How cooperatives are dealing with the virus crisis

One of the problems with traditional capitalism is that there is such little communal responsibility on the part of those enjoying it. It is a game of seeing what you can take from others and during a crisis like the present one, this is the last thing one wants.It is likely that our economic views will be changed by this crisis and that there may be a closer and long overdue look at cooperatives. As the Internation Cooperative Allinace explains it: "Cooperatives are people-centred enterprises jointly owned and democratically controlled by and for their members to realize their common socio-economic needs and aspirations. As enterprises based on values and principles, they put fairness and equality first allowing people to create sustainable enterprises that generate long-term jobs and prosperity. Managed by producers, users or workers, cooperatives are run according to the 'one member, one vote' rule.

Here are some examples of how these cooperatives are handling the current situation

International Cooperative Alliance

• CERCINA (Cooperative for Education, Rehabilitation, Empowerment and Inclusion in Nazaré), in Portugal, also provides a regional radio station, Rádio Nazaré. During the pandemic, the radio plays an important role as a public service agent, providing credible news and general information about COVID-19 and its consequences in terms of public health and economic impact. It is also a friendly companion for the elderly or the digitally excluded, since it helps to combat social isolation.
• In Colombia, in order to meet with the quarantine requirements, the Cometa cooperative has introduced online courses to improve the well-being of its members. In collaboration with the University of Colombia
• In Poland, the social cooperative “Równość”, which provides home delivery services, has launched the home delivery of blessed baskets for  people who were unable to  go to church to have their food blessed on  Holy Sunday due to the ban on large  church gatherings. This is a very important tradition for many Poles.
• In Spain, a cooperative of the Mondragón group is adapting its production to manufacture 60 million masks over a six-month period.  
• Inspired by the sixth cooperative principle, namely cooperation among cooperatives, 12 Italian cooperatives affiliated to Legacoop have joined forces to launch the production of 400,000 cotton, washable masks for  people working in sectors that are still operating during the emergency. Coopfond, the promotion fund of Legacoop, is financing the project.
• A similar initiative is taking place in Bulgaria, where 17 worker cooperatives, employing people with disabilities, are producing high quality face masks, whilst at the same time securing an income for a vulnerable category of workers.
• In Argentina, worker cooperatives in the IT sector have collaborated to create an app to allow an early self-diagnosis of the virus. The app will provide the necessary indications to citizens according to the symptoms they have.
• In the city of Bergamo, which is the epicenter of the epidemic in Italy, hotels managed by social cooperatives have been converted into hospitals to free up beds. 
• In the UK, community cooperatives are reorganizing to ensure the provision of services and meals to the most vulnerable and self-isolated people in their community

International Labour Organization

• Cooperatives are increasing pay for those working through the lockdown, while asking vulnerable workers to stay home on paid special leav.
• Modifying paid time-off policies to ensure that workers who are absent due to illness or to care for sick family members do not suffer loss of income or other benefits (REI  in the US).
• Higher-paid workers deciding to take a pay-cut in order to ensure that the lower-paid workers could get full pay and are protected from being laid off during the closures (FC Barcelona  in Spain).
• Creating new jobs to address the upsurge in demand in the retail sector (Coop Group  in the UK).
• Ensuring front-line workers have uninterrupted access to childcare services throughout the COVID-19 crisis, by waiving fees financed through numerous means including using their own funds and contributions from community members (Midcounties Coop  in the UK).
• Shortening supply chains by establishing direct purchasing lines between producer and consumer cooperatives, reducing the risk of inflated food prices which can help transform economies in the medium to long run toward more sustainable production and consumption patterns aligned with SDG 12 (Fairtrade producer and consumer cooperatives ).
• Preparing video messages, whatsapp groups, Q&As, guidance notes, establishing online resource platforms and organizing webinars to give HR, governance, legal, and risk management advice to member cooperatives on the pandemic and possible mitigation measures
• Helping vulnerable people who cannot go shopping by themselves including through partnering with municipalities, local civil society organizations and volunteers (Coop  in Italy, Co-op Group  in the UK, Coop Denmark , Migros  and Coop  in Switzerland, Spraoi agus Sport  and St Munchin’s Community Centre  in Ireland)
• Putting in place e-learning courses designed to help people cope with the mental stress of the pandemic and lockdown on topics such as stress, anxiety and depression in interactive, easy to understand segments (Cooperative College  in the UK, child care social enterprises like ReCreate  and Sensational Kids  in Ireland, Erk Mead  in Ethiopia).

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