The Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives’ 2024 Top Co-op Issues Survey Report contained many of the same issues from years past in the top spots, with lack of awareness once again in the lead. Further down the list, however, was a newer issue, one that while not cited by as many people, has implications for both worker co-ops and the co-operative movement as a whole: the evolving role of federations. The report states that “the complexity of business along with increasing costs is forcing co-ops to rethink how to best invest in federations and what roles federations should, in turn, play.”
Such a finding isn’t wholly surprising. Small businesses, including most worker co-ops, are currently facing a variety of challenges that force them to question every expense, and federation membership fees aren’t spared from this scrutiny. At the same time, co-operation among co-operatives is a co-operative principle, and while not the only way it manifests, belonging to a co-operative federation is surely one way of living this out. Marty Frost, a member of worker co-op CoActive Developments and a cofounder of CWCF, believes in the importance of co-op federations, while also recognizing that the benefits they offer can be intangible.
“I think that there is a value,” he says. “And I think our challenge is always to put that out in a way that people will recognize as value, because so many people in worker co-ops, particularly in the smaller worker co-ops, which is what the bulk of our membership is made up of, they’re challenged every day just to keep their businesses going.”
Read the rest at Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation
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