Is Self‐management Possible? A Study on the Recovered Factories in Brazil

Abstract

The scenario outlined by the productive restructuring associated with the economic crisis and other changes in the Brazilian economy in the 1990s led to the bankruptcy of many businesses and resulted in an increase in unemployment and uncertainty in work relations. Thus, the workers sought other forms of survival, including associated work. Some groups began to organize themselves with the aim of collectively assuming the management of bankrupted factories in order to keep their jobs. The first 'recovered factories' appeared in Brazil. In this context, some supporting institutions were also born, in order to support these experiences, as well as other initiatives within the cooperative and social economy. Our proposal is to make a general analysis of the current situation of the recovered factories in Brazil, discussing whether and how the values of cooperativism and self-management are present in these factories today.1 The social economy brings together different experiences under cooperativism, such as work and production cooperatives, credit cooperatives, solidarity fairs, exchange clubs and associations. Since 2003, we have had a national office in Brazil in charge of the social economy. 2 ANTEAG ended its activities, while Unisol remains a major supporter organ of the social economy in Brazil.

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Cooperativismo como compromiso para la construcción de la paz en Colombia

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