Coop Shows Operating Loss, New Squad Created, Demographic
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OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE PARK SLOPE FOOD COOP Established 1973 Volume II, Number 21 October 16, 2014 GM Report: Coop Shows Operating The Eden Foods Boycott: Loss, New Squad Created, When Food, Health, Religion, and Politics Mix Demographic Study Put Off By Alison Rose Levy But a company’s political n August 26, 2014, the leanings aren’t always easy OCoop General Meeting to discern. Eden Foods, for discussed the proposal to example, markets itself as participate in a nationwide a progressive company, so boycott of Eden Foods, a long many health food fans were time food producer that pro- surprised to learn that it had vides the Coop seventy prod- joined Hobby Lobby.” ucts. In alliance with the June In response, San Fran- 2014 Hobby Lobby ruling by cisco’s 40-year-old Other the U.S. Supreme Court, the Avenues Coop has removed natural food company sought all Eden Foods. Seattle’s to exclude its employees Central Coop removed 80% from health care coverage for of Eden Foods from their abortion and contraception, shelves. Fifty-seven per- provisions in the Affordable cent of shoppers at Madi- Care Act that don’t accord son, Wisconsin’s Willy Street with the Eden CEO Michael stores voted to remove Eden Potter’s religious beliefs. products. North Carolina’s ILLUSTRATION BY DEBORAH TINT Eden Foods, a pioneering Weaver Market has dropped healthy foods company, in many Eden Foods. Philadel- By Thomas Matthews increased more than sales cent of members with 5 years business since 1969, has long phia’s Weaver’s Way Market he Sept. 30 General Meet- (meaning we made less or less, and 13 percent with 15 championed organic foods is still on the fence. Ting of the Park Slope Food “profit”) with the result that years or more. as well as GMO labeling. Pot- Even though Eden began Coop was largely devoted to the Coop showed an oper- “Most members don’t use ter is a devout Catholic who as a coop, its attempts to con- two proposals, both of which ating loss of $221,551 for the the Web site regularly,” Gal- holds strong views. trol employees health care asked the membership for 32 weeks prior to Sept. 14, lops reported. Eleven percent Notes Bill Moyers, “At a “has fallen short of our coop- permission to study topics of as opposed to an operating never do, and 41 percent visit time of unprecedented polit- erative values,” writes Kirs- interest to the community. profit of $148,630 for the pre- the site a few times per year. ical polarization… ordinary tin Moore, director of Willy One passed overwhelming- vious year. “We may lose a Most visits are to research citizens have to be aware of Street in an open letter to ly, the other was tabled for bit of money this year,” Mike general information (hours, the politics of the compa- Potter. “Please stop allowing future consideration. acknowledged. for example, or produce nies they patronize—some personal values to get in the The meeting, chaired by IT Coordinator Matt Klei- prices) and for issues con- of the dollars they spend way of the common ground Carl Arnold, was called to man and website redesign cerning members’ shifts. will end up influencing pol- you share with your diverse order right on time. No one team member Mark Gallops Almost 1,100 members iticians whose values may array of customers and help offered remarks during the presented results from the offered suggestions on how to not reflect their own. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Open Forum, so we moved Coop’s Web site survey, which improve the site. The leading swiftly into the Coordinator solicited member feedback request was for improvements Next General Meeting on October 28 and Committee Reports. on how they used the site in the shift swap process The General Meeting of the Park Slope Food Coop is held on (www.foodcoop.com) and (39 percent), which Gallops the last Tuesday of each month. The October General Meeting Coordinator and what suggestions they had noted was the greatest “pain will be on Tuesday, October 28, at 7:00 p.m. at MS 51, 350 Fifth Committee Reports for improvements. Of our point” for members. Enabling Ave., between Fourth and Fifth Sts. Enter on Fourth St. cul-de- General Coordinator Mike 16,000 members, just over members to check their work sac. The Fourth St. entrance is handicap-accessible. Eakin presented the financial 1,500 took the survey. Of the shift status came next at 27 The agenda is in this Gazette, on the Coop website at www. report. respondents, 64 percent were percent. Apparently, the site foodcoop.com and available as a flier in the entryway of the Total sales were up slightly, women, and the average ten- seems most useful as a func- Coop. For more information about the GM and about Coop gov- but operating expenses had ure was 7.4 years, with 53 per- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ernance, please see the center of this issue. Tue, Oct 28 • PSFC October General Meeting IN THIS ISSUE 7:00 p.m. at MS 51 Puzzle . 2 Tue, Nov 4 •Agenda Committee Meeting 8:00 p.m. A New Co-op Organizing Effort . 4 Coop Safe Food Committee Report . 5 Thu, Nov 6 •Food Class: The Secrets of Community Calendar . 6 Event Healthy Indian Cooking 7:30 p.m. Coop Hours, Return Policy . 8 Coop Calendar, Governance Information, Mission Statement . 9 Highlights Fri, Nov 7 •Film Night: Hit & Stay 7:00 p.m. Calendar of Events . 10 Letters to the Editor. 12 Look for additional information about these and other events in this issue. Classifieds . 15 Exciting Workslot Opportunities, Thank You . 16 2 October 16, 2014 Park Slope Food Coop, Brooklyn, NY GM Report committees whose members eral Meeting scheduled for CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 must be approved by a vote of Dec. 30, 2014, be cancelled. the General Meeting, because He explained this was due tional tool to help members of its involvement in disci- to calendar quirks and is not navigate shifts and shopping; plinary issues. Its role is to unprecedented. The Chair using it to build a digital com- follow up on investigations by noted that December meet- munity or engage with wider the Disciplinary Committee to ings have generally drawn low issues outside the store drew determine if a Coop rule has attendance. The vote in favor little support. been violated and, if so, what was overwhelming. The next step, Gallops said, penalty to impose. is to convene focus groups of Monique Bowen, who has Research on International members and staff to discuss, been a Coop member for 12 Trade Agreements: Yes elaborate and refine the sur- years, is a member of the Susan Metz, a longtime vey results and consider pos- Board of Directors, and is cur- member, proposed that a new sible next steps. For updates rently serving her third term committee be formed called and further information, check on the Hearing Committee. the International Trade Edu- the blog posts published on She stood unopposed for cation Squad, and that seven new.foodcoop.com. reelection. The results were members be granted work-slot 179 in favor, 3 opposed and 4 credit to work with it. Agenda Items abstentions. “We’ve been doing this The Hearing Officers Com- General Coordinator Joe work voluntarily for more than mittee is one of the few Coop Holtz proposed that the Gen- a year,” Susan explained, “It is fair for us to get credit for the work we do because we as a Crossword Puzzle community benefit from the effort.” 123 456 7 8 9 10 11 12 This proposal was discussed 13 14 15 at the July GM, and many of the same issues were rehashed 16 17 18 before the vote. Though allot- 19 20 21 ted 30 minutes, this agenda item consumed just over an 22 23 24 25 26 hour of the meeting. ILLUSTRATION BY DEBORAH TINT 27 28 29 30 31 32 Supporters largely agreed 33 34 35 36 37 with Susan on two main He asked the General Meet- that “if you can shop, you assertions. The trade agree- ing to authorize a survey that can work” seems widespread, 38 39 40 41 ments, between the U.S. and would gather information on expressed as a matter of fair- 42 43 44 other nations, are opaque and members’ current ages, and ness and justice. Finally, there highly likely to have a negative their years of service, in order is suspicion of a survey that 45 46 47 48 49 impact on food policies sup- to understand the potential might be considered an intru- 50 51 52 ported by the Coop, thus jus- impact on the labor pool of sion on members’ privacy. tifying the need for research the current retirement policy, Laibman attempted to 53 54 55 56 57 58 to decide whether “individ- and whether change might be respond to these criticisms 59 60 61 62 63 64 ual or collective action” may beneficial. by recusing himself from 65 66 67 be called for. In addition, the The current retirement pol- the actual survey, offering to Coop’s Mission Statement icy, as detailed in the Mem- amend the language of his 68 69 70 is broad enough to encom- bership Handbook, offers two proposal and insisting that pass research like this and options, approved by different he was asking for informa- Across Down 1. Good name for an investment advisor? 1. 2012 Facebook event, in brief compensate it with work slot General Meetings.