Member-workers

Hypha has ten member-workers, or members, ten of which are full members and two are probationary members. Members are expected to acknowledge the duties of their relationship with Hypha by signing the Membership Acknowledgement.

Being a Good Member

At our 2020 AGM we began the process of defining what it means to be a good member, we came up with the following initial description:

In order to be a good member, we commit to:

  • following Hypha’s Code of Conduct and Conflict Transformation processes
  • being accountable to others, doing the work you've committed to, and coming prepared to all initiatives and meetings
  • making time to learn and grow through co-working and peer sessions
  • actively soliciting and providing feedback as you work on specific tasks
  • taking initiative to better yourself and Hypha
  • setting a high standard for the work you produce
  • cultivating a healthy, collaborative environment, which means celebrating the accomplishments of your team and supporting each other through failure

Our understanding was shaped from the following prompts and examples:

  • Prompts:
    • How do you feel accomplished or that you have completed a task?
    • What are the things you do before you come to a meeting?
    • What do you need to (effectively) make a decision together?
    • When do you feel like you've collaborated with hypha members well, what did you do?
  • What our member statement is / isn't:
    • IS:
      • Skill-based, looking at individual capacities
      • "We" and "us"-focused (i.e., "I think this will help us work better together")
    • ISN'T:
      • List of working group or initiative responsibilities
      • Managerial ("I think that others need to do...")
  • Examples:

    Self-Management is the art of autonomously recognizing what needs to be done, combined with the initiative to work cooperatively, in order to best meeting the collective needs of yourself and the cooperative.

    • Casa Nueva Careful listening, summarizing and synthesis help us reach a good knowledge and understanding of what everyone needs, and find solutions everyone can accept. Put simply:
      • good listening enables us to hear what others are saying;
      • summaries help remind us of the key points in the discussion and check we have the same understanding;
      • synthesis is the skill that allows us to draw together different views and ideas to form one proposal that works for everyone.
      • Seeds for Change "Skills for Consensus"

Members and Employees

Every member is both a member and an employee of Hypha, however there is a distinction between member duties and employee work. Our bylaws do not allow for members to be contractors and we do not employ dependent contractors.

Employees, as well as contractors and collaborators engaged in certain initiatives with Hypha, are expected to sign an Employee and Contractor Intellectual Property Agreement and comply with tax obligations as applicable to them.

A member:

  • Has completed a membership application (and/or been officially welcomed into the membership)
  • Is a founding, or permanent, member if they are one of the seven members who founded Hypha
  • Is considered:
    • active if they have not requested to change their status
    • inactive if they have requested to change their status
      • Inactive members are unable to vote, serve as a director, participate in projects, or work as an employee for so long as they remain so
      • Inactive members can request to become active at any time

An employee:

In addition, people may had additional relationships with Hypha:

A contractor:

  • Works as an independent contractor under a contract for service with Hypha
  • Provides services clearly specified in a time-limited contractor agreement
  • May be a natural person or incorporated entity, domestic or foreign

A collaborator:

  • Participates in open Hypha activities and projects without a formal employment relationship

Note: As a worker co-operative, there are specific conditions regarding members and employees, addressed in Article [1], [144.1] and [145] of the Ontario Co-operative Corporations Act. A summary is provided below:

Article 1 (1) "Worker co-operative" means a co-operative whose primary object is to provide employment to its members and as a condition of membership that, except in certain circumstances, a member must be employed by the co-operative (roughly at least 75 % of all employees are members of the co-operative, there are specific exemptions).

Article 1 (1.2) (and repeated in 144.1 (2)) An employee is not a permanent full-time employee if they are employed for a probationary period of one year or less; are employed under a contract for a term of two years or less; or have regular hours of work [that are] less than fifteen hours per week.

Article 145 (4)

The co-operative must maintain a minimum of three members.

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