What is the Federated Co-operatives Network?
About 300 retail co-operatives serve an estimated 1,000,000
individual co-op members from Thunder Bay in north-west Ontario to the Queen Charlotte
Islands on British Columbia's West Coast, and from the U.S. border to the Arctic Circle.
Retail co-operatives are united in a Co-operative Retail System through a
central wholesale organization, the Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL).
In other words, these
300 plus retail co-operatives, including the Wetaskiwin Co-op Association and each of its
members, own Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL).
Through FCL, these retail co-operatives share in the ownership of
other businesses that produces commodities and services. Besides products for retail
sale the FCL organization offers administrative and marketing support; industrial
relations, recruitment and training; external audit services; communications and legal
services; member relations and consultation for retail facility construction to the
member co-operatives.
The Home Office is located in Saskatoon with regional offices in
Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton.
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FCL is an Employer
The Co-operative Retailing System employs 15,000 people across western
Canada. Another 3,000 people are employed within FCL. The Wetaskiwin Co-op
provides employment to over one hundred and fifty people. If you would like a
challenging career with training, advancement/management opportunities please contact your
local association or Central Recruitment, Box 1050, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3M9.
FCL is a Wholesaler
The Federated Co-operatives network is a large-scale wholesaler
that supplies its member retail co-ops with a diverse variety of products including food,
petroleum, crop supplies, livestock feed, and general merchandise such as hardware, tools,
building products, family fashions, gifts, home decorating and garden supplies.
Distribution centres are located in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary
and Edmonton.
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FCL is a Manufacturer
The Federated Co-operatives network is also a manufacturer of
products that range from plywood to fuels.
Feed plants in Saskatoon, Melfort, Moosomin, Weyburn, Brandon,
Calgary and Edmonton.
Propane distribution centres in Kenora, Winnipeg, Carman,
Brandon, Dauphin, Estevan, Yorkton, Regina, Swift Current, Maple Creek, Saskatoon,
Melfort, Meadow Lake, Buffalo Narrows, La Ronge and Airdrie.
A sawmill and plywood plant in Canoe, B.C.
Consumers’ Co-operative Refineries
Limited in Regina, which has an output of over 85,000 barrels per day of finished
petroleum product.
The Grocery People Ltd. (TGP), an Edmonton-based grocery
wholesaler and fresh produce supplier that serves independent food retailers in the four
western provinces, western Ontario, as well as Nunavat, the Yukon and the Northwest
Territories.
Corporate food stores and petroleum operations across western
Canada.
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Who Shares the Profits of FCL?
By being a member of your local Co-op you automatically become part of the FCL
network, and share in the profits made by various divisions of this large organization.
Interprovincial and International Co-operation
Also of note, FCL is a member of Interprovincial Co-operative
Limited (IPCO)s, a national procurement and manufacturing organization. FCL manages
IPCO under special contract with other members. IPCO supplies CO-OP Label products,
consumer products, feed ingredients and farm supplies for its members.
Retail co-operatives are part of
a larger co-operative movement that extends into virtually every area of human enterprise
throughout Canada and around the world, including The
International Co-operative Alliance and Co-operative
Research Farms.
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