History of the United Co-operative Baking Society Ltd. : $b A fifty years' record 1869–1919Reid, William
History
History of the United Co-operative Baking Society Ltd. : $b A fifty years' record 1869–1919
Reid, William
United Co-operative Baking Society, Ltd., Glasgow
But if societies were withdrawing as they became strong enough to start
bakeries of their own, other societies were coming in to take their
places, while the societies in Glasgow were growing stronger and
stronger. Gilbertfield and Cambuslang societies joined up early in 1885;
Cessnock Society, an offshoot from Kinning Park, became a member a month
or two later. South-Eastern Society and Parkhead, two societies which
had been members in the early days but had withdrawn, were again
admitted to membership; Renfrew Society again became purchasers; Newton
Mearns and Maryhill societies became members; Westmuir Economical
Society became a purchaser and, later, a member. Newton Society also
joined the Federation, and Blairdardie returned to the fold after an
absence of several years. Then came Hallside, and by the end of April
1888, Shettleston, making the thirty-sixth member of the Federation. All
this increase in the membership was not spontaneous, however; it was the
reward of much propaganda work, the writing of many letters and the
paying of many visits by the members of the committee. They were
building, and, later, they had built a huge bakery. It was their
intention that it should be working to its full capacity at the earliest
possible moment, and so they went about their propaganda in a systematic
manner, dividing up the area into districts, which were placed in charge
of certain members of the committee, to be worked up at every
opportunity.
RECOGNISING LOYAL SERVICE.
During the whole of the time which it took to build the new bakery the
Society was working at a disadvantage. Notwithstanding the leasing,
first of Scotland Street bakery and then of that in Hill Street, it was
impossible to keep pace with the demand for bread. The result was that
the committee decided to sound the foreman baker on the question of
whether the men would be willing to begin work an hour earlier in the
mornings. The men when approached agreed readily, and thus the
difficulty was met to some extent. In recognition of this willingness on
the part of the men to meet them, the board decided spontaneously to
advance the men’s wages by 1/ per week. One cannot help but contrast
this willingness of the men to help the Society in a difficulty with
incidents which have occurred at later dates, when the bakers could not
be induced on any terms to work extra hours in order that difficulties
might be overcome. The first attitude rather than the second one is that
which makes for the avoidance of friction and the creation of a
fraternal spirit between the directors of a Co-operative concern and
their fellow-members who carry on the work of the Society. It is,
unfortunately, a fact which is to be deprecated that employees are
disposed to treat Co-operative societies worse instead of better than
they treat other employers, and the process of reasoning which leads to
such results is somewhat difficult to follow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account