As of Monday, March 23, the Coop member-labor work requirement is suspended until further notice. This protocol will be updated as needed so please go to foodcoop.com for the latest information.
Please do not come to your work shift beginning on March 23.
Thank you for continuing to support your Coop! As an essential service, the Park Slope Food Coop remains open to shoppers and ready to serve our community.
Workslot Requirement Temporarily SUSPENDED as of Monday, March 23
For the first time in our 47-year history, the Coop will temporarily suspend its member-labor work requirement as of Monday, March 23, starting at 5:00 a.m. This action is being taken in response to Governor Cuomo’s “New York State on PAUSE” executive order. Until further notice, members will no longer work their shifts at the Coop and the member-labor work requirement is suspended. Please do NOT come to your work shift. We will continue to sell goods to our members, but Coop operations will be staffed exclusively by the paid staff and a small group of temporary, part-time staff we hire.
It is with great sadness that the Coop decided to institute this dramatic change in our participatory Coop model. The General Coordinators weighed carefully the concerns of staff and members, listened to the strongly-worded directives of our Governor and Mayor, and considered the advice from Coop members active in the medical and public health fields before making our decision.
It is immensely clear that in order to stem the spread of COVID-19 we all must severely limit the number of people we come in contact with. Continuing to allow a few hundred member-workers to enter the building daily does not follow the spirit of the Governor’s executive order and exposes the paid staff to many, many people every day. Keeping our doors open for members to shop will still expose the employees but at a much lower rate.
We cannot predict how long we will operate with only paid staff, but rest assured, the Coop will invite members back to help run the Coop as soon as we evaluate we can do that in a safe manner. Our vibrant Coop community was built on member-labor and is the heart of our successful participatory food coop model. We are a resilient community that will survive and emerge stronger from this horrific public health crisis.
Coop Shopping Hours as of Monday, March 23
The Coop will be open for shopping starting on Monday, March 23, from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Coop will continue to control entry to shoppers, and members will need to wait on line outside. Depending upon the number of shoppers in line and how quickly members shop, we reserve the right to cut off the outside line at any time before 7:00 p.m.
Our guidelines and practices around social distancing will be enforced. We will limit the number of shoppers allowed in the building to facilitate social distancing of at least six feet as required by the Governor’s executive order. This order applies to members in the building and those waiting on the outside line. While we realize that this will affect sales, our priority remains the health and safety of our paid staff and shopping members.
Do your part to help the Coop provide a safe shopping environment for our community. Stay six feet apart. Social distancing will save New Yorkers’ lives. Please honor the shopping protocols we have put into place. See https://www.foodcoop.com/coronavirus/ for our shopping protocols.
As the Coop staff learns how it will manage to operate the Coop without member labor, we plan to expand the shopping hours. Our goal is to be open longer but until we reset and reorganize our staff we don’t know how many hours of shopping we can manage. Please check daily the website and @foodcoop on Instagram or Twitter for updates to our hours.
Appreciation
We have received many emails, DMs, calls, and notes praising Coop staff and expressing appreciation for the actions we have taken so far to fulfill our social responsibility to both feed our community and help mitigate further spread of COVID-19. These messages of support are especially appreciated and encouraging in these challenging times. Thank you for your kind words!