[box type=”info”]Update: A general meeting has been called “by petition of (the King Co-op Bookstore’s) membership” for Nov. 21. Motions to add a staff member to the Board of Directors, elect a temporary staff observer of the Board of Directors, and create a Strategic Development Committee, which is to develop a plan for promotion of the bookstore by April 1, 2013, will be put forward.[/box]
A group of University of King’s College students has risen up against employee hour cuts at the King’s Co-op Bookstore.
Anna Dubinski, David Etherington, Gabe Hoogers, Harry Sawchuk and Aaron Shenkman say they have submitted a petition to the bookstore’s board chair Stephanie Duchon to call a general meeting to discuss solutions to the store’s $16,000 deficit.
“A group of us have refused to take this news sitting down.”– Anna Dubinski, David Etherington, Gabe Hoogers, Harry Sawchuk and Aaron Shenkman |
“We seek to propose a proactive agenda to address the pressures facing our bookstore,” their letter sent to The Watch Thursday reads. “We believe that our financial problems are better solved by growth, and harnessing the collective power of our cooperative structure.”
As well as a discussion of the store’s current financial problems, the students say they want to see a permanent staff representative position created on the board of directors. They also propose a committee of cooperative members develop a two-year strategic plan for the bookstore.
The bookstore’s manager, Carolyn Gillis, was asked to make 18 hours worth of preliminary cuts to her student employees’ hours starting Nov. 5. The Watch originally reported 10-15 hours before the cuts were made.
She has also been asked to draw up plans for cutting the hours by 25, 50 and 75 per cent for the board to look over this month.
When the news first broke, Duchon told The Watch employment is the “biggest cost” and said, although the decision was difficult, it was the simplest place to start resolving the deficit.
Dubinski, Etherington, Hoogers, Sawchuk and Shenkman call the board’s description of the store’s financial situation “alarmist.”
Dubinski, Etherington, Hoogers, Sawchuk and Shenkman’s letter:
The bookstore’s general meeting notice:
