12 Weeks on strike

[u/Dashartha]

Hi Comrades, My union, SEIU Local 2 has been on strike for 12 weeks to bring our employer, the Armstrong Regional Cooperative, back to the table to finish negotiations over our first contract.

We’d love for you guys to call the general manager and tie up as much of his time as possible. The best way to do that is just to play dumb. It’s a co-op. They love the “we give back to the community” BS while paying substantially under the cost of living. A living wage in the Okanagan/S’milk’min/Revelstoke is, at the absolute lowest, $23.36/hr. Their final offer was 19.00+1%/year over five years.

Please call, as much and as often as possible: 250-546-9438 ext. 202 to ask:

“But I thought coop’s kept money in the community? How do you expect them to survive on $19.00?” “How do you expect them to survive on less than it costs to live?” “But I thought coop values meant that workers are taken care of.” “Are the coop’s employees not paid part of your community?” “Would you be able to subsidize the ARC’s profits by working for $19.00/hour?”

Not asking y’all to be debate bros/sisses/pals on this. Just asking y’all to take up as much of the GM’s special-business-guy-phone-guy time as possible.

Again: 250-546-9438 ext: 202

Thank you in solidarity, Knat

[u/godsbegood]

I'll call. Can you give some more background? What type of co-op is the company, like what is the structure? Is it entirely employee owned? Do you vote for your leadership? How does the union fit in, is this an industry or company union? Hold the line comrade!

[u/Dashartha → u/godsbegood]

The Armstrong Regional Cooperative is part of Federated Cooperatives Limited. It’s a members-owned (customer-owned) coop. $10 dollars buys you a membership and ten shares. Membership (not shares) grants you voting rights for the board of directors at the AGM, and the coop will issue you a dividend cheque every year based on how much you spend at the coop’s businesses. The customers own the coop.

Two years ago, some of the employees who are also coop members tried to use their ownership rights to have our grievances heard at the AGM and were “escorted out” of the zoom meeting, and now we have employee town halls (via Zoom) that are like pizza parties without the pizza.

I’m in BC, where worker-owned coops face a regulatory framework that makes them almost impossible to form.

[u/Hipsthrough100]

I grew up there. There’s so few jobs in the area that can support a person.

Class solidarity!

[u/bobbykid → u/[deleted]]

all your useless employees that get a pay check for doing nothing.

I believe the technical term is "board of directors"