Why Are Unions Interested in Worker Co-ops?

• Adds to labor union membership
• Allows the labor force to respond to economic downturns with flexibility by decreasing workload and pay rather than laying people off
• Workers empowered through ownership and control of management
• Businesses less susceptible to attack and decimation from capital
• Builds member wealth in the form of enterprise ownership and sustainable wages
• Helps redirect labor unions toward more democratic practices
• Involves organized labor in constructive vs resistance work

 

Why Are Worker Co-ops Interested in Unions?

• Immerses workers in broad and deep economic analysis
• Encourages solidarity with the union movement in advocacy on workers rights
• May offer benefits through the union
• Provides research and organizing expertise, and capital for co-op formation
• Provides model collective bargaining agreements, operating procedures and rules, and grievance procedures with neutral facilitators
• Provides solidarity purchasing arrangements