Federated Co-op posts second-best financial year in company history

Nearly 300 delegates from across Western Canada learned this weekend that their company is doing very well financially.

Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) held its 91st annual meeting at TCU Place in Saskatoon. There were 168 local co-operative associations represented.

FCL public relations manager Cameron Zimmer said the company posted revenues of $9.2 billion in 2019, with $959 million in earnings.

While that’s down four per cent from the $9.6 billion in revenues in the previous year, it’s still the second-best financial year in the company’s history.

“Even though we’re in a challenging business environment in Western Canada, we can be optimistic because our federation is really strong and galvanized like it has never been before,” Zimmer said.

He said it also means the company can reinvest in communities.

“We have a responsibility to our communities and to Co-op members and to their future, and we feel that we are living up to that responsibility by continuing to use the profits from our revenues to really make investments in the Co-ops that own us,” he added.

Outside TCU Place, about 100 members of Unifor Local 594 set up signs and handed out information to delegates. The union members made the 2 1/2-hour drive from Regina, where they’re involved in a labour dispute with the Co-op refinery.

The meetings inside weren’t affected Saturday; Zimmer said the union is certainly allowed to picket.

What company officials have taken issue with are some of the blockades at various facilities that don’t allow employees access to the business, or to allow them to run the business.

The sides have been engaged in a labour dispute since Dec. 5, when the company locked out its unionized employees after they filed strike notice. Talks with a special mediator are on again in Regina this week.