MP praises local pioneers in Co-operatives debate

Simon Danczuk, Rochdale MP

Rochdale’s MP has praised today’s local pioneers in a parliamentary debate on the effect of co-operatives on the economy.

Taking the opportunity to express his pride in Rochdale being the birthplace of the co-operative movement, Simon Danczuk said that co-operatives continue to play an important role in our local economy.

“In Rochdale there are co-operatives of many different shapes and sizes that have a real, positive impact on our economy, the community and the town overall” he said.

“We have just established the largest housing co-operative in the UK that’s owned by tenants and employees who have a major say in how the organisation operates in the town. We are very proud of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.”

He also singled out Sunshine Care, the homecare co-operative set up in 2009 by local authority care workers.

“I have met those ladies over the years to where they are now, and they have been through some really tough times and challenges in establishing their co-operative,” he said.

“I spoke to one of the founding members, Christine Bailey, just before this debate, and I asked her how the co-operative is progressing. It now has 34 staff, which is fantastic, and provides 600 care hours a week to older people.”

He added that there “are no directors creaming money off the top of the organisation so everything the organisation earns goes right back to the workers, who each have a stake”. The workers at Sunshine Care, he explained, get voting rights after working for six months.

He said the Government should be looking at these and other examples of best practice and doing more to get the banks and other financial organisations to lend to co-operatives and mutuals.