How does the Kingston Food Co-op’s governance work?
When the store is open, the Kingston Food Co-op will have two classes of member-owners. Consumer-owners (folks who shop at the store and are not employees), and Worker-owners (folks who are paid employees of the Co-op). As a worker cooperative, our employees will have the opportunity to become an owner of the Co-op after a certain amount of time as an employee. Because we only have one employee right now, the 3 worker-owner seats are left empty.
Both consumer-owners and worker-owners will have the opportunity to run for election, and elect three people to represent them on the Co-op’s Council (like a Board of Directors). Each class of member-owners will have an equal amount of decision-making power. Those six people (3 from each class) will collectively appoint 3 Community Council members to offer additional skills, community representation, or other leadership facets that the Council deems necessary.
Interested in getting involved in the co-op’s governance?