Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood has given her support to the co-operative movement ahead of a fortnight of activities to raise awareness about this alternative business model for shared ownership and profits.
During the two weeks between 25 June and 9 July, the co-operative sector will be raising awareness of how employees, customers and residents can have an equal share in profits and decisions.
Sponsored by key businesses in the co-operative sector and co-ordinated by Co-operatives UK, the trade association for co-operatives, Co-operatives Fortnight ran for the first time in 2010. In its first year, over 160 events were held, 70,000 people got involved online, 2.3 million people were engaged overall and 43 million people heard about it from the media.
The focal point of Co-operative Fortnight is a petition calling for government action to narrow the gap between rich and poor in the UK as figures indicate that inequality in the UK is at its highest since records began. The petition can be found by clicking on this link: http://www.uk.coop/yourstoshare/
Ms Wood, who represents the South Wales Central region at the Assembly, recently called for greater use of co-operatives in her discussion paper ‘A Greenprint for the Valleys.’
“Co-operatives have been part of Welsh life for a long-time; in fact the roots of the movement can be traced here as the founder Robert Owen was born in Newtown,” said Ms Wood, who is her party’s spokesperson for Housing and Regeneration.
“Co-operatives are here to stay. They are estimated to have an annual turnover of almost £1bn, with 200 businesses and more than 5,000 employees in Wales alone.
“There is great potential for this movement to expand further. Greater resilience for our economy could be created and our businesses could be insulated from the myriad of global factors that have been responsible for factory closure upon factory closure in Wales.
“This resilience of the co-operative model is perhaps illustrated by the fact that while the UK economy contracted during the recession, the co-operative sector expanded.
“Rather than lining the pockets of the shareholders of multi-national companies, home-grown business run via the co-operative model see profits stay within the local area and this can only be a good thing for the future of our communities and for the Welsh economy.”
For more information about Co-operative Fortnight, you can visit: http://www.uk.coop/yourstoshare/c14/about-co-operatives-fortnight
