GOVERNANCE AND DEMOCRACY
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KATARIS PROJECT
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purchase the share. (In addition, whenever possible, arrangements are made to ensure new
members are given overtime to help them pay off these loans.)
The co-operative is a private limited company which is structured to ensure members enjoy
direct control over company policy on the basis of ‘one-share-one-vote’. Although the value of
individual shares varies depending on when the member joined the co-operative, no member
has more than 1 vote.
The Board is comprised of 6 directly elected ‘working’ Directors two of whom have to stand
for re-election each year. Only two of the existing Directors are members of senior
management and all have to account for their actions at the company AGM. Beneath the
Board, senior operational and engineering managers meet on a regular basis although
‘executive authority’ remains the province of the Board that meets officially monthly, but
often weekly. The mine manager – who enjoys a unique ‘legal authority’ equivalent to that of
a ship’s captain – has never been a Board member. Annual elections to the Board and the
extensive formal and informal work consultation processes serve to sustain an open discourse
and democracy in all the dimensions of relationships within the Tower ‘space’.
It is important to emphasise the significance of this break with past social practice. The
continued usage of such traditional terms as ‘Directors’ and ‘the Board’ should not be
permitted to obscure what is a radical shift in power relations with respect to the ownership
and control of economic capital, for the organisational decision-making processes outlined
above indicate a quite fundamental shift to bottom up democracy and accountability. British
Coal, the previous owner, had a UK wide Board that effectively owned and controlled at that
level. Mine management at Tower was accountable to a South Wales office based in Cardiff
and then ultimately to British Coal. Managers were just ‘managers’: they were not directly
responsible for the economic capital of Tower. The TEBO broke this link. The land, mineral
assets and capital were legally vested in a cooperatively owned company, which also became
the employer. Direct control is now in the hands of the on-site Tower Board – all of whom are
working employee-owner directors. Power, once so distant and disembodied, is now local. The
members votes decide operational policy and the collective enjoys direct responsibility for
decisions and their consequences; the possibility of blaming distant bureaucracy is a luxury of
the past. Thus, collective ownership, control and democratic accountability are the source of a
different social space and community, enabling a redistribution of economic, political, social
and cultural capital resources.
CAHIERS DU CRISES
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COLLECTION ÉTUDES THÉORIQUES
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3.6.3.
Space in the Market
For many producer cooperatives, the most troublesome spatial location they need to occupy
successfully is ‘the Market’ for their goods or services. In this respect, Tower is fortunate for
their product – anthracite – remains a valuable commodity and, because all the potential
competitor mines have been closed, there are no effective alternative suppliers in their prime
market. This product is the foundation of Tower’s power resources both in contract
negotiation and in the consequent strategic freedom to choose how to deploy the revenue
stream. The cooperative has been financially successful over its 10 years of operation. On an
annual turnover of between £24m and £34m, annual profits have ranged from £1m to £4m. As
coal prices have been steadily falling during this period of operation, revenue has been
sustained by an increase in output from 380k tonnes per year to around 600k per year. This
production level has been at a plateau between 2001 – 2004. Much of this success reflects the
product being energy efficient high-grade anthracite.
The main power station contract accounts for about 80 % of output and the retention of this
contract is not only a considerable marketing success but has also been critical to securing
control over the market context throughout the life of the cooperative. The Director of
Marketing learned his skills ‘on the job’.
3.6.4.
The Space of Resource Allocation
Perhaps the most ‘novel’ space now occupied by the members is their direct responsibility for
financial decision-making. Although there is some limited profit distribution (but not every
year), the vast proportion of the revenue goes on reinvestment and member rewards. The
balance between these respective needs is not uncontested.
Initially, a key objective was to pay back bank and government loans. Within the first year
(1995-96), a £2m loan from Barclays Bank was repaid and by 2002 the final instalment of the
£11.5m DTI loan cleared the last external debt. In addition, £2m a year has been invested in
developing each new face. Innovative investments include a plant generating £1m worth of
electricity per year from methane extracted from the colliery – this effectively pays for all the
power consumed at Tower; and a new venture in making low carbon emission briquettes from
sawdust and coal dust. More generally – reflecting Tower’s symbiotic relationship with the
local community – the cooperative supports a range of local projects, including rugby, opera,
motorcycle racing, schools, a children’s hospice and community regeneration. The leading