ABSTRACT
The nomination of a new Frome Monymusk Land Company (FMLCo) board—with worker representatives, though only one was from Sugar Workers Coordinating Council (SWCC)—was the first indication that the government recognized the constraints to its cooperativization program. The task of transforming the estate cane lands to cooperatives occupied only a small place in FMLCo's organization and in its agenda for action. Profit sharing and the involvement of workers in management provide the advantages of a Cooperative and yet is a more flexible arrangement. Once the government finally decided that the pilot cooperatives would start in 1975, it was SWCC which played the major role at the grass roots in mobilizing and preparing the workers for the changeover. The pilot cooperatives represented another locus of conflict between SWCC and the Land Company. Beginning in 1974, Monymusk workers were periodically also attending Cooperative Department residential courses on co-op management.
