ALERT! Cooperative Members — “One Member – One Vote” And The Very Concept Of Cooperative Is At RISK!

Coop Members, Your Right To “One Member – One Vote” is at RISK!
Ask Sen. Kathleen Vinehout ‘WHY?’

Call Sen. Vinehout and ask her why she is still a cosponsor of Assembly Bill 353, A cooperative-destroying piece of legislation, that removes the historic coop principle of “one member-one vote” and replaces it with one where the number of votes a member gets is based on how much product the member buys.
CALL Vinehout   (608) 287-9883   ASK her WHY
 
From Assembly Bill 353: “This bill allows a cooperative holding company and its cooperative subsidiaries to base members’ voting power in whole or in part on members’ current or recent patronage activity, or on members’ patronage equity in the cooperative, or on a combination of both.“If you are a member of any cooperative in Wisconsin: Up to 20 percent of your cooperative’s board seats could be turned over to non-members, including outside investors.
CALL Vinehout   (608) 287-9883   ASK her WHY
 
-You could lose the right to review cooperative records that are more than three years old.
CALL Vinehout   (608) 287-9883   ASK her WHY
 
-Your co-op would be allowed to give greater than 8 percent returns to capital investors.
CALL Vinehout   (608) 287-9883   ASK her WHY
 
In addition to these changes, if you are a member of the cooperative holding company Cooperative Resources International (CRI) or its member co-ops Genex or AgSource:
“Your co-op could choose to base voting power on patronage, rather than the principle of one member, one vote. If this change is adopted, average-sized farms would see their voting power in the co-op significantly diminished compared to the co-op’s very largest farm members.” — Nick Levendofsky, La Crosse Tribune (9/18/17)
CALL Sen. Vinehout   (608) 287-9883   ASK her WHY she’s a COSPONSOR of Assembly BILL 353