Worker Cooperatives as Alternative Production Systems

Abstract

WORK AND OCCUPATIONS Bhowmik, Sarker / WORKER COOPERATIVES This article assesses the role of worker cooperatives in reviving industrial production. Although the focus is on the performance of worker cooperatives in Kolkata, India, the study tries to examine the features of such organizations to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Kolkata was once a premier industrial center, but it has witnessed a rapid decline in industries since the 1970s. In some cases, workers attempted to save their jobs by forming cooperatives to manage their industries. Five such cases are discussed in this study. Four of the organizations still exist, whereas one failed in the late 1990s. These cases help in understanding the conditions needed for the survival of such organizations. Support from the state, availability of financial capital, and facilities for marketing are seen as some of the prerequisites. At the same time, the most crucial factors for survival are support from trade unions and maintenance of internal democracy in the decision-making process.

Worker cooperatives as an organizational alternative: Challenges, achievements and promise in business governance and ownership

“…In some communities around the world, centers of entrepreneurship offer space and technical support for cooperatives. We are also witnessing a rapprochement of organized labor and worker cooperatives, given their common goals of employment security and worker voice; this trend, too, has been a positive by-product of the global economic crisis (Bhowmik and Sarker, 2002;Thornley, 1981Thornley, , 1983. In fact, there are now a variety of approaches to workercooperative financial and organizational structure, including succession planning, as well as startups, incorporation of unions especially through the vehicle of social councils, and multi-stakeholder investment models (Witherell et al, 2012).…”

Workers' Cooperatives and Social Enterprise

“…Labor Party support was also crucial historically to the development of kibbutzim production in Israel (Orkin, Gordon, & Dekel, 1999). Similarly, a study of five industrial cooperatives in Kolkata, India, suggests that state support for their efforts was a prerequisite for their success (Bhowmik & Sarker, 2002). The United States, however, has no labor or social democratic party.…”

Protagonismo das Cooperativas na Promoção dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável: Reflexões Teóricas e Agenda de Pesquisa

“…Nesse processo, o que garante a harmonia entre os interesses individuais e as necessidades coletivas diz respeito ao fundamento do equilíbrio. As cooperativas atuam em defesa do respeito aos valores humanos e aos limites impostos pela natureza, e equilibram os pressupostos de produção e consumo consciente, de crescimento e decrescimento, de uso consciente dos recursos naturais e do econômico condicionado ao social; dicotomias que traduzem a ação em movimento de promoção de bem-estar social e condições adequadas de sobrevivência a todos, assumindo assim, papel central no processo de emancipação dos marginalizados na sociedade (BHOWMIK;SARKER, 2002).…”