By Dada Jiitendrananda
Both Cooperatives and Trade Unions arise from the need to secure progressive well-being for workers. In the case of trade unions, their democratic organization aggregates the power of workers to bargain for wages and salaries that keep pace with inflation. Trade unions advocate for workers, negotiating between the interests of profit-driven enterprises and their work force. With a global decline in union membership, they often take on other functions such as workplace health and safety to keep relevant.
Co-ops are worker-owned and managed companies. They ensure their purpose of worker well-being by making it the goal of their enterprise. Co-ops are democratic and worker ownership of their enterprise allows them to exercise consensus decision-making throughout the company. The fact that workers make all the decisions with the common good in mind removes the worker/owner tension that exists in private enterprise, extending the principle of democracy and worker agency to all aspects of working life. The workers of the Mondragon Co-ops in the Basque region of Spain, for example, enjoy higher living standards and quality of life than comparable workers in the private sector. Focusing on well-being from the beginning seems to be a better guarantee than bargaining for it from a disadvantaged position.
While the employee model of private enterprise is familiar and is presently the norm, the co-op model is less prevalent and often overlooked. Because our attitudes about the workplace are enculturated, changing them requires education. There has never been a better time to introduce the co-op model of enterprise. The insecurity of work under present conditions is leading to a more comprehensive examination of the factors that create this insecurity. Important in this discussion, are a critique of excessive wealth inequality and environmental concerns. What’s lacking is an understanding of the far-reaching effects that an expansion of the co-op sector of the economy could bring about.
Trade unions have much to gain by being proactive in educating their members and workers in general in co-op organization. Their existence is presently confined to the permitted bargaining arena that is dominated by private enterprise and its considerable political clout. The place of trade unions in this setup is likely to further diminish over time. Their ability to ensure worker well-being may decline accordingly. We see this as access to education, medical care, basic consumables, housing have all declined in real terms over the past half century. While the causes for this are outside the control of trade unions, unions can be part of the solution.
Unions can play a key role in expanding the co-op sector of the economy. Within the union membership many people already know the benefits of co-ops and would leap at an opportunity to participate in an education program for union members and the general public. Likewise, there are co-op organisations that would be happy to liaise with unions in providing trainers and materials. The scope of this collaboration begins with education and in due course tackles the practical implementation of a co-op project. I first proposed this collaboration at a workshop on Post Capitalist Aotearoa in Wellington in April, 2025. The workshop brought together representatives of co-ops and trade unions. The session confirmed the synergy waiting to be expressed and the enthusiasm in many hearts to realize it.