Group National AGM - Part 2

After the business transacted in the first part of the AGM, we got on to the motions before the meeting.

The first one had called on the Co-operative Bank to commit to never charging customers in credit. It was withdrawn by the proposing region (Scottish Co-op), pending the review by the office of fair trading regarding the issues of account charging.
My comment: This is a very difficult issue. The Co-operative Bank, in common with all other retail banks in the UK, subsidise customers in credit by effectively overcharging customers who get into difficulties. I don’t much like this system, but routine charging of all accounts doesn’t particularly appeal either! I am unsure if the removal of all charges is financially viable.

The second motion (from the Central and Eastern region) asked for Co-operative Funeralcare to offer a funeral plan which is priced within the limits set by the Social Fund Funeral Payment guidelines. Critics of the motion pointed out that the social fund payment only covers disbursements, leaving the price of a qualifying funeral at effectively zero, which could not be achieved. The opinion was also expressed that the Society should not have to prop up poorly funded social provision. The motion fell, but the board reiterated the society’s determination to help all those who come to Funeralcare as much as possible.

Two motions were proposed by the Wales and Borders region: one calling on the board to review the level of funding for the membership strategy in the light of the rapidly growing membership, and another committing the society to replace battery eggs by alternatives as soon as possible. Both were supported by the board, and passed by the meeting.
My comment: It is good to see the board supporting these two motions. We do need to think about making sure that our investment in our membership is sufficient, and we do desperately need to cease selling battery eggs, replacing them at least with less horrendous intensive methods, and preferably with fully free-range eggs.

After lunch, we had a management presentation by the chief executive of our food retail business, Guy McCracken. He presented the refit plans of the business, and said that the most important thing was to "spend money where our customers will see it", which I suppose sounds like a good idea. The number of refits we are doing is growing year on year: 67 in 2005, 180 last year, 250 this year, and 500 for the next two years. The outcome will be that every Co-op Group foodstore will be rebranded into what has been unkindly called our "Jobcentre green" fascia by the end of 2009.

Results in our food stores are great for the first quarter of the year, with even better numbers coming from our rebranded stores.

We are looking at a new format for our "Market Town" stores (i.e. our larger shops excluding the really large superstores). This is being trialled at a number of places, and I have to say that it looks quite impressive, with a much more modern feel, and a larger and more stylish bakery section. They also contain – and I am quoting Guy word for word here – "messages on pillars". Fantastic. Priorities for the next year are more produce explicitly from The Co-operative Farms, continued focus on our Truly Irresistible range, and developing more and more new lines, to bring our range up to date.

As I seem to say about any Co-op meeting I go to, the best thing about the day was talking to so many committed Co-operators, and the knowledge that you are part of a large, international movement that is committed to building a better world. I was pleased to meet a couple of fans of this blog, and generally get to discuss things that would get funny looks in the pub – like ROCE and (filled) rolls.