Pauline Green - Co-operation

Co-operation

Green already had a track record in the UK co-operative movement. As well as her status as a Labour and Co-operative MEP and advisory position with the Co-operative Union, she had been a Woodcraft Folk leader and was made president of the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM) in 1999. As an MEP, she had also been elected President of the 1997 Co-operative Congress. She was welcomed to the movement by the 2000 Congress President, Pat Wheatley, who described her as "someone of great wisdom, true co-operative principles" and "a shining example of 'courage under fire'" for her work with the PES.

Within two weeks of starting work at the Union, Green sat down with other high profile members of the co-operative movement and drafted a letter to Tony Blair. The letter - signed by Green, Lord Graham of Edmonton, Graham Melmoth, and Len Fyfe - called on the Prime Minister to sponsor a commission to review the co-operative movement and determine its future development and modernisation. The letter arrived against a background of the impending merger of the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) and Co-operative Retail Services to create the Co-operative Group, as well as recent efforts by entrepreneur Andrew Regan to demutualise the CWS. Blair responded favourably to the request, and pledged his support in setting up a Co-operative Commission.

The Commission was officially launched under chair John Monks on 24 February 2000, with Green being invited to serve as one of the 12 commissioners. There was a whispering campaign amongst Labour MPs that the Commission was intended to look at the party's funding relationship with the co-operative movement, which Green dismissed as "nonsense." The Commission's final report was published in January 2001, leaving Green to begin the work of co-ordinating the Union's response.

The Union began a "deliberate attempt to secure and celebrate co-operative advantage" by increasing its ties with other organisations across the co-operative movement: they began providing professional and admin services for the United Kingdom Co-operative Council (UKCC) and ICOM, and working with co-operative support organisations across the country to establish the "first ever 'all movement' Co-ordination Movement". This work continued into 2001, with Green using her joint positions in ICOM and the Union to facilitate a merger of the two organisations, bringing together the worker and consumer co-operative sectors that had existed separately for over 100 years. The membership voted in December 2002 in favour of a change in the Union's name to reflect its new make-up and in January 2003 the organisation was officially relaunched as Co-operatives UK.

Green continued to work at "driving a culture change in Co-operatives UK" - for example leading the organisation to become the first co-operative to partner with the National Association of Co-operative Officials (NACO) as its recognised trade union or successfully opposing recommendations from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) that would have seen co-operative members' share capital classed as debt, "destroying" the co-operative advantage.

In October 2002, Green was elected as the President of ICA Europe, the umbrella body for European co-operatives. This led in turn to her becoming co-chair of Co-operatives Europe in November 2006, sharing her duties with Etienne Pflimlin. The organisation was formed by ICA Europe and the Co-ordinating Committee of European Co-operative Organisations (CCACE) to "work together on issues of importance to co-operatives in Europe", following a drive by Green for closer co-operation between the major European co-operative bodies.

Green announced that she intended to retire as chief executive of the organisation in 2009, saying: "I will be 60 at and I have always intended to retire when I reached that milestone. The Board and I agreed that it made sense for me to finish after Co-operative Congress 2009, which is, to all intents and purposes, the end of our co-operative year." She was succeeded in November 2009 by Ed Mayo.

Green was elected Chair of the Board of Supporters Direct following her retirement from Co-operatives UK, and also elected President of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA). Following her election, she stood down from her position within Co-operatives Europe.