8/3/2019 Cultivating Cooperation

1/14CNY BUSINESS EXCHANGE | DECEMBER 2011 JANUARY 2012

USHERING IN THE YEAR OF THE COOPERATIVE BY FRANK RAYMOND CETERA

nyone watching the evening news or read-

ing their favorite independent Internet

news source lately must be aware of re-

cent world events showing the strong de-

sire for a move toward a more democratic

society, from Egypt and Tunisia to Wall

Street right here in New York. The vi-

sion proposed is one of economic, social

and environmental equity, which under-

scores the three pillars of green business.

In the business world, there is a common-

ly known but infrequently used tool that

can move our society and economy toward

equilibrium the cooperative. This is ac-

complished through the cooperative

characteristics of being user-owned,

user-controlled and user-beneting.

Cooperatives exist in many variet-

ies, all of which are present in Central

New York. The Syracuse Real Food

Co-op operates as a consumer coop-

erative grocery; Cooperative Federal

and many other credit unions in the

region are cooperatively operated -

nancial institutions; the 377 Buildingon West Onondaga Street in Syracuse

is a housing cooperative; Dairylea is

an agricultural cooperative and Cam-

pus Construction Management is an

employee-owned worker cooperative;

the Village of Solvay Electric Depart-

ment, a utility co-op, is the third-larg-

est public power system in New

York state, with 5,300 customers.

To encourage action on co-

operatives as a major so-

cioeconomic issue, the

United Nations has declared 2012 as the International Year

of the Cooperative. IYC 2012 will draw attention to coop-

eratives as enterprises that contribute to poverty reduc-tion, employment generation and social integration.

Although cooperatives have been around for a long time,

it was not until 1844 when the Rochdale Society of Equita-

ble Pioneers, a consumer cooperative, drafted the Rochdale

Principles that the modern cooperative movement started to

ourish. These principles determine the basis for how coop-

eratives function and provide the foundation for putting co-

operative values into practice, includingvoluntary and open

membership; democratic member control; one member, one

vote; member economic participation; autonomy and in-

dependence; education, training and information; cooper-

ation among cooperatives and concern for community.

Legally in New York state, the cooperative is typical-

ly a form of a corporation registered with the Department

of State. The difference in operating a cooperative ver-

sus a noncooperative is in the bylaws, operating agree-

ments and policies of the corporation. These very important

documents will spell out for the owners important items

such as mission and values, membership, board of direc-

tors conguration, patronage dividends and member meet-

ings from the perspective of a cooperative corporation.

Currently, a few other examples rise to the top internation-

ally as models of successful and innovative cooperatives. The

Mondragon Collective in the Basque region of Spain is per-

haps the most famous. Mondragon is a federation of individ-

ual cooperatives comprising 256 companies, who worked to

create employment based on solidarity in response to the af-

termath of the Spanish Civil War. Begun in 1956, Mondrag-

on now accounts for more than 14,755 million euros in annual

revenue and employs more than 80,000 people. The United

Steelworkers have seen the promise in the Mondragon ap-

proach and have announced plans to partner with the col-

lective to set up manufacturing co-ops in North America.

In Cleveland, Evergreen Cooperatives are a recently launched

set of employee-owned, for-prot companies that focus on lo-

cal development and hiring. Evergreen has received support

from many anchor institutions, such as the Cleveland Foun-

dation, the city of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve Uni-

versity, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals.

Cooperatives hold the promise of a brighter economic, envi-ronmental and social future for Central New York by keeping

resources in local communities and supporting quality values

in business operations. With more than 130 million people un-

dertaking cooperative ownership in the U.S., CNY should seize

the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon, and begin plac-

ing primary importance on decisions that support and devel-

op cooperative businesses and the values they espouse.

Frank Raymond Cetera is a New York state-certifed business adviser

with the Onondaga Small Business Development Center at Onondaga

Community College. He also administers t he Green Core Company

Program, which specializes in helping businesses operate sustainably

through social, economic and environmental considerations.

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