Autorentext

Bruno Roelants is a consultant on cooperatives and international development. He is the former Director General of the International Cooperative Alliance (April 2018-February 2023). Previously, he was Secretary General of CICOPA as of 2002 and of its regional organisation CECOP CICOPA-Europe as of 2006.

Klappentext

The first of its kind, this book shows that enterprises owned and managed by their own staff as cooperatives, estimated to be over 300,000 in the world and to employ over 15 million people, can be economically sustainable in the long term and substantially contribute to community development.

Comprising 26 case studies, the book showcases how by providing membership and control to worker-member-owners and promoting community empowerment, worker-owned cooperatives have built sustainable businesses and fostered democratic decision-making across various sectors and geographies. The analysis emphasises the importance of education and training, capital accumulation facilitated by supportive regulatory frameworks and inter-cooperative systems (networks, agencies, federations and peer groups), and the role of worker cooperativism in promoting equality, community development and environmental sustainability. Worker and social cooperatives are well-positioned to address global challenges by promoting sustainable development, equality and community-centric solutions. Worker cooperativism has shown a strong capacity to innovate socially, but also technologically, including over the past few years, while providing high levels of employment security and welfare.

The book is of great use to practitioners within the cooperative movement, in particular the worker-members of worker and social cooperatives themselves, as well as developers of such cooperatives within the cooperative movement, but also among development NGOs and social movements.

Inhalt

Introduction 1. Worker and social cooperatives within the wider cooperative movement: importance, evolution and the making of universal standards INDIA 2. Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society: a century of excellence KENYA 3. Kigro Recyclers Worker Cooperative: bringing workers out of the informal economy MOROCCO 4. At-Tawafouk cooperative: the unusual story of a Moroccan worker cooperative for waste collection and processing GREECE 5. From workers' struggle to workers' control through a cooperative: the VIOME case in Greece: a cooperative born in the years of the Greek socio-economic crisis FRANCE 6. Introduction to the French worker cooperatives (SCOP) 7. Ethiquable: the path to cooperative fairtrade 8. Parcs & Sports: an emblematic worker buyout 40 years ago, today an innovative business 9. Quonex Alsatel: an ICT business taken over by its staff 10. Ardelaine: a local development cooperative SPAIN 11. Worker cooperatives in Spain: a review of their impressive growth over the last decades 12. Agresta Cooperative Society: a relentless search for forestry solutions to achieve a more liveable society, applying the cooperative principles 13. Gredos San Diego Cooperative Society: education is "the basis for achieving, among all of us, a more supportive, innovative society, capable, fair and free" 14.The Mondragon Group: one of the most important examples of entrepreneurial cooperation between cooperatives ITALY 15. Italian social cooperatives: a reality emerging from worker cooperatives 16. Cauto Social Cooperative: "do, learn, share" 17. GOEL Social Cooperative Consortium: successfully struggling against the Calabrian mafia 18. A unique support system for worker buyouts: the Marcora Law and CFI UNITED KINGDOM 19. The national worker cooperative background in the UK 20. Calvert's North Star Press Ltd: how a printing shop was reborn SWEDEN 21. Vägen Ut! (the way out): a "social worker cooperative" for work integration JAPAN 22.The worker cooperative movement in Japan: history and background 23. Central Worker Cooperative: combining services of general interest and work integration of disadvantaged persons 24. Creators 440Hz: the democratic way of living - from democratic education to democratic work SOUTH KOREA 25. Worker cooperatives in South Korea 26. Happy Bridge cooperative: becoming a worker cooperative through institutionalising and learning CANADA 27. Worker cooperative history and context in Canada 28. Pivot: an architectural cooperative engaged in the community USA 29. Worker cooperatives in the United States of America 30. Cooperative Home Care Associates: worker cooperative development and unionisation hand in hand 31. The Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives: a group of bakery worker cooperatives inspired by Mondragon BRAZIL 32. Uniforja: a story that has been built up for 24 years by workers in a self-management system URUGUAY 33. La Diaria cooperative: Uruguay's second daily newspaper NEW GENERATION COOPERATIVES 34. Networks of IT worker cooperatives in Argentina and globally: FACTTIC and PATIO Conclusions