Throughout the month of April, GreenStar Cooperative Market will be holding elections for Council members. The Tompkins County Green Party sent out questionnaires to the candidates and we have posted their answers here for everyone. Please read what they have to say, and take some time this Saturday, April 14 to meet them at GreenStar between 2 and 4 pm.
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
(This article contains responses from Jennifer Dotson and Kristen Grace.)
Jennifer Dotson
1. Do you favor delegating increased authority to paid management, or do you favor retaining or expanding Council guidance?
I would like Council to retain its guidance and ultimate authority over operations, and I'd like to see it actively use more of the powers it currently has.
I am particularly concerned that Council is considering the transfer of Personnel Policy authority to paid management. Council has stated its intent as to "direct the cooperative through the careful articulation of the agreed upon organizational values and perspectives in the form of policies." (Statement of Intent for Council Governing Style, 2/27/96) Our original bylaws stipulate that authority to enact Personnel Policies is part of Council's role, and I see no reason to delegate writing of these important policies.
(I appreciate the diligent attention Dan Hoffman has paid to retaining Council's authority over the time he's served on Council.)
2. Do you believe Council should retain final approval of GreenStar's budget, or this authority should transfer to paid management?
I definitely think Council should retain final approval of GreenStar's budget. Staff puts a lot of effort into preparing the numbers and interpreting Council's intentions for our annual budget, and I appreciate their work. I also appreciate the monitoring processes for financial goals for GreenStar. Take a look in the member center for Patrice's monthly quarterly reports sometime. (They're included in Council minutes.) You'll get a great picture of GreenStar financially and find out what Patrice deals with, operationally, on a monthly basis.
3. Do you welcome the membership's right of direct referendum (requiring 50 signatures on a petition), or do you favor diluting referenda (requiring 100 signatures) or abolishing them?
Horrible and embarrasing as it is to realize, part of my answer to question 3 is simply wrong. The wording excluding "any motion, the implementation of which would be inconsistent with these Bylaws or would be legally or financially irresponsible" is already part of the Bylaws. I still am concerned about how this check on referenda is implemented, but adding this wording isn't part of the current proposal; it's simply being moved as part of a minor reorganization of this section of the bylaws. The reason I'm concerned about this issue is that Council has shown in recent months a tendency toward centralization of authority in GreenStar's governance, and I am feeling especially protective of broad input into decisions.
I would like to see a governance system at GreenStar which uses frequent (partial or full) member surveys in the crafting of new or amended policies such that the membership is rarely far enough from the policy-making loop to need referenda. (For instance, I'd like to see more member seats on Council committees, and if necessary, more committees or subcommittees created to provide a forum for member activity in GreenStar governance. Also, I'd like to see us use technology to either alert members to surveys they might be interested in, or to actually conduct those surveys.) However, GreenStar's members are and will continue to be active enough in other pursuits that policies which outrage a portion of the membership are certain to be enacted without their input, so referenda are necessary. There is currently a proposal in the Governance committee to change the bylaws dealing with referenda. I am actually more concerned about wording in this proposal which excludes referenda questions dealing with "any motion, the implementation of which would be inconsistent with these Bylaws or would be legally or financially irresponsible" than I am about the raising of the petition signature requirement. I'm concerned because I fear this will give Council (or perhaps relevant management) an "out" to refuse to run a referendum which they feel is irresponsible. (I can see problematic referenda addressing one half of a give and take situation, or even ones written from lack of knowledge of GreenStar's actual policies which are unimplementable. However, I think this wording gives Council too much power in this area of power balance between Council and membership.) The proposal also effectively raises the number of required signatures on a petition for a referendum from 40 to 5% of the total membership (current membership ~4500; 5% is now ~225). I have no problem with tying the petition signature requirement to total membership; I do think that 225 is too high. This proposal also limits the time of signature gathering, which I think is a good idea, but the current wording, three months, is too short. A time limit encourages a member or group of members to thoroughly publicize their referendum question, and thereby encouraging member awareness of issues. However, I think six months is a more reasonable time frame.
When I saw this proposal first, in the Governance Committee, I was much less aware of membership involvement as an area of GreenStar's governance that I would like to support and increase; I saw the difference between my vision of GreenStar and its current form as a disagreement over the priority of profit-making. Now that I have spent some time directly involved in GreenStar's governance, I see these two issues as integrally interrelated. I think that paid management is tempted by grocery industry models to regard profit as their ultimate goal, and I think the membership, through Council, is currently charged with providing means to remind them of our other equally important goals.* The staff which GreenStar hires will necessarily be strong in some areas and less strong in others (individually and as a group). It's Council's role to make sure there are appropriately strong policies and monitoring in place to make sure they are fulfilling all of the tenets of the mission statement. Currently, I think the GM and the staff, especially the management, she has hired are doing a beautiful job running a fiscally responsible natural foods market. Council needs to do a better job, through clear, complete policies, encouraging her (and to encouraging her to encourage them) to pursue our other mission statement goals more aggressively.
* Of course, membership has the option to not care about these other goals; in this case, we should change our mission statement and bylaws. This is one problem in GreenStar's governance practice right now: member apathy. Council can make, or direct the GM to make, more opportunities for the membership to be involved in store operation and in governance, but if GreenStar comes to rely on this member involvement, and members don't fill the available "slots," we have a problem. It can (and perhaps has) become a "chicken-and-egg" problem: members get used to not being involved, and are then less likely to want to be involved, and so we have less ability to rely on member involvement. Or is it that we opted, after the Fire, to rely less on member involvement and therefore members have become less likely to be involved, and used to not being involved? Either way, we do have a real segment of our membership that is not interested in becoming more involved. Some of them have real concerns about GreenStar's operations and governance. I don't know what the solution to this is, but I'm very open to ideas.
4. How is GreenStar different from other supermarkets in the area? How has GreenStar changed in the last five years? How do you feel about these changes?
GreenStar's major difference is that it is a co-op, rather than a standard corporation.
(The next paragraph I lifted directly from my candidate statement; it answers the first part of this question.)
The major difference between GreenStar, as a co-op, and a supermarket, as a corporation, is GreenStar's responsiveness to member-owners vs. a supermarket's responsibility to shareholders. GreenStar's local member-owners use their varied priorities (ecological responsibility, support for the local economy, fiscal responsibility, creation of a fair workplace, etc.) to guide GreenStar's leadership, while shareholders guide corporations almost always with the sole criteria of profit. The stated priorities of GreenStar's member-owners are reflected in GreenStar's mission statement. Council's role is to ensure our mission statement is reflected in the current operations of the store.
Honestly, I haven't done enough research and interviewing of members to know exactly what GreenStar was like five years ago. From the varying perspectives I've had since I arrived in Ithaca in September 1998, I haven't seen GreenStar change significantly in its priorities since I arrived. We did install the point-of-sale system and the deli, both of which are visible changes which I would argue follow from the fairly consistent priorities of Council and management, not symbols of a change of direction.
What I did notice when I first walked into GreenStar, and what I continue to notice today, is that GreenStar is more focused on profit and less focused on the other goals in the mission statement. We are in great financial shape, but I argue if we had a "balance sheet" for our other priorities, we would find ourselves "in the red." (Paul Houle has some great ideas about quantitatively tracking our progress toward these other goals.)
I am confused about what GreenStar's membership wants in their store. What I see in membership surveys does not match what I hear when I talk directly to members. This could be because (1) my friends aren't representative of the membership as a whole, (2) membership survey questions are phrased so differently from the questions I ask my friends that different answers come out. Also, membership involvement in GreenStar's operations, especially governance, is so low that the obvious assumption is that membership thinks all is fine.
My experience in Council, short as it has been, has shown me that over the last five years, there has been a strong tide toward centralizing authority, and this I am concerned about and would like to reverse. Broader responsibility does mean more work, but I think this sharing of accountability and sharing of views is what makes us really manifest the cooperative ideals.
5. What do you think ought to be the purpose of the member labor program at GreenStar? What mechanism(s) would you propose for ensuring that the program achieves that purpose?
Member labor, our mission statement says, should provide a "significant and valued" portion of GreenStar's operating labor. Without knowing exactly why we included this in our mission statement, my best guess is that we wanted to encourage a strong sense of ownership in members. A membership involved in the workings of the cooperative (operations or governance) is more informed and cares more about the workings of their organization, thus strongly encouraging a democratic governance process. A secondary reason is that using a lot of member labor means that the store necessarily reflects the diversity of the membership more directly. (This includes all kinds of diversity: racial, cultural, political, class, views on co-op issues, hairstyle, everything.) Also, a store staffed by a large pool of member-workers is likely to be more welcoming than a store staffed by a smaller pool of paid staff. True, it is easier to train a smaller group of people to provide excellent customer service than it is to train a large pool of member-workers, but it is also more likely that a small pool of paid staff will feel or be perceived as separate from the membership as a whole. Using member labor as a large percentage of total labor also could lower overhead costs and allow us to keep prices lower. Looking at current reasons for a member labor program, one that stands out is simply that members want it. Members frequently comment that they would like to work in the store, but that there is no slot that works for them.
The drawback to using a lot of member labor to run our co-op is that our power as a fair employer is limited because we employ fewer people. This is a very real, debatable issue that we shouldn't overlook. However, one view of the argument is that, right now at least, we aren't providing fair employment to many Level I staff (livable wage being one prominent issue) and using members to provide the labor Level I staff now provides would be fairer to our community as a whole. (The transition would be extremely challenging, though.) Just an idea; not completely formed.
On to the current picture: In the fourth quarter of 2000, about 11% of GreenStar's labor (measured in hours) was provided by member-workers. I would like to see this percentage go up, but I'm not sure how best to do this. Members do comment that it is hard to find a slot which fits their schedule. Perhaps we need to add more slots at popular times. Better yet, let's survey current member-workers (about 237 of them in the fourth quarter of 2000) to get their perspective on what works and doesn't work in our current member labor program.
6. Are you concerned that GreenStar may lose member loyalty by following an increasingly corporate model, becoming a junior Wegman's?
Yes, quite. GreenStar has already lost member loyalty because of this. The most common response I hear from members when I discuss GreenStar issues is "I've given up." Many members feel that they have little to no impact on the way GreenStar is run, so they simply feel thankful that they can still get their candied ginger and then continue on with their lives, completely and happily ignorant of current GreenStar issues. I think one of the basic roots of this is that GreenStar has put profit above its other principles, and we need to remedy this.
7. By what process and at what pace would you recommend implementation of the livable wage (as defined by AFCU) at GreenStar?
Directly and quickly. I think that this should be our project number one. A proposal has already been presented to Council, and it was received with unanimous support. The only concern was from where in the budget will we take the money to do this. I think that we should prioritize this above nearly all other improvements to GreenStar. I think it would be appropriate to give upper-level staff smaller raises in order to pay all staff a livable wage. I was dismayed to realize that a restructuring of upper-level staff salaries, giving nearly all managers substantial raises, was implemented ahead of living wage for all staff. This is not to say that I think upper-level staff don't deserve to be paid a comparable amount to their colleagues at other co-ops. It's just that I think it would have been a better use of those funds to pay all our staff a living wage, and then turn our attention to comparable wages for higher level staff.
8. Do you favor a superworker shift to research and educate members about the ecological and labor impacts of our products and packaging?
Great idea. Council currently is not in a position to implement specific actions like this; it would be something the GM could institute, or suggest to the appropriate area manager (perhaps the Membership and Marketing Manager?).
I think often the department managers have so many other things to think about that they simply don't have time to do this kind of research thoroughly, and using superworker time to do this, storewide, would be a good division of labor. Such a superworker would probably also get quite skilled at researching these issues, and could be very valuable to GreenStar.
After I gave him the above answer to this question, Paul Glover made the observation that he thought this "was a core issue this slate is raising; that Council regains authority to direct GM to implement its directives."
Here's my response to his comment:
I think a more productive direction to go with the goal of broadening authority and accountability is for Council to more consistently, effectively, and specifically monitor fulfillment of store performance and store goals. We need to give the GM policies and monitoring tools which are specific enough to accomplish GreenStar's goals as the membership, represented by Council, sees them. General communication and suggestions should flow freely and be welcomed among all parts of GreenStar (staff, GM, Council, committees, and membership), but I don't think it should be necessary for Council to tell the GM exactly what to do.
The principle that an extra set of eyes usually makes for a more rounded assessment is one which I would like to see more supported on Council, and in GreenStar's governance and operations in general. One of the issues which has been debated frequently in Council meetings is the amount and style of monitoring which Council would like to require of the GM. I think that having monitoring done by someone other than the GM is crucial. Certain projects or areas can get by with monitoring by GM report; things for which straight data is all that is required (budget, for instance). But most aspects of most projects the GM is charged with don't have such clear quantitative results, and outside monitoring is clearly useful in assessing them.
9. Within two years, NYSEG's current PSC contract will expire and electric rates are expected to rise dramatically as in California. How will you prepare GreenStar to absorb the increased overhead and the decreased employment and spending power of member-owners?
I'll first off admit I really don't have a plan for this. To prepare ourselves for this possibility, and to pay mind to our ecological and cooperative goals, I do have a few ideas.
First, I'd like to see GreenStar use as little electricity as necessary to run our store, and thereby reduce any impact of electric rates rising. This, however, I don't expect to seriously impact GreenStar's electric use within the next two years. I would support and encourage staff to invest capital funds in energy efficiency measures, though.
Also, we may want to look into the investment and return on generating some of our own electricity, for instance through solar panels, like the new library, or even windmills. One avenue to explore is an energy co-op, which would give us perhaps the lowest available electric cost, and support our mission of cooperating with other co-ops. EnergyPlus is a local energy co-op which is currently not ready to begin delivering electricity, but perhaps GreenStar's strong support now will help it do so sooner. How GreenStar might act to prepare ourselves for significantly higher electric cost is a great topic for a member report to Council, the GM, and the Physical Plant Manager.
A short note:
My answers above are my opinions. I'm open to discussion on them. GreenStar should be guided by the feelings of its membership, which should be accurately codified in the mission statement, and the bylaws, and with Council's guidance, in the policies and tasks with which Council charges the General Manager. I'm not sure this is actually happening now, but I also know that my opinions don't, can't possibly, speak for the membership as a whole.
I also realize that we are a cooperative with a membership of over 4500 which currently runs a large store with several dozen employees and a budget of over $5 million dollars. Whenever an organization as large as ours implements anything but very small change, there is bound to be compromise along the way in the interest of organizational continuity, since drastic, sudden change can often be enough of a shock to break an organization apart. This is not what I want for GreenStar, and so I am open to discussion and compromise in the actual implementation. And so I point out again that what I express above are mostly ideas, not fully formed proposals.
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Kristen Grace
1. Do you favor delegating increased authority to paid management, or do you favor retaining or expanding Council guidance?
I favor a model in which the Council sets the vision for the operations of the store and grounds that vision within GreenStar's mission and bylaws. Council has great responsibility in setting policies that reflect the values of the cooperative and in making sure that those policies, and any more specific goals or targets, are met. Council also hires and supervises a General Manager who can carry out the values and keep a six-million dollar business with 80 employees afloat. Council's guidance regarding articulation of the values needs to be enhanced--there is too much confusion over which policies exist and how we know whether we are living out our values. Council also needs to be clearer about what counts as "operational" or day-to-day matters relegated to staff.
2. Do you believe Council should retain final approval of GreenStar's budget, or this authority should transfer to paid management?
Council needs to determine what counts as a healthy budget for our not-for-profit cooperative. Council has to rely on Management to provide information on what is feasible, but Council sets targets and monitors whether they are met.
3. Do you welcome the membership's right of direct referendum (requiring 50 signatures on a petition), or do you favor diluting referenda (requiring 100 signatures) or abolishing them?
Member referenda provide an important way of hearing from members and the opportunity for direct referenda on issues put forward by members should be preserved. Council has talked about the amount of time and money it takes to have a referendum on an issue. Currently I believe the minimum number of signatures to initiate a referendum is 40, or less than 1/100th of the members. I am open to the idea of considering what is an appropriate threshold before launching a referendum. Another consideration might be to hold referenda at certain times of the year when mailings are going out already to members. In any event, council doesn't have the power to change the requirements for initiating a referendum. Only members can make a change to the bylaws and a 2/3 majority would be required to pass.
4. How is GreenStar different from other supermarkets in the area? How has GreenStar changed in the last five years? How do you feel about these changes?
More than other grocery stores, GreenStar is of, by, and for the community. GreenStar has a commitment to Ithaca. There is a preference for local foods, for organic products, for things produced by cooperatives, and an emphasis on ecological sustainability and positive working conditions. GreenStar also encourages a sense of community within its membership and at the store. Less visibly, GreenStar has become active in the co-op movement regionally and nationally; GS has also made efforts to make the choice of working at the co-op more viable with the development of retirement accounts and movement towards a livable wage.
Over the past five years, GreenStar has grown in membership, product line, and retail space. Personally, I have some mixed feelings when I see space allocated for items that I would not like to have such prominence (gifts/cosmetics) or when I see the rise in more expensive items. At the same time, I realize that the higher mark-up on these items allows us to continue to offer our "basic basket" food prices. And, like other members, I have benefited from the gifts and deli as I want to get something special for a friend out of town or grab a quick bite. As a council member, my personal feelings are important, but member voices and actions (like the strong preference for a deli which we added) also shape decision-making.
As I look at GreenStar's future, I think we need to remember that our priority is our community. If we end up moving to or building a new store, I think that the store should reflect the values of the GreenStar community--with prominence given to bulk & organic produce, and member education.
5. What do you think ought to be the purpose of the member labor program at GreenStar? What mechanism(s) would you propose for ensuring that the program achieves that purpose?
The member labor program has many purposes. It is a way for members to become more connected with GreenStar and in doing so, lower their shopping bill as well as the overhead for everyone. Although member labor is not technically inherent in the nature of a cooperative, it can be its life-blood.
I am delighted that GreenStar has expanded its superworker slots and that member labor discounts are no longer a budget concern that must be controlled. Nonetheless, I think that we can do more with the member labor program. Council needs to set goals for member labor and promote enhanced staff training in incorporating member labor. We have begun to collect baseline information on the program, because what you measure says a lot about what you value.
6. Are you concerned that GreenStar may lose member loyalty by following an increasingly corporate model, becoming a junior Wegman's?
As GreenStar approaches decisions related to expansion, I am concerned about choices that we may face regarding location, the size and emphasis of the store as these decisions convey values. GreenStar is affected by how it is perceived. I see GreenStar having a role as a model business within the city. Unlike upscale chains which aim to attract a certain clientele and maximize profit, GreenStar lives up to its values when it serves the entire community. Unlike privately-owned or publicly-traded chains which send their profits elsewhere, GreenStar is committed to the local economy. Given its many values, GreenStar needs to meet multiple bottom lines.
7. By what process and at what pace would you recommend implementation of the livable wage (as defined by AFCU) at GreenStar?
GreenStar is currently looking at adopting a livable wage program. Council is wholeheartedly behind this commitment. I hope to see the livable wage implemented soon along with a review of the comparable wage rates for other employees. The process of having Council express an interest in offering a living wage, asking Management to present one or more plans regarding how we can move to a living wage, and adopting a course of action this year seems right to me.
8. Do you favor a superworker shift to research and educate members about the ecological and labor impacts of our products and packaging?
This is an interesting proposal. I think GreenStar could do a better job about educating members about products and a superworker could work with the Marketing Manager and/or other GreenStar staff on this project. As Council works on a "policy register" for GreenStar, we will have a place in which all of our policies are listed along with our means for assessing our policies. In the process of articulating its values through measurable policies, Council will decide how it intends to assess our commitment to ecological responsibility and education. I would like to see the monitoring reports be made available for members who want to see how we are living out our values.
9. Within two years, NYSEG's current PSC contract will expire and electric rates are expected to rise dramatically as in California. How will you prepare GreenStar to absorb the increased overhead and the decreased employment and spending power of member-owners?
This question is a good Council-level problem, but not one that I was aware of beforehand, in part because of the differences between the two states. It is Council's job to look at such big-picture/long-range issues. If the economy worsens in general, this could also be a problem. I am in favor of GreenStar studying no-frills alternatives like buying clubs. Council needs to make sure that the General Manager (its only employee) has a well-trained and knowledgeable staff and that they are flexible to meet changes as they come. Council also needs to make sure that our expectations when setting goals for the budget are reasonable and responsible. On a related note, GreenStar is an organizing partner of EnergyPlus Cooperative, which is working to generate sufficient interest to form a regional cooperative for purchasing and distributing energy to its members.
I look forward to meeting and talking with people at the two "meet the candidate" events at the store and at the Annual Meeting when we are looking to share and elicit hopes, fears, and dreams about expansion possibilities.
Make your voice heard!
