|
60th
Anniversary
23/04/11
It is a
great pleasure
for me to say
a few words to
everyone on
this really
remarkable
day,
signalling
that we have
achieved 60
years of our
Commonwealth,
from April
28th 1951 to
where we are
now - April
28th 2011 -
YES ! 60
years!
What a
history, a
deeply
chequered
history....
but an
achievement we
can now look
back on! Today
marks a truly
big milestone
for us all… !
Those
sixty years
required a lot
of hard,
reliable work
… many
different
lives came and
went during
all those
years for
there was good
work, good
innovation...
work to keep
up Scott
Bader‘s
standards and
reputation,
especially to
please and
supply our
customers and
always in
competition
with some of
the largest
chemical
companies in
the world
(some of them
no longer
exist ) but we
do ! ! ! ! SO
deep thanks to
those who were
involved… are
still involved
or newly
involved AND
we can all
say… we were..
we are… proud
to be involved
… This is
now the
excitement and
the joy in
today’s
celebration on
reaching April
2011. ALIVE
and KICKING !
!
.. FOR…
It would never
have been
achieved
without the
creation and
founding of
the
Commonwealth,
and everyone‘s
dedication and
hard work for
the creation
of the
Commonwealth
to provide and
to hold us
where we are
today! a
strong
foundation for
all our
companies
world wide…
AND ….as so
well
illustrated on
the covers of
our new
Constitutional
Booklet !
Now a
little
history. After
the second
world war,...
and our move
from London
(Kingsway
offices &
Stratford
plant.. to
Wollaston
1940) we were
joined by new
people, many
from the
forces, all
agreeing
"never again!"
We felt
strongly that
the roots of
violence must
be removed
from the
world. We felt
that just
saying ’no’ to
war was too
late and not
enough. The
unhealthy
growth of
greed and
selfishness in
the business
world was
developing. We
wished to work
for peace not
only between
countries, but
in
relationships
between all
people,
personally,
face to face,
especially
within the
workplace.
People earning
their
living
decently and
building
wealth and
security in
common on a
firm basis
together. We
had learned to
work together
during the
war. We wanted
to work
together for
peace….we
wanted a new
society…one
living out
what the early
Quakers had
said….. we
must "learn to
live in that
power and life
that takes
away the very
occasion of
war" (George
Fox..1651 ! An
early Quaker
Founder ) and
further than
that vital
need… to
contribute to
building an
economic
system that
does not
require any
man or woman
to be thrown
out of
employment to
suit the
system !
That was
our post-war
dream!..( an
altogether
better world..
and we would
show the way !
)
In
particular my
father Ernest
wanted to
teach his
workers how to
develop the
responsibility
and freedom he
had achieved
for himself,
so they could
help to decide
their own
future, within
a stable
working
company.
But it
was not easy
to conceive
and build our
Commonwealth.
The total
conversion of
the 30 year
old private
family company
took time and
many head
aches too. It
took a strike
and three
attempts at
restructuring,
during which
three top
executives
left us to go
to South
Africa with
our
formulations,
before we
worked out the
right way to
forge an
organization
on a basic
democratic
structure: to
respond and to
serve each
other’s need -
as wisely and
responsibly as
is possible in
the world of
work. The
company would
no longer
belong to the
Bader family
for their own
wealth and
control. It
was to be
Common Wealth.
( When the
final papers
were signed in
a London
lawyers office
he saw the
smiles on our
faces and said
"Gentlemen...
I must remind
you that the
invitaton
cards to the
funeral of
capitalism
have not yet
been issued !
)
So the
Commonwealth
was finally
founded in
April 1951,
and uniquely
registered as
a charity to
take over the
original Scott
Bader company.
This
neutralised
all the shares
and
safeguarded us
from being
taken over by
anyone else.
It was given
into the hands
of those in
the workforce
that, having a
normal
contract with
the operating
company -
signed up and
committed
themselves to
a deeper
undertaking -
a covenant
with the
Commonwealth,
undertaking
not only
responsibility
for the
company
assets, but
also for the
fundamental
purposes of
the
Commonwealth,
to develop
their own
livelihood but
also to serve
the wider
community -
the world, and
bring about an
altogether
better way of
living for
themselves and
for coming
generations -
like us!
HOW ARE
WE DOING….?
SIXTY YEARS
LATER ! ? ?
Don't forget
we have to
report our
progress to
the Charity
Commission.
One
little story
…… I once had
the pleasure
of telling an
American in
London that he
could not buy
us - he even
followed me
back to my car
saying ‘but
don’t you know
it’s dollars -
it’s dollars!’
.
Just
think, you
might have
been working
for an
American
company !.. Or
probably not
working at all
!
So far
the
development
and
establishment
of our truly
international
Common
Trusteeship
company, with
its
organisation
of offices and
manufacturing
companies
around the
world, is
certainly a
unique
achievement -
most assuredly
as it is now,
with our
democratic
Members’
Assembly at
the centre -
learning to be
the strong
beating heart
of our
organisation.
And it is
real and in
action. It has
full
recognition in
the
publication of
our new
constitutional
documents
(after 2 years
of thoughtful
and extensive
consultation)
so we now have
the legal
guidance in
our hands to
take us
confidently
forward.
Our
Commonwealth
has very
recently been
publicly
recognised
again, in a
letter in a
leading London
newspaper
(F.T.)
describing us
as ‘a hybrid
organisation’
and, in a
leading
academic
business
journal
(Elsevier), as
having less
‘Moral Debt’
(alongside the
JLP ! ! ! too
) compared to
other "normal"
companies,
notably those
that are
fought and
gambled with
on the stock
exchange…(gambling
with their
workers’ lives
too !) as
Kraft has done
with Cadbury's
recently.
We have
to learn to
hold our world
and its
resources in
common and in
trust. We do
not own the
sun, the rain,
the air we
breathe, or
the earth we
live on and
from. ( Gandhi
) We are beginning
to respect
them: we need
to be united
in our
responsibility
for all our
world’s
resources
..our minerals
and oil and
what we have
created from
them -
wherever we
live or work.
We should use
them "in
common" like a
good family
would, and I
hope we will
with ours -
our
Commonwealth !
……..Let us not
forget
minerals &
oil are
capital &
should NOT be
spent as
income (
Schumacher) !
Recently
an article in
the widely
read ‘Time’
magazine,
hinting at
similar
thinking…
finished with
these words
…..‘Don’t blow
it! Good
planets are
hard to find!’
So..
moving
forward.. with
these 60 years
behind us our
company surely
has the
experience
now, the
strength, the
desire, and
much deeper
drive and
confidence
behind it to
brave this our
21st century.
Thank goodness
we are now
more broadly
based in the
world than
most of us in
the last
century ever
expected… and
our worldwide
companies have
given us wider
horizons to
excite us, and
stimulate our
outlook, and
to make more
imaginative
progress
across the
world…. your
current goal !
In order
to mark this
special
occasion, and
for future
generations to
know you were
here, I would
now like to
invite all of
you to join me
and sign the
declaration to
reconfirm your
commitment to
the purpose
for which the
Commonwealth
was founded… …
as was done in
1951.. (and
once or twice
at other
milestones in
our
constitutional
developments
!)
|