Labour as a Commons: The Example of Worker-Recuperated Companies

Abstract

This article argues that labour can be understood as a commons, located in the discussion of how commons can advance the transformation of social relations and society. To manage labour as a commons entails a shift away from the perception of labour power as the object of capital’s value practices, towards a notion of labour power as a collectively and sustainably managed resource for the benefit of society. Given that social change is largely a result of social struggle, it is crucial to examine germinal forms of labour as a commons present in society. I focus my analysis on worker-recuperated companies in Latin America and Europe. Worker-recuperated companies are enterprises self-managed by their workers after the owners close them down. Despite operating within the hegemonic capitalist market, they do not adopt capitalist rationality and are proven viable. Worker-recuperated companies offer a new perspective on labour as a commons.

Transformative perspectives on labour geographies – The role of labour agency in processes of socioecological transformations

“…The conducted literature review evinces the existence of various company forms in which ownership and decision rights have been transformed (e.g. Azzellini, 2016; Larrabure, 2017; Vieta, 2015). In those types of companies, individual workers are in charge of their own time, skills and resources.…”

“…Yet, while the occurrence of worker‐owned/managed companies is deeply interwoven with their respective sociogeographical contexts, so far, they have mainly been analysed from sociopolitical perspectives (e.g.Azzellini, 2016; Larrabure, 2017; Vieta, 2015). A spatial perspective could expand the knowledge on the reciprocal influence of these companies' emergence as well as their actions and the sociogeographical contexts they are embedded in.…”

The Role of Traders and Small Businesses in Urban Social Movements: The Case of London's Workspace Struggles

“…Urban social movement research has explored struggles over sites of collective consumption, such as housing, public space, public and community services and the environment (Leitner et al ., 2007; Dikeç and Swyngedouw, 2017), while labour geographers have focused specifically on unions’ experimentation/collaboration with community organizing and organizations (Wills, 2001; 2008; 2012; Ruiters, 2014; Holgate, 2015). Research on the growing number of worker‐recuperated companies, including as a response to financial crisis in parts of Latin America since the 1990s, has also revealed close connections with surrounding neighbourhood organizations along with examples of housing and community projects and joint worker/community takeovers (Azzellini, 2018). There is also a well‐developed body of work spanning development studies, urban policy, and informal economy research on the struggles of informal and street traders in the global South (Jones and Varley, 1994; Bromley, 2000; Mitullah, 2003; Skinner, 2008; 2009; Brown et al ., 2010).…”

The common in higher education: a conceptual approach

“…When it comes to the common, the main benefits that accrue from higher education practices organized along these lines are the potential for growing social autonomy and expanded social reproduction (Roggero 2011). Institutions, like higher education cooperatives (Neary and Winn 2017) or universities of the common (Pusey 2017), stimulate internal and external (local/ national/global) cooperation, secure and stabilize working relations within the organization by submitting them under democratic control (Azzellini 2016), and overcome academic hierarchies that are detrimental for the progress of knowledge production and dissemination.…”