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    The SouthEast Housing Co-operative, based in Dandenong, Victoria, has gone online. The co-operative is a leading rental housing co-operative with the mission statement of increasing and providing secure, affordable and environmentally sustainable long term community housing managed by and for low income people and deliver excellent services to improve the quality of housing of residents.
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    Finding  Australia's Social Enterprise Sector - Final Report has been released by the FASES project - a joint initiative of Social Traders and the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non-Profit Studies, Queensland University of Technology. FASES is Finding Australia's Social Enterprise Sector.  You can download a summary report and for a full report. 
  • ICA's New Director-General
    The International Co-operative Alliance has named Charles Gould as its new Director-General - replacing Iain Macdonald who has served as Director-General for the past eight years. The ICA has 240 member organisations from 91 countries - representing nearly one billion individuals and providing more than 100 million jobs. For more about the ICA's new Director-General visit http://www.ica.coop
  • CBH Demutualisation Push
    A dissident group within the CBH Group is attempting to reduce the influence of growers on the board of the Western Australia co-operative. The board has rejected the group's proposal. Read more in WA Business News.
  • Co-operatives WA's Spotlight on Co-operatives
    Co-operatives WA has announced an important partnership with three of the State's largest co-operatives and the University of Western Australia - with funding from the Federal Government. The research program will study - Sustainable Cooperative Enterprise: An Investigation into the Factors Influencing the Sustainability and Competitiveness of Co-operative Enterprises. For more visit the Co-operatives Australia website.
  • National Community Housing Standards and Co-operatives
    The third edition of the National Community Housing Standards Manual (May 2010) has just been released in Australia - developed by JPX Consulting Pty Ltd and published by Housing NSW. This edition replaces the second edition published in 2003.  The third edition takes account of the seven international principles of co-operation adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance to guide the formation and management of co-operatives. The Manual reproduces the seven principles. The manual can be downloaded from the website of the Community Housing Federation of Australia.
  • Blue Mountains 30th
    The Blue Mountains Food Co-op Ltd in Katoomba, New South Wales,  is celebrating its 3oth birthday in 2010. The co-operative is Australia's largest organic food co-operative. The co-operative's website: www.bluemtnsfood.asn.au  The email address is: bmfoodcoop@exemail.com.au

Co-operatives Victoria and the Rescue of Waverley

Last Updated on Tuesday, 18 May 2010 00:58 Written by David Griffiths Thursday, 08 October 2009 13:02

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From time to time we have member co-operatives deciding to cease their membership of their peak body, in the mistaken belief that they get no benefit from their annual subscription. We recently received a call from a director of Waverley Trading Co-operative Ltd., which has been a member for many years. Some directors and the Secretary had apparently reached the above decision, but fortunately had not yet implemented that decision.

Their omission has proved fortuitous for the co-operative, and for the peace of mind of the two directors remaining after the other three resigned, leaving them without a quorum. This is just part of a litany of problems which followed the retirement of the long-term Manager in November, 2008, and the long-term Secretary in the previous year.

The Board was dysfunctional and divided into factions; the long-term Chairman, his daughter and a close friend on one side, and the remaining two directors on the other side. The larger faction resigned, soon after having appointed a totally unsuitable new Manager, and the remaining directors were unable to do anything about it, except to seek advice from Co-operatives Victoria.

Waverley Trading Co-operative Ltd has operated for the past 48 years as the main supplier of school uniforms to pupils of a large number of schools and colleges in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It is located at the heart of the Glen Waverley shops, right alongside the railway station, which is a major transport hub for buses serving a wide area containing many very large schools. It is the perfect location for that type of business.

While the Registrar of Co-operatives appointed an Adminstrator, it was Co-operatives Victoria working with two directors and suppliers that developed a business proposal for survival that was accepted by the Administrator and the Registrar.

Co-operatives Victoria's Chairman Tony O'Shea has worked closely with the two remaining directors, and several of the co-operative's long-term suppliers, to put together a new board, with himself as an independent director and Chairman.

This move has rescued the co-operative from the corporate knackery to which it appeared to be headed, firstly guided by a Manager with no understanding of either co-operatives or the school uniform trade, followed by an Administrator who had a similar level of understanding.

Resulting from this restructuring of the business, the staff (usually three but up to 12 in busy periods) still have jobs, and the schools still have their uniform shop. The new board has declined to accept directors' fees until the business overcomes accumulated losses and is again trading profitably. A number of suppliers have offered extended trading terms to help the co-operative over a possible liquidity problem during the coming year.

We are all looking forward to celebrating the co-operative's first half-century on 3oth June 2011 and are confident that it will soon regain the pre-eminent position which it once held in the school uniform trade.