbent that. Wished his opponent well. Told the incumbent I would not be voting for someone who has done nothing for workers in five years. And left.

I will be voting for Caitlin Moira Williams. And I'm cluttering up her FB Wall again, to let her and her friends know this. We need genuine conversation in our co-op. And someone on the Board who will not let the General Manager prevent such meaningful conversation.

Now, I'm going to go have a nap and calm down.

US Labor Day 2015

Today is US Labor Day. And I'm working. And I'm not being paid time-and-a-half. And I work in a co-op. Anyone else think those four sentences shouldn't be in the same post ... ?? 
 

Maggie's Hammer: Who Was Hugh Simmonds CBE?

Too complex to transfer the whole post to this blog. Read my Facebook post.

Maggie's Hammer - My Tuppence Worth

Ok. So I've done a whole bunch of radio interviews in support of the book release. More on offer this week.

But one question keeps bugging me: "So, if this 'adventure,' this 'quest' has been so dangerous (which it has, on and off), why did you keep going?"

Well, I've responded with all the cute, buy my book please, answers that I can. But none have sat very well.

So, the universe sent me a nudge. In the form of a seven year old girl, chanting 'chim, chimney, chim, chimney.'

My mind was suddenly a-flood with Mary Poppins. And then Peter Pan. Scenes of Old London Town. Mixing with the picture I paint in my book of a City now corrupted by worse pollution than the soot of old.

And through it all, I remember the scene of the Father walking his lonely walk to the authorities of his Bank. To face the music on his own.

For why? Well, after he did his dithering stupid man thing. Of trying to get his son to part with his money. When his son wanted only to give it to the lady feeding the pigeons. In one of the most powerful cinema moments I can recall. Basically, after Dad had been the Dick (sorry about the pun). He stood by his son. Because that is what Fathers do. They protect.

Not sure why this conflates with Peter Pan. But somehow, it does. I mean, c'mon, this is the same mind that gives you Pop Voxx. Give me a break. Anyway. Suddenly, I got it.

The day my friend Hugh died, I had to hold the hands of his eleven year old daughter, and tell her that everything would be alright, when all she wanted to know was why her Father was dead.

Why on earth would I ever stop? Time? Danger? A baseball game? What? A father protects. Her father was dead. The father of her sister and brother was dead. Who else was going to protect them? Find out the truth? No-one else stepped forward. They all ran away.

So. No more cute answers. Just a rather boring one. I didn't stop because we haven't yet reached the end. We don't yet have a full answer. So, why on earth would I stop?

The book isn't an end. It isn't closure. It is merely the next step in finding the truth.

As for future radio interviews, I'll keep the cute answers for the question: "Who do you want to have play you in the movie version ... ??"

Maggie's Hammer - Week One

Bloody hell! What a week!! The book finally released. Five radio interviews, in both the UK and the US. I had 600 and some hits on my web-site (maggieshammer.com) just today. 1,118 plays of the UK interview, on The Richie Allen Show (and Richie is a hoot!). My General Ranking on Amazon UK has gone from #3,500,000 (ish) to #4,800. And in its special category, from #12,000 to #31. In the US, my Amazon General Ranking has gone from #4,800,000 to #31,000. And in its special category there, from #180,000 to #791.

I am delighted for my publisher, RA Kris Millegan. He placed enormous faith in me, sight unseen. His primary concern was that he believed my book and its subject matter should be in front of a wide audience. But I'm hoping he'll make a little money for his trouble, too.

For me, I don't care about the money. What I do care is that, finally, after 27 years, some justice may be on the way for Hugh's families. If enough folks buy the book, I may be able to fund a year or two more of tracking down the final leads. If enough people read the book, maybe someone out there will realize they know more about this than I do, and can help bring closure. Finally, if we all use the book as a roadmap as to how to tackle those who abuse the authority we give them, then maybe we can become an army of activists who take back control of our lives.

There is no way I can thank all of you who have taken the time to read about my cause. Whether on my site or by ordering a copy of the book. But I thank you here, from the bottom of my heart.

As for the picture attached. It's like I said in all the interviews so far. I take the subjects for which I advocate very seriously. But the only way I manage to retain my sanity is by being able to chuckle at myself. Regularly.

Bank Interest, New Stores and Workers

Well, I know I'm baying at the moon. But so what? Someone needs to bear witness.

At our Southern Village WSM store annual employee meeting a couple of weeks ago, in answer to my question, why are managers not complying with WSM co-op policy that demands that employees be involved in decision-making that affects them, we were told, bluntly, that we did not have the applicable skills to be involved in such decision-making. Rather, there were folks in our corporate office who had the necessary talents to make those decisions for us.

Those talented folks would be the same ones who, in 2008, put our co-op $10 million in debt to finance the Hillsborough store and the Food House. Who did so without asking owners, consumers or workers if they could do so. A debt which still stands at $5,459,112. And which cost us $1,363,031 in bank interest and depreciation this past financial year.

There is not a penny of this annual bank interest and depreciation charge which stays in our community. So, when you are told how much good our co-op does with the millions it keeps within our communities, please remember the millions of dollars that get sent out of our communities, to fat cat bankers, because of decisions made by our talented corporate office, without our inclusion, contrary to co-op policy.

This is precisely why the policy exists. We do not defeat the anti-social antics of corporate capitalism by marching on Wall Street. Or even by voting for Bernie Sanders. We do it at the local level. By ensuring that our very own co-op does not ape those antics. By demanding that it complies with its own co-op policy. So that we workers, the ones who sweat blood to raise that extra funding for bankers, we workers act as a brake on dumb, corporatist decisions made by those in our corporate office.

Is this really all that relevant? Yes. Why? Because we are about to go there, all over again. The WSM corporate office wants to build three new stores over the next six years. Without so much as holding a vote among the owners, consumers or workers of The Weave. Um. Are we truly going to stand by and let this happen all over again?

Worker-Owner Board Director Election 2015

For what it is worth, I will be voting for Caitlin Moira Williams in the upcoming election for a Worker-Owner Board Director of Weaver Street Market Co-operative.

We have exchanged. She wants dialogue in our co-op. I've been looking for meaningful dialogue since I first became active in WSM 'politics' in 2007. And I find her commentary more compelling than the other two candidates.

Now, I do say, for what it is worth. I fully realize that my support is the kiss of death among the 40 or so managers in our co-op.

But folks, thanks to the campaign I waged since 2007, which led to it becoming easier to become a worker-owner, some 220 of the 250 workers in our co-op are now worker-owners.

Ordinary workers more than overwhelm managers in this election. So, please do not sit on the sidelines.

Vote for a candidate who comes from somewhere other than the corporate office, and who will truly represent shopfloor workers, because she is one of us.

Please take especial note. Voting begins on September 16. BUT. The voting period lasts only two weeks. So, don't get caught out!

Maggie's Hammer: The First Interviews

And so it begins. The radio interview campaign across the nation. To market Maggie's Hammer. The book is finally due for formal release at the end of August. I received a few first editions this past week. I equipped a corner of the warehouse that passes for my apartment as a Skype/Phone/TV studio. LED lights, headsets, desk, chair, backdrop, the whole works. And conducted my first two interviews on Thursday. Reaching 20 radio stations in the US and Canada, and a potential listening public of 4 million. Hmm. Hope it's worth the Ferrari ...

The Book and Wal-de-Mart ...

Tears of joy. Tears. Of. Joy. As of yesterday, you can buy The Book at ... wait for it ... Wal-de-Mart. I know. Ptoeey, ptooey, spit. Get over it. The more important point is this. Now, when you are buying Trump's autobiography. Or the latest Duck Dynasty calendar. You can buy The Book. Do you think they will arrange for me to do a book signing with Jessica Simpson ... ??

WeaveBusters ...

You had to be at the Southern Village Annual Employee Store Meeting to get it ...

Bernie Sanders, Corporations, Co-operative Democracy

After the Annual Employee Store Meeting in the Southern Village outlet of Weaver Street Market Co-operative last evening, I was going rather pompously to title this post: The Loss of Co-operative Democracy. But I found an even more sweeping and pompous subject heading.

And so. Last evening, finally, I was able to address my peers on the co-op policy that demands that all workers be included in decision-making within our co-op. Even better, I got a response from the gathered management team at SV:

1) We mere minions probably do not have the capacity to understand complicated figures. Best to leave that to the experts. A variation on, don't you worry your pretty little heads, we've got this. Um. Has anyone recently done a headcount on the number of employees in SV with college degrees, and/or who have run their own businesses?

2) To allow 250 people to be involved in making important decisions would be chaos. No. It wouldn't.

The starting point for my advocacy on this very clear policy (which, by the way, not one person denied does actually exist, and I attach once more, to remind you) was that we needed to expand on the raw policy by now designing a system for implementing it, so that the policy would not bring day-to-day operations to a grinding halt.

But leaving that obvious 'duh' to one side, the whole point of spreading responsibility for major decisions is to act as an antidote to the clusterfuck that results when just a few corporatists, in a small room, behind a combination lock (our corporate office in Hillsborough), make decisions without reference to all those affected by their decisions. Which antidote is called 'economic democracy.'

Clusterfuck decisions like the ones that led to the $10 million debt incurred by WSM senior management in 2008, as a result of the failed expansion program in that year, which debt we are still paying off (costing us $500,000 a year in interest and depreciation - do you notice how this minion actually knows how to spell those words, and use them in a complete sentence?).
 
Which mistake we may be about to repeat with the new plans to build three new stores. Not least because the decisions will be taken by just a few members of senior management, blah, blah, cf. combination lock, $10 million debt, loss of co-operative democracy ...

3) We are a worker-consumer co-op. Consumers must have their say as well as workers. True. And they do. But, as has been recognized throughout the existence of WSM, workers get a smidgeon more of a say, since we are the ones on the ground. This approach is why the dividend is split exactly 50:50 between workers (250) and consumers (18,000), to the obvious financial advantage of WSM employees.

On which point. Consumers? Please note, your Annual Meeting, one of the few times you get to answer pointed questions of your senior management, is this year going to be reduced to a guided tour of the WSM Food House, and a couple of our new sandwiches. For which tour, you will have to buy a ticket. Yes, you will have to pay to ask senior management questions.

Meanwhile, I did notice that, for the very first time in the ten years I have been with WSM, there were no senior officers from the WSM corporate office at our meeting last evening. We were talking to ourselves.

This is how, by stages, hiccups and sneezes, year on year, co-operative democracy is reduced to a pizza evening and a raffle.

And the worst part? No-one gives a shit.

People, it is no good writing self-serving, pompous rants about ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, the evils of hegemonic corporations, and the lurking slavery of global economic fascism, if we can't be bothered to raise our hand in our own co-op, because we'd rather be getting drunk at a Peggy and The Fishtails concert.

Economic democracy begins at the immediate, intimate level. Generals do not get where they are without the willing compliance, ignorance or silence of the foot-soldiers.

But I digress.

Back at our Store Meeting, I ended my seemingly pointless monologue by emphasizing that democratization of decision-making is truly the best way to increase sales - the latter being the purported theme of the evening.

Consumers buy more when they are happy. They are happy when employees are happy. And, leaving aside giving each employee a Ferrari, workers are happy when they are empowered by being included in the decision-making that affects how they perform.

And that, my friends, is almost that. There is a better way. In our co-op. In the corporatist world. One where we do not leave decision-making to just a few. Where we spread the burden to a wider knowledge base, to those who will be implementing the decisions, so that they, we feel invested in the outcome.

That is how we create a co-op we want to work at. That is how we create a new economic democracy. One that makes a profit. Pays the dividend. And is a joyous, happy place to be and work. I leave you with this taste of what an authentic worker co-op could look like ...

... but, with this admonition: you gotta put your hand up ...