Co-Ops, Execs and trains( Was: Not Sainsbury's!)

[Guest guest]

The way a co-op acts depends on what is decided by its members, but

the good ones dealing in food might for example use locally sourced

products, in season etc, and pay a fair price to the producer rather

than trying to screw them for every last penny. I'm sure not all of

them behave purely ethically, but most have a fundamental reason for

being rather than to make money for a few.

 

The way a corporation behaves is purely to give maximum return to its

shareholders often no matter what the (enviro/ethical/social) cost

and no matter what the people working there think about it. In fact

it would be breaking the law if it didn't consider its shareholders

first. This is why we've had problems with the railways - the

interests of the shareholders was put before the interests of the

passengers/workers. Its almost as if the fact that they were meant to

be supplying a rail service was irrelevant, their main focus was to

get as much money to the shareholders and the executives. The short-

termism in this behaviour has now been exposed, since now all of us

have to contribute to the money required to sort out the mess, money

that could have been used better elsewhere. Will we be asking the

shareholders for their dividends back? Wouldn't it have been better

to run it in a sustainable way in the first place?

 

So that I think answers why people become executives in companies -

money. Maybe so they can then afford to buy nice fresh organic food

from their local expensive healthfood store! Most people regard

supermarkets as their friend - I can't argue that they are

convenient, have a wide range, can be cheap etc. So on the face of

it, it could look like a good thing to get involved in (after all we

all have to eat. Someone once said the only businesses to be in were:

Food, Sex and Death).

 

But even if this is not the reason, how many of us can honestly say

that the job that we do is because we want to do it, and we feel so

passionately about that we just have to do it?

 

This also explains why the supermarkets will only ever pay lip

service to greening their operations, and won't make the right

information available to people to make an informed choice - it just

doesn't make economic sense under our present regime. Which is

because the 'cheaper' products aren't really cheaper, they're

subsidised by stealing from our own futures. As a vegan how to you

feel about paying taxes that are used to subsidise the dairy and meat

industry? When are people going to realise that they are just not

sustainable? Only when we factor in the true cost, which supermarkets

will never do, because they can profit from it.

 

However I will agree that is is actually impossible to be a vegan.

Which is why I don't mind tieing it to other ideals, since it is an

ideal itself.

 

Ranting Rob.

 

 

 

 

vegan-network, Mavreela <nec.lists@m...> wrote:

> Co-operatives though are generally seen as being ethically good but

how do

> they differ on a practical level from supermarkets beyond the size

of the

> area they serve? I'm not, and wouldn't defend, the way in which

such

> companies are run or some of their practices but in general I don't

see any

> ideological problem with them and that is why I dislike it being

tied into

> veganism. What veganism is, and how I practice it, are two

different

> things. I'm sure that most, if not all vegans, ultimately act in

> contradictory ways simply because in some areas there are no

ethical

> alternatives. Before digital photography did people complain about

animal

> rights causes using photographs in order to promote the cause? I'm

not

> saying that the way the system currently works isn't wrong, or that

it

> shouldn't be protested against, just that the concept itself is not

> incompatible and reform of the system is just as valid as abolition.

>

> And just to take a point from your other mail:

>

> >But I just can't see non-vegans choosing the vegan/ethical products

> >from a supermarket.

>

> With the right supporting information I think it is possible, look

at the

> interest in organic food. The biggest thing holding people back

from being

> ethical is price.

>

> >Anyway, more stuff for your dissertation I expect What's it

about?

>

> Not really, it's about whether we are free (as in do social

situations

> restrain us and not the age old free will debate). You made me

think why

> would anyone ever choose to be a supermarket executive? It can't

be

> because you are doing something you strongly belive in and it isn't

> something that you really enjoy, so why do that?

>

> Michael