Update on Karma Co-op 

Karma Food Co-op in Toronto was profiled in an article in the Summer 2005 GHQ. It looked as though the co-op was being steered in the direction of becoming a funky downtown retail food store with minimal member involvement.

Things do change. The Annual General Meeting on October 24, with a record turnout, saw a whole new slate of people elected to the board of directors. These men and women were determined to reinvigorate Karma and to do it in an openly democratic way. I have witnessed such events before and cannot predict with confidence that real change is in the offing. But the prospect looks good.

In the past, my disillusionment with the slowly decreasing number not only of working members but also of working members who show up for their shifts has led me to propose allowing only working members at Karma. Several friends have gently pointed out the error of this negative view. Furthermore, sitting on the new board is Elaine Smookler, who is convinced that the rewards of being a working member can be communicated to new members quite easily and, once communicated, become rather addictive. At this point, she is re-scripting the orientation process so that it will help new members look at working in the store in a different light. 

All new members used to be required to work for three months. The practice was dropped at one point, apparently because staff found that so many people whom they had carefully trained would immediately convert to non-working memberships after the three months were up. There’s more than one way to peel an onion, though. With a little careful planning, those first few months of work could be transformative. There is no reason we cannot start creating a Karma where participation in running the store and our community’s activities is openly celebrated and enjoyed by growing proportions of the membership.

The carrot, not the stick.

For more information, check out Karma’s newsletter, The Chronicle:  http://karmacoop.org/chronicle/binder The issue with all the news about the last AGM will be out the week of Dec. 12.

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