May 26 General Meeting Agenda

Tuesday, May 26, 2026
7:00 p.m.

• LOCATION: Picnic House, Prospect Park, 95 Prospect Park West, between 4th and 5th Street
• ATTENDING IN-PERSON:
  • Registration for in-person attendance is full.
  •  Please present your membership card or a phone displaying your member ID barcode for entry.
• ATTENDING VIRTUALLY: 
  • Registration is required via Member Services by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26.
  • Registered members will receive a unique Zoom link by email after 5 p.m. on May 26.
  • Your Member Services and Zoom email addresses must match for admission to the virtual GM.
  • How to Zoom at the GM

Times in parentheses are suggestions. The Chair may adjust the agenda order or timing as needed.

I. Meeting Warm-up and Chair Committee Introduction (7:00 – 7:10 p.m.)

II. Open Forum (7:10 – 7:25 p.m.)
Members are allotted time to bring one item per person to the attention of the membership for up to one minute. Written items will be recognized first. Items can be submitted anonymously and read by the Chair.

III. General Coordinators Reports (7:25 – 7:50 p.m.)
The General Coordinators provide brief reports on Coop operations, including but not limited to finance, purchasing, logistics, and special projects.

IV. Member Committee Reports (7:50 – 8:00 p.m.)
Committees authorized by the GM can deliver a short report. This time won’t be used for discussion of an agenda item. Depending on the number of committees prepared to report, each committee will have up to 5 minutes to make a report. Committees must notify the Chair in advance of the meeting to help the Chair plan time allocations.

V.  AGENDA (8:00 – 9:30 p.m.)

Item: Annual Revolving Loan Committee Election (10 minutes)
Sponsor: Revolving Loan Committee
Election: Wendy Fleischer will be presented for re-election.

Item: Annual Pension Education Committee Election (15 minutes)
Sponsor: Pension Education Committee
Election: Kathy Martino, Jesse Shapiro, and Allison Thrush will be presented for re-election.

Item: Restore Simple Majority for Boycott Votes (30 minutes)
Sponsors: Abdi-Hakin Dirie and John Caramichael
Vote: Remove article VII.I (a.k.a. the 75% supermajority rule for boycotts) from the “Guide to the General & Annual Meetings”, in effect restoring simple majority voting for boycotts.
Explanation: The supermajority rule for boycotts (requiring a 75% passage rate) is detrimental to the ethos of the Coop and should be removed for several reasons. First, the rule is new in the context of Coop history, having only been voted into effect in 2016; all prior boycott votes since the Coop’s founding have been simple majority. Second, it’s profoundly undemocratic, diminishing member voices that support any boycott. Third, the rule was introduced specifically to prevent members from fairly voting on, and possibly passing, a boycott of Israeli goods. Fourth, it has since prevented the Coop from joining a separate but popular boycott, causing harm as a result. We should return to our tradition of simple majority voting, as afforded to other proposals.

Item: Boycott of Israeli Goods (35 minutes)
Sponsors: Rachel James and Alyce Barr
Vote: Until Israel complies with international law, including by ceasing unlawful discriminatory practices, in its treatment of Palestinians, the Coop will not sell goods produced in Israel (pre-1967 borders) or in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Explanation: Our Coop has a long and proud tradition of over 20 boycotts. In all these instances, our Coop joined a wider movement and used a consumer boycott to push back against injustice. International boycotts helped dismantle apartheid in South Africa, overturn Jim Crow in the American South, and win fair labor standards for workers. It is in this spirit that we invite our fellow Coop members to boycott Israeli products in order to pressure Israel to comply with international law. There is collective power in boycotts.