Introduction

The experiences of people at work have attracted increasing interest in recent years (Taylor et al, 2017). This has been driven by numerous factors, including the impact of new technologies on jobs, the decline of trade unionism (especially in the UK), the growing casualization of work, the aftermath of the financial crash of 2008 and, most recently, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. All this has generated growing concern about the quality of work and its impact on the wellbeing of workers (Oswald et al, 2015). Worker co-operatives have played an important role in responding to these factors, offering secure and good quality work even in times of crisis (Roelants et al, 2012; Birchall, 2013; Berry and Bell, 2018). This has been attributed to their dual socio-economic purpose and solidarity with their community, and structural characteristics including democratic decision-making and worker ownership (Cheney et al, 2014; Peredo and McLean, 2020; Billiet et al, 2021). More broadly, there has long been strong advocacy of the ethical dimension of cooperative commercial enterprise, notably emphasizing member democracy (Rothschild, 2009), concern for the wider community and the environment (Novkovic, 2008; Mellor, 2012; Phelan, McGee and Godon, 2012), and a commitment to high standards of working conditions (Restakis, 2010; Ruccio, 2011; Carlone, 2013).

Taking two UK worker co-operatives, this chapter will explore the extent to which the experiences of worker-members differ from those working in ‘mainstream’ commercial organizations. More specifically it will explore how worker ownership and democratic member control can enable workers to put social and environmental values into practice, and through this, cocreate work that is meaningful. Drawing on secondary literature on worker cooperatives, the chapter will draw some tentative conclusions about common experiences across Europe, and the extent to which they reflect the UK examples analysed. The chapter draws upon the increasingly complex debate about what constitutes ‘meaningful’ work, and the extent to which cooperative experiences meet these definitions.

Worker co-operatives and work as a field of study

There are extensive literatures on ‘decent’ and ‘meaningful’ work, and on worker co-operatives. This section will lay out some of the key arguments and findings in these fields and will provide a wider context for the indepth studies later in the chapter.

The three sections of this book move from local case studies of cooperativism to examples of systemic designs, especially in the form of CWB, that incorporate co-operation in the widest sense of the word. The Preston Model and its budding offshoot in Japan are just two examples of a changing mindset in how life, space and work can be organized, with human beings taking centre stage. The Preston Model is highlighted in this book because of recent attention to its successes and influence and its focus on co-operation. The Preston Model has captured the imagination and ignited hopes and desires for change. We do not claim that the Preston Model is uniquely innovative. Not only does it have its roots in Cleveland and Mondragon, but there are many versions of CWB or the social economy dotted around the world, each with its local touch. Some are recent, as in Barcelona or Cincinnati, and others have been established for several decades, as is the case of the ‘Chantier’ system of social and economic innovation in Quebec (Mendell, 2009). It does seem, however, that the development of the Preston Model is uniquely situated at a moment of social and economic change in the UK with significant outreach and influence – as in the national economies of Scotland and Wales – that is not common to all such systemic innovations.

It is no longer incontestably accepted that the neoliberal modality of the capitalist system based squarely on competition and hierarchical structures of reward can solve its own problems in a world beset by multiplying and recurring crises. This is why a growing number of academics and public intellectuals argue in favour of market plurality and many endorse the cooperative model of organizing as a promising alternative to market orthodoxy, capable of advancing more socially balanced and participatory practices (Stiglitz, 2002; Porritt, 2007; Restakis, 2010; Birchall, 2013). The authors of this book align with this thinking and have engaged with the task of outlining thoughts of an exciting future of co-operation as a force that can counteract the failures and shortcomings of the neoliberal way of engaging the market and the competition that accompanies it.

Background to the book

The background to this book is an almost overwhelming and growing list of international tensions of various kinds: a pandemic, the climate emergency, the struggle for social justice as manifested in the Black Lives Matter movement, an alarming rise of extremist right-wing political positions, the politics of austerity, wage stagnation, growing inequalities, the refugee crises and, at the time of writing, the ‘cost of living’ crisis in Europe; all, combined with and partly as a result of the Russian military conflict with Ukraine, are causing serious social and economic uncertainties that bring into question previously held socio-economic expectations of citizens in 21st-century Europe. The present volume cannot hope to pretend to offer solutions to these multiple challenges, but nevertheless intends to present the reader with a consideration of the potential of co-operatives and cooperation as a means of reconstructing some of the damaged aspirations of the 20th century, as the 21st gets underway.

It is a premise of this book to argue that co-operatives per se are an important and globally relevant organizational form for business. They are an economic force with a wide-ranging social and economic imprint. In Europe alone, agricultural co-operatives process 60 per cent of all agricultural produce and there are 4,000 co-operative banks with 50 million members and a market share of 20 per cent (Dilger et al, 2017; Gouveia, 2012; World Coop Monitor, nd). The UK co-operative sector alone showed a ￡39.7 billion turnover in 2021, employed 250,128 people and had 13.9 million members (Co-op Economy, 2021). Over time, co-operatives have credibly established a reputation of organizations being most resilient to calamities and highly productive in pooling resources to achieve both economic and social value-driven outcomes (Roelants, 2013). Despite these facts, business and management literature often give the impression that co-operatives exist on the periphery of the modern economy and, as a result, the contribution of co-operatives to the GDP and their wide-ranging social imprint does not translate into a matching societal recognition (Develtere et al, 2008).

Introduction

As the author wrote this chapter, he had an eye on BBC TV's Digging for Britain (BBC 2, 16/1/2022), one section of which covered an archaeological dig in Rochdale, revealing fascinating artefacts of Rochdale's industrial history. Celebrated TV commentator Alice Roberts commented upon Rochdale's ‘small part’ in the history of industrialization. One can only assume that she is unaware that the town bequeathed a model of democratic cooperative commercial organization which spread around the world. Having considered the importance of Rochdale Town Hall, it is a great pity she did not walk just 100 yards from the dig site to the building on Toad Lane which housed the first coop store (now a museum) for another, arguably more important, example of ‘living’ archaeology, and the origin of Rochdale's greatest contribution to global development. But she is not the first popular academic to ignore co-operation. The celebrated BBC TV Series Turn Back Time: The High Street, aired in 2010, used a reality format to examine the evolution of high street retail in the Somerset town of Shepton Mallet. No reference was made to the fact that the town had the largest and most successful cooperative society in the county. That the programme made great claims to be educational in intent makes the omission even more egregious. Yet both instances allude to a gradual retreat of co-operation from British popular consciousness.

Until early in this century in Britain the word ‘coop’ frequently conjured up nostalgic memories of ‘divi’ numbers (member registration numbers used for recording purchases from the coop store by members so that dividends could be calculated) among a fast-disappearing older generation. For many elderly working-class people the coop symbolized a fixed point in daily life in the first half of the 20th century; the local store which rewarded loyal customer-members was a reliable fixture for several generations of working-class communities. But the nostalgia itself suggests an important story in the development of the British social economy. As the later 20th century wore on, such recollections became rarer, and the coop store was increasingly regarded as a fading feature of a disappearing industrial social landscape.