Labour and Food 

Many minds and hands cooperating is what will create abundance for all of us.
Working together is productive, rewarding and enjoyable.
We aim to create abundance of food to share as well as to provide funds to cover other living costs and create profit.

LABOUR
Members labour input should cover at least all maintenance requirements of the Co-Op

Estimated Co-Op maintenance labour requirements (Assuming 40 members):

Labour Requirements	Hours per Week
office work	40
cleaning (excl. kitchen)	30
gardening (incl. food garden)	150
animal husbandry	40
kitchen (incl. clean-ups)	100 - assuming shared dinner and buffet breakfast
maintenance	40
TOTAL	400 hours per week   OR  ten full time people

 

                                

 

 

 

 

 

This requires each member (including those in their acceptance period) living permanently on Co-Op land to contribute ten hours/week.
Part time residents are to contribute proportionally, however for full members this is accounted for on a yearly basis for more flexibility.

The Co-Op does not accept payment in lieu of labour, however trading between members is permitted (eg you can pay someone else to do your share of labour). The Co-Op may agree for a third party to do part or all of a members volunteer work, but will not get involved in any negotiations between that third party and the member.

If at the end of the year a member has not contributed all of his/her 500 hours, a penalty of $25 (which increases by the CPI each year) will be charged.

We encourage visitors living on Co-Op land to participate in Co-Op activities for at least two hours/week.

For comparison, a person living alone spends about twenty hours/week on the above chores (of which about ten hours are spent in the kitchen)

FOOD
We will have one large shared kitchen (until the CoOp out-grows it).
Rooms and outbuildings will not have their own kitchens (at least not in the beginning and until the Co-Op has a strong communal bond). However small kitchenettes (bench and one gas cooking ring for example) may be included in personal space designs.

This is firstly because a building with a kitchen is considered as a separate dwelling by council, attracting higher rates etc.
Secondly more resources would be required for those kitchens and we also wish to encourage everyone to come together for meals as often as possible.

Each person will have their own space in the cool-room and cupboards for private food items.
While allowing for people to make their own special meals we encourage people to participate in group meals for dinner.
This is cheaper, uses less resources and facilitates togetherness.

To pay for the food used in shared meals, members are either charged an equal regular fee (as decided by a general meeting from time to time), or the Co-Op might decide to sell food vouchers to members (especially once there are meals on offer which have very different values).
Visitors can be charged for food and any extra services etc by adding to their room tab, using monitored or honour systems.

The above labour and food calculations as well as maintenance contribution fees and membership fee calculations rely on members to carry all of the Co-Op requirements and do not consider other income streams.
As we create more wealth, we might choose to reduce membership fees, maintenance contribution fees and/or labour input required from members.

 

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