Co-op members back Fairtrade and member directors at historic agm

The Co-operative Group has vowed to reinvigorate efforts to “lead the way on Fairtrade” after an “historic” first vote under a reformed electoral system at its AGM on Saturday.

Voting under a new ‘one mMember one vote’ system, The Co-operative Group members backed a motion to recommit to its pledge of sourcing 100% of its own-label goods from Fairtrade suppliers.

The vote, which took place at the group’s AGM in Manchester, was part of a number of key decisions passed by members, including the election of several new directors to its board and reforms to its own rules on political donations.

Some 90,000 members voted on motions at the meeting, including over 500 in attendance in Manchester.

Former Labour minister Hazel Blears, Workers’ Educational Association chief executive Ruth Spellman and former Traidcraft chief executive Paul Chandler were all elected to the board. All three assumed their roles immediately following the AGM.

Also on the table at Saturday’s meeting was a three-point motion on political donations from the Group. Just over 62% of members voted against giving donations to political parties, including to its own political wing, the Co-operative Party. A vote on whether the group should give money solely to the Co-operative Party was also rejected, but by a much thinner margin, 52.68% compared to 48.32%. Nearly 76% voted against donating to a range of political parties. 

However, in a separate motion, 55% of members voted in favour of political donations, versus 44.8% who voted against.

Reforms to The Co-op’s governance structure were voted in following a turbulent year for the business, culminating in a scathing attack by outgoing chief executive Euan Sutherland who described the Group as “ungovernable” in his resignation email. Sutherland quit in March after less than 10 months at the helm.

Commenting on the reforms at Saturday’s AGM, The Co-operative Group chairman Allan Leighton said: “We are at the start of a three-year rebuild programme. We have put in place a turnaround strategy that will fix the basics and implement compelling commercial strategies in all of our businesses, to ensure we are in great shape for the long-term and that the mistakes of the recent past can never be repeated.

“At the heart of our rebuild will be our determination to make Co-operative membership more meaningful again and today marks the start of that exciting journey”.