Helen Robinson

Cooperative: SUMA Wholefoods
City: Elland
Country: United Kingdom
Sector: Wholefood wholesaler/distributor
Founded: 1975

The cooperative allows members to have a work-life balance and creates a flexible working environment through training them to work in two or three different areas each week, and frankly, looking after the members who run, own and manage the business themselves

Helen Robinson who works at CECOP, completed a jam packed schedule as a training exercise and experienced a varied work schedule at Suma, a worker’s cooperative based in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.

Helen spent time with different staff members each day to learn about their roles and the workings of one of the most radical and successful worker’s cooperatives. Based in Elland, the Suma premises are close to Rochdale, where the first worker cooperative was created, and Suma plays a part in creating employment in the local and surrounding area. There is a democratic decision making process at Suma works and each member of the Cooperative genuinely has an equal say and value in the workings of Suma, regardless of professional status or position. Suma painstakingly strives to create locally sourced vegetarian and vegan products, which will satisfy strict ecologically and environmentally friendly criteria. The cooperative allows members to have a work-life balance and creates a flexible working environment through training them to work in two or three different areas each week, and frankly, looking after the members who run, own and manage the business themselves. Suma members are accepted into membership in the cooperative through a trial period and an existing member voting process lasting 9 months in total. This allows workers to make an informed decision about accepting their future colleagues and potential future members to undergo thorough training.

Helen took part in and experienced daily duties such as cooking for over 100 hungry Suma employees, delivering products to customers, accounting, a finance committee meeting, buying stock in time for Christmas, managing payments in credit control, looking after customers, branding Suma products and enjoying the cooperative atmosphere and excellent staff meals at Suma.

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What is a cooperative

Cooperatives a sustainable employment solution!

A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.

Enterprises represented by CECOP are enterprises in which workers unite to satisfy their needs in terms of creation of sustainable jobs. They can be industrial enterprises or services rooted in the territories and having a long-term strategy. They are a genuine solution for sustainable jobs in Europe: they are broken down into workers’ cooperatives, social cooperatives and other types of enterprises owned by their workers.

Workers’ cooperatives: Workers’ cooperatives are enterprises subject to the same restrictions of competition, management and profitability as other companies. Their originality lies in the fact that their workers hold the majority of the shares, at least 51%. In doing so, the workers decide jointly on the major guidelines of their enterprises and appoint their leaders (managers, boards of directors, etc.). They also decide on how to share the profit with a twofold aim: to give the preference to the workers of the enterprises, in the form of refunds based on the work done and to consolidate the enterprises with a view to handing it over onto the future generations, i.e. creating reserves to reinforce the equity and ensuring thereby the sustainability of their enterprises. In all cooperatives, the internal democratic control is based on the principle of “one man, one vote” whatever the capital share held by the respective workers. Finally, the cooperative spirit promotes its employees information and training, a prerequisite to develop the autonomy, the motivation and responsibility, accountability required in an economic world which has become insecure. (Source: www.scop.coop)

Social cooperatives: Social cooperatives are specialised in the provision of social services or reintegration of disadvantaged and marginalised workers (disabled, long-term unemployed, former detainees, addicts, etc.). A large number of such cooperatives have been set up in Italy but also in other EU countries. Most of them are owned by their workers while offering the possibility or providing for the obligation (according to the national laws) to involve other types of members (users, voluntary workers, etc.).

Other types of enterprises owned by their workers: There are other types of enterprises owned by their workers such as for example the “Sociedades Laborales” in Spain which are real driving forces of economic and social activities which have contributed to lower the unemployment level and to revamp a sustained growth in Spain.