General Meeting Agenda – April

II. Open Forum (7:10 – 7:25 p.m.)
Members will have up to one minute to ask brief questions regarding the operations of the Coop. Appropriate staff or committee members may respond, and a brief follow-up may be taken.

III. Treasurer’s Report (7:25 – 7:40 p.m.)

IV. General Coordinators’ Reports (7:40 – 7:55 p.m.)

V. Member Committee Reports (7:55 – 8:00 p.m.)

Depending upon the number of Committees prepared to report, Committees will have up to 5 minutes to make a report. Committees must notify the Chair before the meeting to help the Chair plan time allotments.

VI. AGENDA (8:00 – 9:30 p.m.)

Item 1: Personnel Policies, Personnel Committee, and General Coordinator Roles (45 minutes)
Item sponsors: General Coordinators
Proposal: The General Coordinators (GCs) propose:

1. The GCs shall be solely responsible for all personnel-related matters, including but not limited to the employee handbook, benefits, salaries and wages, hirings, and terminations, for all staff supervised by the General Coordinators or the General Manager.^3,4
2. Role of the Personnel Committee^1,2
   1. The Personnel Committee, in collaboration with the General Coordinator team:
      1. shall be solely responsible for all personnel-related matters, including but not limited to the General Coordinator Handbook, benefits, and salaries;
      2. shall have the authority to hire General Coordinators and decide General Coordinator and General Manager salaries;
      3. shall present a General Manager candidate for approval at a General Meeting.
   2. The Personnel Committee, in collaboration with the GC responsible for HR and/or General Manager, shall have the authority to take disciplinary actions, in accordance with the Complaint and Grievance Policy and the Employee Handbook, up to and including termination, against General Coordinators and the General Manager.⁵
3. Personnel policies shall be the sole purview of the General Manager, General Coordinator Team, and/or the Personnel Committee. Those entities have the sole authority to bring these matters to the General Meeting.
4. Once approved, the above motions shall replace all other GM-approved motions on these matters.

This proposal is based on the following considerations. These considerations must be formally entered in the minutes of this meeting:

1. The creation of the Personnel Committee was approved by the Board of Directors during several General Meetings in 1981.
2. The Board of Directors, through the General Meeting, entrusted all personnel matters to the General Coordinators for employees reporting to them in December 1995 and February 2002;
3. The General Coordinators regularly seek the review and input of policies contained in the employee handbook from National Cooperative Grocers recommended employment lawyers;
4. The General Coordinators review handbook changes with employees in advance of implementation and take employee input on policy changes into consideration;
5. The General Coordinators and the Personnel Committee have collaborated with an NCG-recommended employment lawyer to develop a robust policy for all complaints against General Coordinators and the General Manager in line with Human Resources (HR) and food cooperative industry standards. The complaint policy includes the provision to employ a neutral third-party employment lawyer to thoroughly investigate these complaints and provide recommended courses of action for any offenses committed;
6. Human Resource (HR) policies must be held to the highest standards of confidentiality and protected from unauthorized disclosures to avoid legal and financial risks to the Coop.

Item 2: Solutions for Working Families without Childcare (45 minutes)
Item sponsor: Lauren Belski
Discussion: I will be presenting briefly on our need to continue to work towards a solution for Coop members who are balancing childcare challenges with staying up to date with their shifts.

IV. Board of Directors Meeting (9:30 p.m.)