Workers' Collective Minutes January 28 & 31
January 28th and January 31st, 2010
1) Introductions
1) Attended 1/28: Alex J, Caitlin H, Felisha W, Morgan S, Jake H, Sandra H, Barb E, Michael W, Martin P, Justin W, Richard G, Billy B, Doug M, Barney K-A, Mandi L, Omar M, Christopher P, Josh D, Andy B, Gibson C, Wendy M
2) Attended 1/31: Melanie H, Terry W, Bruce W, Gene G, Jake D, Jamie Lee O, Alisa T, Nik B, Shea S, Rachel S, Tyler E, James S, Clare L, Nicole W, Julia M, Ali H, Anna D, Lisa K, Chris N, Mary G, Doug M, Wendy M, Gibson C
2) Procedures
1) Drawer
1) do drops through out day
2) fill out drop forms- legibly
2) Membership
1) need a form with every payment
2) the computer just treats it as a payment
3) need dates
4) legible please
3) Sodas
1) ring in as a single not a six pack
2) will revisit this with Co-pos(computer) admin
4) Food Stamps
1) procedure is
1) go to other field in payment and type F and then enter
2) that will take off tax and items that are not eligible
3) Ring in food stamps for the amount computer tells you is eligible
2) it is difficult to pay balance with credit card
3) trust the computer to know what is eligible
5) SIDE NOTE: explained that Worker Collective is the management system of the day to day operations of the co-op and that all are invited to participate. Meetings are Mondays at 6pm in the Co-op office.
6) Dept. Numbers
1) if something doesn’t have a barcode, or it errors or an odd deli price use the department number correctly
2) asked to review taxable/nontaxable grocery
1) mainly candy or soda
2) single items(tofutti cuties, suckers etc)
7) NOTE: All of this is next to the register on the laminated sheet
3) Documenting mistakes
1) leave notes about mistakes or odd transactions
2) print a receipt , you can write the note on it
4) Produce
1) go through it quite often
2) funky produce
1) 1/2 things off
2) throw it away or give away
3) Super Ripe produce
1) Large amounts of produce that is on its way out notify cafe
4) Stocking Produce
1) GREAT thing to do
2) produce back stock in soy cooler
3) DO NOT stock so it touches the back wall of the cooler, it freezes in a matter of minutes
4) leave a 5-6 inches of airflow on bottom two shelves
5) suggested to get new containers for mushrooms
6) the procedure for spoiling produce is in the binder with PLU’s
5) General Co-op Updates
1) Annual Meeting
1) date will be in April
2) annual co-op update given
3) three New Board members will be voted on
2) Board Recruitment
1) if interested please attend a Board meeting
1) held 3rd Monday of every month at 7:30 PM at the Riverwest Currents office (829 E. Clarke St)
2) All are welcome to board meetings at anytime!
2) ask board recruitment committee for more info ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
1) Gibson, Jake, Shelly
3) Committees need help, please contact Gibson if you’re interested
1) Communications
2) Newsletter
3) Membership
4) HR
6) Follow-up training
1) If you need help please ask Gibson, he would love to work with you
1) ask Mary or Doug also
2) If you notice someone needs follow up training please notify Gib of that too
7) Volunteer Committee
1) Open meeting Thursday Feb 4th at 6pm
2) Would like to form a volunteer committee
3) Would love to have an organized group that are interested in taking on more in the co-op, love it, have skills, etc
4) Help with follow up training and communicating more effectively with volunteers
5) Morning people
6) Helping with longer term projects
8) Cafe Volunteer Retention
1) Volunteer retention in the cafe is horrible, wish to see it change
2) It is a problem as it means that they are not enjoying it
3) Folks tend to love it or leave it
4) Ideas
1) A manual dishwasher
2) more ways to give feedback
3) exit interview
4) sucks when you aren’t getting paid...so it is easy to take off
5) employees with new volunteers, take even just a few minutes to teach them something, even if it is 5 minutes an hour
6) Employees are here all the time, and they get tunnel vision and please shake us out of it, we need your feedback
7) Special deli items that are named creates a sense of an ownership...let a volunteer bring in a recipe, name it and run it for a week
5) Some people mind doing to many dishes
1) don’t know how we can change that
2) that is the normal chain of command
6) Update list of tasks that volunteer can do
7) Give them a break from doing dishes, showing them a few other things
8) Training and acknowledgment to the volunteers that we will get them trained
9) Better direction to paid staff
10) Good Gloves for dishes
11) What works
1) free meal is cool
2) camaraderie
3) incentive that when dishes are done there is something more fun to do
4) remind people that after a week or two it gets better
12) Needs a place to write the things down they notice are running low on.
13) Basic list of what needs to be done
1) sweeping, stocking, wiping tables down, cleaning coffee area
2) list by general times that things can/need to be done
14) Don’t be timid in directing volunteers around
9) Open Discussion
1) Put on chore list
1) does the cafe need help? Volunteers are encouraged to check in the cafe when feeling idle in the store.
2) Pay attention to the volunteers that are asking for help, saying figure it out doesn’t help.
3) Better training
4) Volunteer duties list should be expanded
1) sweeping
2) facing
3) bulk
4) produce
5) give them more jobs to do
6) empower them to do it
5) Gibson asked what ways to communicate duties
1) initials on a sheet
2) Gib stated that that process in the past has eventually gone un-used
6) Stagger shifts
7) Have more detailed explanations available
8) Train them on everything else and then the register
9) Communicate with other volunteers about what is going on
10) Empower yourself to point out tasks to other volunteers
11) Water in cafe- why don’t we have a faucet/tap instead
12) Pair up volunteers
13) Mentors
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