Union co-op model: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
No edit summary Tag: Reverted |
|||
| (5 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
A ''' |
A '''unionized co-operative''' is a [[co-operative]] which is beholden to active legal involvement by [[trade union]]s in the representation of the worker-owners' interests.<ref>[http://www.canadianworker.coop/english/4/index_e434.html ''Canadian Worker Co-op Federation - Unionized Co-ops''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104155420/http://www.canadianworker.coop/english/4/index_e434.html |date=January 4, 2009 }}</ref> |
||
While they may be |
While they may be considered unnecessary in most cases, trade union involvement and membership may be welcomed by some co-operatives, be it to show voluntary solidarity with the organized labor movement's own history of struggle or to allow workers to negotiate collectively for the furtherance of workers' special interests within the more democratic and representative co-operative. |
||
The contract negotiated becomes the baseline of benefits due to the membership and guarantees to the community that the working conditions are not unfavorable. Union membership for worker co-operatives gives the enterprise a legitimate standard of operations.<ref name="name">Bell, Dan "Worker-Owners and Unions --Why Can't We Just Get Along?" {{cite web|url=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID%3D11132 |title=ZNet |Labor | Worker-Owners and Unions |accessdate=July 22, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122221/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11132 |archivedate=September 29, 2007 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.geo.coop/node/200 ''A Strategy for Unions and Coops: Toward Building A Labor-Ownership Economy''] By Lisa Stolarski</ref><ref>[http://www.geo.coop/node/199 ''Unions & Cooperatives: Allies in the Struggle to Build Democratic Workplaces''] By Lisabeth L. Ryder</ref> |
The labor contract negotiated becomes the baseline of benefits due to the membership and guarantees to the community that the working conditions are not unfavorable. Union membership for worker co-operatives gives the enterprise a legitimate standard of operations.<ref name="name">Bell, Dan "Worker-Owners and Unions --Why Can't We Just Get Along?" {{cite web|url=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID%3D11132 |title=ZNet |Labor | Worker-Owners and Unions |accessdate=July 22, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122221/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11132 |archivedate=September 29, 2007 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.geo.coop/node/200 ''A Strategy for Unions and Coops: Toward Building A Labor-Ownership Economy''] By Lisa Stolarski</ref><ref>[http://www.geo.coop/node/199 ''Unions & Cooperatives: Allies in the Struggle to Build Democratic Workplaces''] By Lisabeth L. Ryder</ref> |
||
| ⚫ | |||
In cases where the employed workforce of a co-op make up only a tiny fraction of the total membership, the presence and oversight of an existing trade union (with roots in a particular industry or profession) among the workforce may serve to guard against the possibility of a non-employee membership majority democratically over-ruling a minority of worker members on issues which primarily affect them. |
|||
In some cases, trade unions may have performed an integral or requisite role in the establishment of the co-operative, for instance by facilitating the collective employee buyout of an otherwise floundering business enterprise or branch location (i.e. [[mutualisation]]), either in the form of providing organisational infrastructure for, and democratic legitimation of, such an action, or by managing the financials involved. In such cases, the local union members may remain a part of their parent trade union with all that this entails, and the local membership merely transitions into the initial membership pool of the new co-op. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
==Difference from Union-backed ESOPs== |
==Difference from Union-backed ESOPs== |
||
| Line 16: | Line 12: | ||
==References== |
==References== |
||
{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
||
{{Co-operatives}} |
{{Co-operatives}}{{Organized labor}} |
||
[[Category:Trade unions]] |
[[Category:Trade unions]] |
||
[[Category:Cooperatives]] |
[[Category:Cooperatives]] |
||
Latest revision as of 18:29, 5 February 2024
A unionized co-operative is a co-operative which is beholden to active legal involvement by trade unions in the representation of the worker-owners' interests.[1]
While they may be considered unnecessary in most cases, trade union involvement and membership may be welcomed by some co-operatives, be it to show voluntary solidarity with the organized labor movement's own history of struggle or to allow workers to negotiate collectively for the furtherance of workers' special interests within the more democratic and representative co-operative.
The labor contract negotiated becomes the baseline of benefits due to the membership and guarantees to the community that the working conditions are not unfavorable. Union membership for worker co-operatives gives the enterprise a legitimate standard of operations.[2][3][4]
Firms converting to worker ownership may benefit from union membership because a union provides an experienced structure for integrating the needs of business with democratic influence from workers on management decisions.[2]
Difference from Union-backed ESOPs
[edit]ESOPs are not the same as full-fledged worker co-operatives, as ESOPs still retain a structure which is a mixture of private and co-operative elements.
References
[edit]- ^ Canadian Worker Co-op Federation - Unionized Co-ops Archived January 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Bell, Dan "Worker-Owners and Unions --Why Can't We Just Get Along?" "ZNet |Labor | Worker-Owners and Unions". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
- ^ A Strategy for Unions and Coops: Toward Building A Labor-Ownership Economy By Lisa Stolarski
- ^ Unions & Cooperatives: Allies in the Struggle to Build Democratic Workplaces By Lisabeth L. Ryder