It’s hard to put into a job description what 56-year-old Bob Smytherman has done for his local community as a Co-op Member Pioneer.
“Bob is a community advocate legend,” says Dan Flanagan, who runs Dad La Soul, a social enterprise set up about seven years ago to support fathers and prevent male suicide across Sussex.
“I put on family afternoon raves and Bob would turn up and join in. Once he lay on a massive piece of paper on the ground so dads and kids could draw around him to create a life-size pirate. He also helped us apply for funding.”
Until this month, Bob was one of almost 800 Co-op Pioneers – all legends in their local community. Working 16 hours over a four-week period for around £200 a month, these flexible jobs were a lifeline for disabled people, lone parents and those with caring responsibilities.
Managed by coordinators who worked 18 hours a week, jobs included organising charity work, promoting mental wellbeing, connecting people to combat loneliness and picking up litter.
“This was a proper co-operative job,” Bob, 56, from Worthing, West Sussex, says. “It goes back to 1844, with the Rochdale pioneers who set the whole thing up.”
But in June, the Co-op announced it would make 770 grassroots community staff redundant. The roles will be replaced by 61 “Member Engagement Activators”.
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Pioneers told us redundancies came the same week the Co-op launched a major new marketing campaign – with adverts drawing on its history as a community enterprise.
“Owned by you, right by you, is the slogan,” says Jane Green, 55, a former pioneer from Gretna, Scotland. “The same week they are making hundreds of Pioneers redundant. For lots of Pioneers the job is an absolute lifeline.”
Jane and 114 fellow Pioneers have now taken out a formal grievance with the Co-op in the hope of changing bosses’ minds.
Jenny Allen, 40, from Milnrow in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was a pioneer for four years. She has a chronic thyroid disease, and is being tested for a rare genetic disorder. She is also a family carer.
“I have a real passion for the Co-op,” she says. “I met my partner there. I have been on this massive journey through chronic illness and disability and I was so grateful for the Pioneer role because it was the only job I could do four hours a week.
“My disease was utterly debilitating and for the first 18 months that was my sole income. Some Pioneers are up to their eyeballs in skills and qualifications, like I am with my Masters, but they are so grateful for the £9 an hour because their life is so bloody hard. So many Pioneers had carer responsibilities.”
She adds: “The new TV campaign has never been so far removed.”
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The Co-op says the changes are part of a new vision for the company.
A spokesperson from Co-op said: “We have a clear and confident vision – one which places Co-op Member Ownership back at the heart of our Co-op, with an ambition to grow membership from 5 million to 8 million active member-owners by 2030.”
“To support this ambition, we have created around 90 new full and part-time ‘Member Engagement Activator’ roles located regionally across the UK. As a result of this, we have evolved the previous Member Pioneer Programme and we have made a number of redundancies”
“We have been in consultation with our recognised trade union, Usdaw, during this process. We are now in the final stages of concluding the redundancy process and cannot comment further.”
We spoke to another Pioneer in his 50s from the Wirral who has Multiple Sclerosis. He asked not to be named.
“This role was perfect for me because it fitted around living with MS,” he told us. “Some days I struggle to get out of bed, so I was able to work from home. I also know single mums who really need this wage, it helps with a bill or an extra treat.”
“After I go, instead of having four Pioneers in West Cheshire, there’ll be one covering this area and North Wales. As a Pioneer I’m known in my community, people come up to me and ask for support.”
“These are often one-band charities who need support and are doing amazing things. My concern is these good causes will be forgotten.”
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Bob Smytherman – who is also the town crier – shares the same worries, as do the charities he helped. “Last year I supported nine causes through my work and they all received about £5,000,” he says. “For a small charity, it is a massive amount of money.”
Dan Flanagan from Dad La Soul says: “This money from Co-op was absolutely life-changing and Bob was the face of that, he never gave us forms to fill in, but he would actually spend time with us and advocate for us.
“We have a very small team of volunteer dads who run some of the groups and events. Last week we had 400 people in a theatre doing breakdancing battles.”
Nicci Parish runs Billy & Beyond in Worthing in memory of her son who died after taking the drug MDMA. She says Bob has been “instrumental” in the charity gaining confidence, applying for funds and raising awareness.
“This was highlighted when he won Outstanding Contribution in the Worthing Community awards in June this year,” she says.
The job advert for Pioneers once said: “At Co-op, we stand for something different, and we put our communities at the heart of everything we do. As a member pioneer, you’ll play a key part in helping us to build stronger and fairer communities.”
Now 800 Pioneers are asking the Co-op to think again.
Additional reporting by Maryam Qaiser
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