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You are here: Home --> Committees --> Member Labour Committee

Looking for an update on the policy changes that occured on June 1? See below.

The Ad Hoc Member Labour Committee was formed at Karma's Annual General Meeting in October 2002 to address concerns about the member labour system. The committee has analyzed the member labour system and has identified a large number of strategies and tactics to make desired changes. The committee submits recommendations for member labour-related policy changes to the board of directors by way of fulfilling the board's stated priority of examining and improving the member labour system.

Mandate of the Ad Hoc Member Labour Committee

The long-term goal of Karma, regarding member labour, is to have a member labour system that does not impose additional workloads on paid staff or financial burdens on the Co-op. This system should be supportive, not extraneous, suited to the uniqueness of our community of members, and, ultimately, create a co-operative community of actively involved members. The Member Labour Committee should promote the system that is in place, while working to improve it to achieve this goal. The main short-term overall objective of this committee is to submit recommendations to the Karma Board that when implemented will:

1. Reduce the percentage of unfilled member labour shifts
2. Ensure that the current contribution from working members and non-working members support the store equally and sufficiently.
3. Improve retention of working members.
4. Reduce the number of cancelled shifts.
5. Reduce the number of “no show” member shifts.
6. Reduce the number of scheduling complications and errors resulting from miscommunications and/or misunderstandings.
7. Design and set up a mandate for a standing ML committee.

Changes to Member Policy (implemented June 1, 2004)

See our most recent summary of the upcoming changes (updated May 6, 2004).

Also see the Chronicle issue, "Making it Work" published on May 10, which explores these changes, and member participation at large in Karma.

For more background you may wish to look at the original reasoning behind raising the non-working surcharge and work shift cash equivalent. (this document in downloadable MS Word format)

Finally, if you would like more information you can consult the Committee's binder, which can be found in the General Manager's Office / Member Room, and has most of the documentation created by the committee as well as our meeting minutes since 2002.

If you have questions or concerns feel free to email us at: labourcommittee@karmacoop.org