Work Together Issue 4 - May 2011

Work Together

The global information magazine on cooperatives and worker-owned enterprises in industry, services and crafts

May 2011 - Issue N°4

JWCU, the Japanese organisation for worker‟s

cooperatives is reporting an extremely hard situa-

tion within their members with the aftershocks that

are still hitting the country. A relief fund has been

set up to help the cooperatives. Report on page 24.

IN THIS ISSUE

INTERVIEW WITH ISABELLE DURANT

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN

PARLIAMENT (page 14)

SUSTAINABLE EMPLOYMENT:

A KEY FOR THE FUTURE OF

EUROPE (page 7)

SIGNS OF HOPE FOR

COOPERATIVES

IN EGYPT (page 23)

Japan‟s recovery JWCU set up a relief fund

COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISES

BUILD A BETTER WORLD (page 3) EDITORIAL 2

INTERCONTINENTAL 3

EUROPE 7

INTERVIEW 14

SOUTH AMERICA 16

NORTH AMERICA 19

AFRICA 22

ASIA 24

SPECIAL EDITION ON

SUSTAINABLE EMPLOYMENT

When CECOP requested that I

write the magazine‟s editorial that

you have in your hands, I had two

thoughts: on the one hand the re-

sponsibility of writing words that

include all those cooperative feel-

ings and thoughts and, on the other

hand, I felt the satisfaction of being

able to talk about a topic which I

defend at every possible opportu-

nity.

Sustainable employment is a funda-

mental pillar on which our business

model is built, and it is linked to

the International Co-

operative Alliance

(ICA)‟s cooperative

principles : the sev-

enth principle is

about the community

interest. Coopera-

tives work to achieve

their communities‟

sustainable develop-

ment through poli-

cies approved by their members.

Everyone knows that cooperatives

are the companies that make the

most effort to maintain long-lasting

employment embedded in the terri-

tory.

Under the Treaty of Lisbon, and

within it, Chapter II of the Charter

of Fundamental Rights, sets out

various points about the freedom to

choose an occupation, the right to

engage in work and the freedom to

conduct a business. Also, the Chap-

ter III of the Charter analyzes

equality between men and women;

based on the ICA goals, we note

that it appears to promote and

strengthen self-governing coopera-

tives throughout the world and pro-

mote sustainable human develop-

ment and human, economic and

social progress.

From COCETA, we are actively

working for the inclusion of social

clauses in the contractual docu-

ments for public tenders, based pri-

marily on employment sustainabil-

ity and its characteristics. We can-

not forget that cooperatives are an

ideal company model to work with

public administration; while tradi-

tional enterprises give contracts

according to the length of time of a

specific service, cooperatives try to

keep people employed for longer

and they do not only maintain jobs,

but this has an impact

on local areas, with

all the benefits that

this entails.

Another important

concept in this field

is Corporate Social

R e s p o n s i b i l i t y

(CSR). According to

the Word Business

Council for Sustain-

able Development, CSR is : "the

commitment that takes a company

to contribute to sustainable eco-

nomic development through col-

laboration with employees, their

families, local community and soci-

ety in order to improve quality of

life”. This idea is dynamic and is

constantly evolving and changing,

but it is vital and it is in harmony

with sustainable employment.

I hope you find this Work Together

issue interesting and that it makes

us think and further develop these

topics. Happy reading!

Work Together Issue Nº 4 - May 2011

Work Together is the magazine of

the world (CICOPA) and European

(CECOP) Confederation of coopera-

tives and worker-owned enterprises

active in industry and services

CICOPA is a sectoral organisation of

the International Cooperative

Alliance (ICA).

Avenue Milcamps 105 - BE-1030

Brussels, Belgium

Contact: [email protected]

www.cicopa.coop

www.cecop.coop

SECRETARY GENERAL

Bruno Roelants

COORDINATION AND EDITION

Olivier Biron and Leire Luengo

COLLABORATORS

Virginia Pérez and Natalia Acerenza

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Jorge Cabrera for jcse

TRANSLATIONS AND PROOFREAD-

ING OF THE THREE LINGUISTIC

VERSIONS

Guy Boucquiaux, Francine Feret,

Arantza Garrido Altuna, Helen Rob-

inson and Celia Martín del Pozo

PICTURES

Self-production and copyright-free

photographs from flickr.com

The editorial staff would like to thank

all the members of CICOPA and CE-

COP CICOPA Europe for their con-

tribution.

Edited in English, French and Spanish

Manuel Mariscal Sigüenza is vice-

president of CECOP, vice-president of

COCETA (The Spanish Confederation

of workers' cooperatives) and president

of FAECTA (Federation of coopera-

tives enterprises of Andalusia).

“Sustainable

employment is

a fundamental

pillar on which

our business

model is built...”

2 |

„Cooperative Enterprises build a

better world‟ will be the slogan of

the 2012 United Nations Interna-

tional Year of Cooperatives. It

highlights the contribution of coop-

eratives to socio-economic develop-

ment, in particular recognizing

their impact on poverty reduction,

employment generation and social

integration: "Cooperatives are a

reminder to the international com-

munity that it is possible to pursue

both economic viability and social

responsibility", declared the

United Nations Secretary-General,

Ban Ki-moon.

The UN resolution which proclaimed

this international year invites all

member states to consider taking ac-

tion towards establishing national

mechanisms, such as national com-

mittees, to prepare for, observe and

follow up on the International Year of

Cooperatives.

The mains objectives are to increase

public awareness about cooperatives

and their contributions to socio-

economic development and promote

the formation and growth of coopera-

tives. The International Year of Coop-

eratives encourages governments to

establish policies, laws and regula-

tions conducive to the formation,

growth and stability of cooperatives.

The United Nations have also re-

cently revealed the logo of the Inter-

national Year which features seven

persons working together to lift and

support a cube. It evokes the defini-

tion of a cooperative enterprise as

“an autonomous associations of per-

sons united voluntarily to meet their

common economic, social, cultural

needs and aspirations, through a

jointly owned and democratically

controlled enterprise” 1. ■

| 3

'Co-operative Press' has recently

launched 'Dash.coop', a website that

displays news and blog feeds from

cooperatives across the world. It also

provides an interactive dashboard for

cooperators and anyone interested in

the sector to view feeds by subject or

through custom searches.

'Dash.coop' has the particularity that

users have control over the site. Any-

one can join up and add feeds to con-

tribute to a source of information

about cooperatives. Any article can

be shared through Twitter, Facebook,

MySpace, Delicious or email. A more

in-depth analysis allows feeds to be

viewed by country, as well as the

most popular subjects, such as con-

ferences and special events.

'Dash.coop' editor Anthony Murray

emphasizes the wealth of co-

operative news: “Dash.coop is here to

share this information and coopera-

tives together”. Moreover, he insists

that cooperatives need to be in con-

stant communication and see what

others are doing, especially during

the global recession and in the up-

coming International Year of Coop-

eratives in 2012. ■

For more information, please check:

http://social.un.org/coopsyear

Website: http://www.dash.coop

1 ILO Recommendation 193/2002 on the

promotion of cooperatives

n 8th March 2011 it was the

centenary of International

Women's Day. To mark this occa-

sion, Work Together is coming

back to the crucial role of women

in worker cooperatives.

Despite signs of progress in gender

equality over the past 15 years, there

is still a significant gap between

women and men in terms of job op-

portunities and quality of employ-

ment, according to the International

Labour Office (ILO). In turn, women

have always had a strong presence in

worker cooperatives given that this

business model combines economic

viability and social responsibility.

The agro-tourism women‟s coopera-

tive TO Kastri, is an example. Since

2000, Anna Darzenta and 27 active

housewives came together to begin

working outside the home and

opened their own catering company

in the Greek island of Syros where

there is high unemployment. The

EQUAL program for female entre-

preneurs, funded through the Euro-

pean Social Fund, has helped them.

"With an egalitarian ethos, participa-

tory decision-making, common own-

ership and commitment to goals be-

yond the motive of profit, coopera-

tives are expanding opportunities for

women in local economies and socie-

ties throughout the world", declared

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

at the occasion of last year‟s Interna-

tional Day of Cooperatives, for which

the motto was 'Cooperative enter-

prises empower women'. About gen-

der equality, he also underlines that

the cooperative approach is not only

an economically sustainable model,

but also an enterprise system in

which there are equality indicators

between men and women above the

rest of the business formulas. Ac-

cording to the Spanish Confederation

of Worker Cooperatives (COCETA),

49% of people in worker coopera-

tives are women. Amongst them,

39% have directors‟ positions, though

in other enterprises which do not

adopt this model, the percentage of

women that work in these positions is

barely 6%.

In Italy, according to ANCPL-

Legacoop, the presence of women in

worker cooperatives in the fashion

industry is 95%, a significant exam-

ple is the cooperative Stienta CAPA

(Rovigo), consisting of around 100

workers who are nearly all members,

in a leading producer of the Dolce &

Gabbana range which conducts an

annual turnover of more than three

million euros. In others sectors where

there are fewer women, such as the

metalworks, chemical and paper pro-

duction sector had a 20% of female

presence in directors‟ positions. In

addition, during the last six years the

female presence in the manufacturing

sector has increased significantly

from both the qualitative and quanti-

tative point of view.

The New Zealand China Friendship

Society (NZCFS), and the Interna-

tional Committee for the Promotion

of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives

(ICCIC), have begun a project with

Shaanxi Province Women's Federa-

tion, focused on encouraging Chinese

women in cooperatives. The first

phase of training has finished,

and vice chair of ICCIC, Dave Brom-

wich, believes that “cooperatives give

women an opportunity to lead, and

help them to develop confidence in

themselves”.

While the world economy is facing

difficult challenges, cooperatives

provide a valuable service to many

women, especially those in vulner-

able communities. The cooperative

business model is more resilient in a

crisis situation compared to capitalis-

tic companies because of the very

fact that those workers are the owners

of the company and therefore, it is a

model which prevails over individual

capital and in which profits are

shared with a collective approach. ■

O

Two workers from the Spanish cooperative Sherlimp

4 |

ossano Rimelli was elected

as president of CECOP-

CICOPA Europe at its extraordi-

nary general assembly which was

held on 4th November in Brus-

sels. With this election, he also

becomes vice-president of CI-

COPA for Europe. Industrial ex-

pert, graduated in economy and

business, Rossano Rimelli has

been active in the cooperative

movement in Italy for more than

25 years.

Since 2007, he has been General Di-

rector of ANCPL, the sectoral or-

ganisation of Legacoop for industrial

cooperatives. He succeeds to Felice

Scalvini who has recently been

elected co-president of Cooperatives

Europe. Felice Scalvini had been

president of CECOP for the last 14

years, a period that saw historical

changes in Europe, and that was

marked by a profound transformation

of the institutional architecture of the

international cooperative movement,

to which he himself contributed.

At his election, Rossano Rimelli de-

clared: "Being president of CECOP

means having the important duty to

represent the whole organisation. But

the activity of the organisation itself

requires the involvement of most

members. I am also convinced of the

fact that, beyond the cooperative sec-

tor in which one evolves, what we do

must be seen as an entrepreneurial

activity. In Italy, Spain, France and

many other countries in Europe, co-

operatives have a great competitive

capacity, at both national and inter-

national levels, and facts show that

cooperation can be done in many

different ways. In this time of crisis,

cooperatives can make a difference

in front of other more lucrative forms

of enterprises”. ■

R

Rossano Rimelli

| 5

ed del Sur (Southern Net-

work) has launched in 2010

an EU co-financed project,

where processes focused in cross-

border cooperation are rein-

forced. Organizations from Bra-

zil and Uruguay, respectively

UNISOL and FCPU, are already

taking important steps in this

regard (read more about Red del

Sur on page 16).

Last February, a Brazilian delega-

tion, formed by cooperatives and

government officials of Brazil‟s Río

Grande do Sul state, visited Uru-

guayan companies and established

several agreements with government

representatives from Uruguay.

Hence the collaboration that would

involve various links of the textile

chain based on recycled polymers.

Classifiers cooperatives (recyclers),

firstly from Brazil, would do the

primary job of collecting plastic con-

tainers to transform them in clean

sheet of polyethylene terephthalate

(PET)-kind of clear plastic. This

would be the raw material needed by

Coopima, an Uruguayan cooperative

that would be in charge of producing

the polyester fiber which would re-

turn to Brazil to be processed by

Coopertextil, a self-managed textile

spinning mill.

This regional network would join

and complement Justa Trama, a

chain of fair trade fabric production

and garment based in Brazil and in-

volving about six companies. There-

fore, this provides a great opportu-

nity, from a regional strategy, to pro-

vide jobs to several sectors of the

Social Economy of both countries. ■

R

Brazilian cooperatives delegation

and officials visit Coopima, Uruguay

he Spanish audiovisual pro-

duction cooperative m30m

made a documentary about coop-

eratives around the world and

are currently in the editing proc-

ess of the first episode recorded in

Chile. They are also working on

the development of the second

episode that will be filmed in Co-

lombia; they have conducted an

initial investigation into the sector

during the month of November.

The balance of this first approach has

been "very positive", as pointed out

by the spokesperson, Ana Sánchez:

“Firstly, because we have known the

cooperative movement first hand and

at the same time, we could share and

exchange experiences. We believe

that the cooperative movement needs

to be more interconnected.”

The series will be initially available

on the Internet, though m30m hope to

find another way of broadcasting in

the future, such as on public televi-

sion. The production company has

expressed their desire to find other

European audiovisual companies, who

are also cooperatives, and with whom

they can approach the project in col-

laboration.

For the time being, the series has no

institutional financial support. M30m

is looking for potential project pro-

moters in the countries where they are

broadcasting and also on an interna-

tional level. In fact, the episodes

filmed in Chile are being financed

with cooperative resources and with

the help of the International Centre for

Social and Cooperative Economy

(CIESCOOP) at the University of

Santiago in Chile and the Andalusia

Foundation School of Social Econ-

omy.

Increasing visibility

The objectives of this documentary

are, on the one hand the visibility of

the cooperative movement in the

world; to get to know the countries

and regions worldwide through the

companies and cooperative organisa-

tions, and display the values and the

cooperative principles in practice. At

the same time, the cooperative sector

wants to start a world meeting forum

and promotion of the cooperative

identity.

“Many members of cooperatives are

aware that there is a challenge in ex-

plaining what we do, in order to show

what we are and how we do it. Per-

haps we engage ourselves more in

action than words, but we must learn

to speak out for the world to know us

and recognise us”, says Ana Sanchez.

The cooperative idea is a phenomenon

present in most countries, and it has

survived and has grown, even though

their conditions have not always been

favorable. “We believe that sharing

experiences in each country will allow

us to strengthen the cooperative

movement”, Ana Sanchez says. “It is

an inclusive and supportive way of

doing business, which responds to

peoples‟ needs. Although the coopera-

tive also has something unique in each

region and that is where we are con-

vinced that sharing the experiences of

individual countries will allow us to

strengthen the cooperative move-

ment”.

Cooperative spreading

The m30m cooperative, which has

been based in Andalusia for nine

years, has an aim to make coopera-

tives and social economy more popu-

lar. It is not the first time m30m have

done this type of audiovisual work; in

2003 it began making nine documen-

tary episodes called The Andalusian

Social Economy promoted by CEPES

Andalucía. In 2009 they began the

production of another series for the

same entity called Undertaking from

the Social Economy.

“In 2008 we started to consider the

importance of going beyond the

sphere of our region and we began

designing a self-produced series that

allows us to broadcast and learn about

the cooperative movement throughout

the world. We wanted to experience

new things and to report them”, says

Ana Sanchez. ■

T

The Mundart artisans‟ cooperative in Santiago de Chile

6 |

For more information, please check:

http://www.m30m.com/

ECOP - CICOPA Europe

launched a campaign on

sustainable employment high-

lighting the fact that worker co-

operatives, social cooperatives

and other types of enterprises

owned by their workers allow a

more sustainable type of employ-

ment. Why? In fact, those enter-

prises are controlled by owners-

stakeholders who are actively

present on the territory, and are

aimed to satisfy their common

economic, social, cultural and/or

environmental needs and aspira-

tions.

“I really believe that people become

empowered by doing things them-

selves, not by having handouts” ex-

plains Becky Johnson from Who

made your pants?, a worker coopera-

tive formed to empower marginalised

women by providing flexible em-

ployment, education and a social and

community space. For this campaign,

CECOP has been collecting stories of

cooperative members from all over

Europe. All those testimonies are

presented on the campaign website

(www.sustainableemployment.eu).

The website includes also news and

videos.

In recent years, there has been a

growing interest for the worker coop-

eratives model. A largely unsustain-

able financial-economic system at a

global level paved the way towards

the global crisis which has left entire

EU member states in a very critical

situation. Since then, cooperatives

have appeared as generally more re-

silient to the crisis than the average of

enterprises, also in terms of jobs, and

as a realistic option to save enter-

prises and jobs through the restructur-

ing of enterprises in crisis or without

heirs. Nevertheless, cooperatives in

general and worker cooperatives in

particular suffer from a lack of recog-

nition in European employment poli-

cies. “An emblematic example of that

lack of recognition can be found in

the EU 2020 strategy”, underlines

CECOP secretary general, Bruno

Roelants. However, the recently pub-

lished European Commission Com-

munication on the Single Market Act

does recognize that the cooperative

sector is more vibrant than ever 1.

Despite the enthusiasm cooperatives

have enjoyed in the past few years,

the CECOP campaign does not pic-

ture them as the medicine that would

cure all the diseases. As any other

type of company, cooperatives have

many problems but, most of the time,

these are solved jointly by their mem-

bers. “It is not easy to operate as a

cooperative. The initial enthusiasm

soon gives way to individualism and

demands that can easily endanger the

integrity of the company. It is there-

fore absolutely necessary to share the

issues and problems faced by all

members of the workforce with the

fierce conviction that all actions are

taken in the common interest” ex-

plains Elena Purinan from the Aus-

sametal cooperative in the North of

Italy.

All members have their word to say

and are directly interested in the suc-

cess of the business thanks to the re-

distribution of surplus: “If more busi-

nesses were run this way, with highly

motivated worker owners, then eve-

ryone would be better off”, says Scott

Muir, a worker from Infinity Food in

the UK.

Recently, CECOP wrote a letter to

several high-level EU decision mak-

ers to raise their awareness on the

worker cooperative business model.

The letter was sent to EU Commis-

sioners László Andor (Employment),

Antonio Tajani (Enterprise) and Mi-

chel Barnier (Internal Market), sev-

eral MEPs, Commission civil ser-

vants, etc. As stated in the letter, “by

providing sustainable employment in

economically sustainable enterprises

geared towards the long term, we

consider ourselves to be part of a

wider socio-economic trend, which is

trying to generate and distribute long-

term wealth in the territories, going in

the opposite direction of the tenden-

cies which caused the crisis”. ■

C

1 European Commission Communication

COM(2011) 206/4: “Single Market Act :

Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen

confidence” - http://s.coop/15v6.

| 7

The letter is available on the

campaign website at

http://www.sustainableemployment.eu

he transformation of companies

into cooperatives is an option

which is not always taken into ac-

count as part of corporate restructur-

ing due to a crisis or in businesses

without heirs. The global economic

crisis has demonstrated the success of

this entrepreneurial leap towards a

more democratic and more sustain-

able employments. Examples of suc-

cessful buyouts of enterprises in cri-

sis by their workers are numerous.

Several guidelines have been recently

published for all those interested in

joining the cooperative movement,

especially in the UK, Spain and

France. The Spanish Confederation

of Worker Cooperatives (COCETA)

and, in France, the General Confed-

eration of worker cooperatives (CG

Scop) have published very practical

guides, which describe the most im-

portant steps to take and which are

aimed at future developers. Each con-

federation has given its national

touch (legislation, financing, business

environment, etc.), but both pursue

the same objective: to publicize and

promote the cooperative option.

The guide published by COCETA

offers very practical information,

including several tables that allow

new cooperatives to establish a diag-

nosis in relation to the starting point

found where the new entity should

work more cooperatively and thor-

oughly to ensure its success. Both,

CG SCOP as COCETA include a list

of tools on which these companies

can find support, such as entities or

public and private institutions, which

specialize in providing assistance in

such situations. COCETA‟s guide

also includes a list of public grants

and technical assistance from which

entrepreneurs can benefit.

For its part, Co-operatives UK has

recently launched a guide to promote

the cooperative movement in the

creative industries, namely to ensure

that these professionals (who are of-

ten self-employed) work together.

The document gives the necessary

keys and indicates the way for the

creation of a cooperative. Co-

operatives UK also released in 2008 a

generic guide for establishing coop-

eratives. ■

Single market act: “the cooperative sector more vibrant than ever”

The European Commissioner for Inter-

nal Market and Services, Michel

Barnier, has presented on 13th of April

the „Single Market Act‟, a text re-

grouping twelve priorities designed to

boost growth and reinforce citizens'

confidence. Key actions for each lever

should be adopted by the end of 2012.

The text specifies that the cooperative

sectors is “more vibrant than ever” and

highlights its important contribution in

terms of employment in the European

Union.

CECOP‟s position on the Single Mar-

ket Act can be found on its website:

http://s.coop/15vq. ■

Entrepreneurial restructuring and anticipation of change

In 2010, CECOP-CICOPA Europe led

an EU-financed project on restructur-

ing called 'Anticipate'. This project

focused on entrepreneurial restructur-

ing and anticipation in worker and so-

cial cooperatives and other employee-

owned enterprises in Italy, Spain and

France. In these three countries, the

phenomenon of workers owning their

enterprise is important from both a

qualitative and quantitative point of

view. Following the project, a book

called 'Beyond the Crisis: Coopera-

tives, Work, Finance - Generating

Wealth for the Long Term' is about to

be published in English, French, Ital-

ian, and Spanish. The study has set out

to identify the dynamics of the coop-

eratives involved and their ability to

adjust to change and to anticipate it.

This might be particularly interesting

in the context of the crisis which flared

up the world economy.

The book can be purchased on the CE-

COP website at www.cecop.coop.

“Beyond the Crisis: Cooperatives, Work, Finance - Generating Wealth for the Long Term” (CECOP Publications) by Alberto Zevi, Antonio Zanotti, François Soulage

and Adrian Zelaia. ■

Practical guides to promote the creation of cooperatives

8 |

T

To access these guides refer to :

SPAIN

De empresa en crisis a empresa co-

operativa: Guía para la transforma-

ción de empresas mercantiles en co-

operativas de trabajo. COCETA

(Download)

FRANCE

Guide “Transmission d‟entreprise en

Scop”. CG Scop. (Download)

UNITED KINGDOM

Creative cooperatives. A guide to

starting a cooperative in the creative

industries. Co-operatives UK.

(Download)

Guide “Starting a Co-operative”. Co-

operatives UK. (Download)

he jobs consolidation in the

Sociedades Laborales (SAL)

in Spain has been made reality

thanks to the fact it is a worker-

owned enterprise. “If four people

join together to create a company

and own it, then they will do their

very best to survive in any eco-

nomic environment”, said Jose

Luis Núñez, spokesperson for the

Confederation of Employers and

Industrial Societies Spain

(Confesal). In addition, the Span-

ish SAL law restricts the hiring of

temporary employees. So to stay

as SAL they must meet a mini-

mum number of permanently

contracted working partners.

“This ensures that industrial so-

cieties are creating stable employ-

ment”, said Núñez.

The SAL governance model scheme

is similar to a traditional company

with the difference that the majority

of the Board of Directors is com-

posed of working members (at least

two-thirds). The SAL sector is inte-

grated in Spain for about 17,000

companies and 100,000 workers, ac-

cording to data available from 2010.

In addition, these companies recorded

a turnover of 16,000 million Euros in

the last fiscal year.

The Galician SAL Nor Rubber en-

gaged in the manufacture of rubber

products is a clear example. In 2001,

following the collapse of GESRUB-

BER, Inc. the new company was cre-

ated, “with a small portfolio of cli-

ents, with little funding but with a

good product and a huge desire to

move forward with this project from

133 workers who were looking to

secure their jobs”, says the company

Board of Directors president, José

Manuel Quintana.

After ten years of existence, they are

clear about it, if they had not been a

SAL, the adverse circumstances

would have been solved in another

way: “We should have gone to exter-

nal financing, which could have led

to a more complex situation. Surely

we would have suffered more and the

workforce would not be so involved

in the management and progress of

the company”.

Zuray Andrea Melgarejo, a professor

at the National University of Colom-

bia and a PhD in Business Admini-

stration from the University of

Navarra, performed the first com-

parative study between the SAL and

the traditional companies in Navarra

region (North of Spain). The study

concluded that SAL are in a favoura-

bly competitive position compared to

other commercial companies: “This

business formula creates a job differ-

ent from other small and medium

enterprises characterized, among

other factors, by a balance between

sustainability, solidarity and adapta-

bility to new markets, more likely to

generate permanent employment and

legal flexibility as well as flexibility

for salaries”, the study written by

Professor Melgarejo concludes. ■

T

Workers from Nor Rubber

“This business

formula creates a job

characterized by a

balance between

sustainability,

solidarity and

adaptability to new

markets...”

| 9

he number of workers coop-

eratives increased by 7% last

year compared to the same period

in 2009, according to the Spanish

worker‟s cooperatives association,

COCETA. At the same time, the

confederation announced that it

had contributed to the creation of

10,000 jobs per year since 1986,

with an average of 500 new enter-

prises created every year.

COCETA has equally participated in

an increase of 4.5% in the quantity of

jobs created within the same time

period. The sector of workers coop-

eratives in Spain now represents

around 17,000 businesses which gen-

erate a turnover of nearly 54,000 .

These businesses employ around

205,7000 workers compared to

70,000 when COCETA was first cre-

ated in 1986.

In addition, according to the last CO-

CETA directory, 49% of people in

workers cooperatives are women.

Amongst these, 39% have directors

positions, though in other enterprises

which do not adopt this model, the

percentage of women that work in

these positions is barely 6%.

During a ceremony which took place

in Valence, where the activities for

the 25th anniversary of the organisa-

tion were unveiled, its president Juan

Antonio Pedreño underlined the fi-

nancial difficulties across the sector.

“Cooperatives keep up thanks to the

efforts of their members” he added

and asked the public to support the

cooperative model. Our challenge for

2011 is to achieve a larger role in

institutional dialogue, and in order to

achieve it, we should familiarise po-

litical organs of our potential.”

Pedreño underlined the role of these

enterprises in the local development

and declared that they represent a

model for the future: “Cooperatives

obtain mainly positive results

whereas other models demonstrate

their limits at a time when it will be

difficult to increase jobs in the public

sector”.

The president of COCETA under-

lined the role of the organisation in

the creation and the continuation of

jobs within its 25 years of activity.

“In this time of crisis, cooperatives

committed themselves to balance

incomes and outgoings and to main-

tain jobs”, he underlined.

Felice Scalvini, co-president of Co-

operatives Europe, who assisted at

the COCETA event, insisted on the

fact that everywhere in Europe, co-

operative enterprises are more able to

resist the crisis: “Everyone says that

things are not going well. However,

in asking our organisations in differ-

ent countries during the past three

years, I have established that even if

difficulties exist, the situation is not

that bad. To a certain extent, history

proves us right”. ■

Co-operatives UK to launch petition calling for action to narrow the gap between rich and poor

In 2010, the whole cooperative move-

ment mobilised at the occasion of the

first 'Co-operatives Fortnight'. The

campaign got 2.3 million people in-

volved, around 70,000 were active

online and the media coverage reached

over 43 million people.

Inequality is at its highest since records

began: 50% of the United Kingdom

(UK) population owns just 1% of the

wealth. The richest 10% of the UK has

100 times the wealth of the bottom

10%. Last year, together, the coopera-

tive sector in the UK The 'Co-

operatives Fortnight' looks for raise

awareness of how cooperatives offer a

way of doing business in which every-

day employees, customers and resi-

dents have an equal say in decisions

and share the profits.

The 2011 Fortnight will take place

from 25 June to 9 July with the theme

„Yours to share‟ which represents the

shared ownership and the share in prof-

its that makes cooperatives different. In

order to show how cooperatives share,

Co-operatives UK aims to get 100,000

signatures for a petition calling for co-

operative action to narrow the gap be-

tween rich and poor.

Co-operatives UK is calling on the

British Government to support action

to share ownership and wealth in a

cooperative way encouraging business

to share profits with workers for exam-

ple, as it is the case for worker coop-

eratives or cutting red tape so that it is

as easy to start a cooperative as any

other form of business. ■

10 |

COCETA 25th anniversary opening ceremony

T

Sign the petition and share it at

http://www.uk.coop/yourstoshare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/coops14

Twitter: www.twitter.com/

CoopsFortnight

or the first time in its history,

the General Confederation of

worker cooperatives (CG Scop)

has launched a big campaign

across the whole country. Its goal:

to educate the working world that

„scops‟ (worker cooperatives) are

businesses tailored to work in this

century and that they represent a

model that deserves to be taken

into consideration.

CG SCOP‟s campaign has been an-

nounced by the written press, radio

and internet. It re-explains the typical

cooperative principles represented by

CICOPA on a worldwide scale: sus-

tainability and local roots, wealth

sharing, leaders elected by worker

members, the principle of one person/

one vote on major decisions, etc.

It comes right one year after the

launch of the new 'Les Scop' (the

worker cooperatives) brand and the

„Democracy suits us‟ slogan.

An original approach

For the purpose of the campaign, it

was the worker cooperatives employ-

ees‟ themselves who took a stand in

their work environment. They are the

emblem of this campaign since who

could be better to express the human

and collective dimension of their busi-

ness model? The photos from the

campaign appeared in newspapers and

are accompanied by various messages

such as 'We will not delocalise our

business. We are the Board' or other-

wise 'Sharing decisions, risks, pleas-

ures, profits, is normal for us'.

“At the time it was logical and appro-

priate to involve cooperatives, whose

members have expressed themselves

in the campaign, just as they would do

naturally, in real life. The way in

which many cooperatives in very dif-

ferent sectors of activity have been

directed allowed us to equally illus-

trate the diversity and wealth of the

cooperative movement” confides Syl-

vain Cathébras, from the Alma coop-

erative which has participated in the

campaign.

The movement of worker coopera-

tives in France - now named coopera-

tives and participatory societies - to-

day represents more than 2,000 com-

panies and more than 40,000 workers.

Opening up to the general public

As President of the General Confed-

eration of worker cooperatives since

2006, Patrick Lenancker takes stock

of this new campaign in France.

QUESTION: What is your first im-

pression of this campaign?

ANSWER: The feedback we have on

this campaign is very positive. Our

external contacts are finding that the

campaign is a success and the new

brand very appealing. Internally, our

cooperatives show appreciation and

pride of belonging to our Movement.

Quantitatively, our website has seen

its traffic grow by nearly 40%.

Strongly focused on reputation and

image, the campaign has also enabled

to create contacts on cooperative pro-

jects that may start this year.

Q: Concerning the campaign that CE-

COP - CICOPA Europe launched at

E u r o p e a n l e v e l ( c f .

www.sustainableemployment.eu),

which role do you think that coopera-

tives could play in terms of employ-

ment?

A: It is obvious. By nature, coopera-

tives are intended to help their mem-

bers and not to yield shareholders‟

profit. In worker cooperatives, which

include cooperative and participatory

societies, the members are the em-

ployees themselves with the primary

aim of sustaining their means of

working in order to maintain and de-

velop jobs, both in quantity and qual-

ity. Fortunately, many conventional

enterprises are intent to keep their

business and jobs. However, there is

always a risk that the company aims

and legacy could end up being taken

away, as we witness every day, read-

ing about restructuring and discordant

relocations in the economic press. In

worker cooperatives, employment is

the very aim. ■

F

| 11

Workers of the Acome cooperative group

Website: http://www.les-scop.coop .

To read the complete interview of

Patrick Lenancker, you can go on

http://s.coop/15ws

aced with the crisis which

affects the world economy,

social cohesion could be one of

the solutions: the institutions,

conventional enterprises and co-

operatives or other companies

controlled by their workers rep-

resent a possible foundation to

stimulate the resumption of the

labour market.

The social cohesion network is made

possible thanks to the common val-

ues and complementary factors be-

tween diverse characteristics: con-

ventional companies, through a bet-

ter internal organisation and a focus

on investment in order to reinforce

their presence on the market; the

institutions, which are a driving

force of territorial agreements with

the present enterprises by favoring

investments; cooperatives and other

enterprises owned by workers and

particularly social cooperatives.

Thanks to their presence on the terri-

tory, social cooperatives encourage

the connections with different stake-

holders and the integration of com-

munities through the current social,

economic and cultural situations and

which can be defined as 'generators

of solidarity' including the workers,

who participate in the efforts to

overcome the crisis and who sacri-

fice a part of their wage in the accep-

tance of a contract of solidarity.

In short, everyone becomes an active

link of the social cohesion chain.

One of the important steps in this

process is the stability of the links of

cohesion: the networks to which the

key players belong will have to

change by adapting themselves from

time to time to the requests from the

territories: one should start talking

about 'flexible subsidiarity'.

This process, of which human beings

are at the centre, (workers, entrepre-

neurs, politicians, etc.), experiences

greater success when all stake-

holders are informed and involved:

one cannot talk about social cohe-

sion without mentioning a 'shared

sustainability' either for the choices

or the proposed solutions.

Thus, social cohesion should go

through thus the knowledge of dif-

ferent action modalities in order to

find shared solutions more easily. ■

he Italian Italtac company is

a cooperative recently cre-

ated and specialized in the pro-

duction of self-adhesive material.

It has a high level of technical

expertise thanks to its highly

qualified workforce.

The cooperative headquartered in

Soliera in the Modena province was

created thanks to the involvement of

the former workers of Diaures, a

company which went into crisis fol-

lowing financial problems and which

had to file for bankruptcy. The 24

workers – after being forced to stop

work for one year - decided to save

their jobs and created the coopera-

tive. They had to invest their own

money in buying machinery and hir-

ing the work place. Such an opera-

tion was made possible thanks to the

support of various financial institu-

tions linked to the Italian coopera-

tive organisation Legacoop such as

CFI, Coopfond and Sofinco. The

'Italtac-Self-Adhesive materials &

coatings' cooperative was born on 17

March 2011.

Italtac manufactures a large variety

of standard and customized products

in order to respond to the increasing

requirements of the labelling market.

The company wants to reinforce its

presence on the international market

as a reliable provider and a long

term partner and to develop strong

commercial alliances with clients

and other providers.

The 24 workers of the Italtac coop-

erative are deeply involved in the

production process which allows

them to guarantee an efficient, opti-

mal and quality service to its cli-

ents.■

T

12 |

F

“Social cohesion should

go through the

knowledge of different

action modalities in

order to find shared

solutions more easily”

he Czech Minister of La-

bour and Social Affairs,

Jaromír Drábek, raised the pro-

file of the CECOP-CICOPA

Europe Board meeting in Prague

by attending the opening of the

event, which took place on 29th

March in the offices of SČMVD,

the Czech union of worker coop-

eratives.

The Minister, Jaromír Drábek, re-

minded those present of the impor-

tance of cooperatives during his ad-

dress: “The platform of cooperatives

is nothing new for me. The coopera-

tive movement has a long history in

the Czech Republic and it is an inevi-

table part of the Czech economy and

of the Czech society. The Union of

Czech Production Cooperatives

(SČMVD) is one of the basic partners

for negotiations between the govern-

ment bodies and the cooperative sec-

tor. The cooperative movement has

considerable advantages: the stake-

holders are also the co-owners of

those enterprises therefore they have

much wider possibilities to decide

about their own activities. I believe

that the discussion that is taking place

at the European level to strengthen

the role of the cooperative movement

is a good way to stimulate people to

take responsibility for themselves in

their own lives”.

The Minister also underlined that he

visited two worker cooperatives this

month in his effort to constantly im-

prove the support of cooperatives by

the government in the country.

Indeed, the cooperative movement is

deep-rooted within the Czech society,

reaching as far back as the 19th cen-

tury. SČMVD affiliates 252 coopera-

tives with 18,000 workers active in

several economic sectors such as art

handicraft, household equipment,

building industry, electric equipment,

wood, machines tools, textiles, cloth-

ing and chemicals. Their aggregate

turnover is around 730 million. The

organisation was originally created in

1953 in order to promote and defend

the interests of production coopera-

tives in the Czech region of the ex-

Czechoslovakia. ■

T

n an interview with the

newspaper „Viata C‟ pub-

lished by UCECOM, the organi-

sation Romanian worker coop-

eratives, Irina Cajal Marin, the

deputy Secretary of the State

along with the Romanian Minis-

ter of Culture and National Heri-

tage, re-affirms her support for

production of handcrafted prod-

ucts. She declared that she is

“convinced that the invaluable

artistic heritage of the Romanian

people should be enriched and

protected in the name of those

who love it”.

Irina Cajal Marin participated in a

conference on the theme of „The tra-

ditional craftsman - the challenges of

the modern world‟, during the na-

tional fair of popular art and crafts of

Romanian worker cooperatives. She

was questioned by the exhibitors, who

expressed concerns about the conse-

quences of the counterfeiting of their

products. The deputy Secretary had

suggested that the cooperatives make

"concrete propositions to stop coun-

terfeiting which generates unaccept-

able profits and damages the value of

national heritage". She suggested tak-

ing descriptive measures to better

supervise handicrafts production and

notably to “determine criteria in order

to identify the issued products of

popular art and handicrafts which can

be bought by the public or cultural

institutions, or linked to education

about the country.

In 2009, counterfeiting in Romania

represented approximately 26% of the

total production in the market1. In this

situation handicraft cooperatives are

part of the rare businesses which ap-

pear to maintain crafts production that

respond to the demands of tradition

and authenticity. ■

Jaromír Drábek (right) with CECOP president

Rossano Rimelli at the CECOP Board meeting

| 13

I

1 Source: REACT - The European Anti-

Counterfeiting Network (www.react.org).

14 |

Question: The concept of sustain-

able employment is totally absent in

European policies. This concept is

the main mission of cooperatives

and companies run by their workers

and represented by CECOP. How-

ever, according to you, how can sus-

tainable employment be defined?

Answer: Employment sustainability

is not only a contractual issue for

workers who practice it (ideally with

an open-ended contract) but also a

question of purpose and influence of

the activity to which it contributes in

its territorial, economic, physical,

and human environment. Sustain-

ability is also reflected in the man-

agement of a company that produces

it: a prudent management, who an-

ticipates and controls its expansion

Isabelle Durant, Vice-President of the European Parliament and MEP (EFA / The Greens), has agreed to

answer the questions of "Work Together" on the occasion of this special issue on sustainable employment.

Isabelle Durant aspires to a more social Europe. On her website, she explains how she contributed to reach

an agreement with the European Parliament and the Commission in 2001 about the working hours of lorry

drivers: “Social aspects are always put off. First we liberalize and deregulate” she said “and at the very

best, afterwards we realize which the consequences are for workers, their health, and our security. That's

also the Social Europe” Let‟s see what Isabelle Durant thinks about Europe, where companies would care

more about their workers...

“It is regrettable

that the 2020

strategy, without

exclude it formally,

considers this method

of recovery by the

workers just as a

stopgap…”

and who invests in human capital of

training for all its workers.

Q.: Have you ever been aware of co-

operatives as a citizen or as an MEP

and in which way?

A.: Absolutely. Here at the European

Parliament, several cooperatives, es-

pecially those focused on agriculture

and food production fields, contact us

regarding some aspects of the forth-

coming reform of the Common Agri-

cultural Policy (CAP). In a trade

where individual producers‟ income is

isolated and placed in jeopardy struc-

turally, the organisation into workers‟

cooperatives, where workers run their

own companies, turns out to be par-

ticularly appropriate and adequate. In

this troubled sector, adequacy, should

lead us to analyse the usage and pro-

motion of a model like this one not

only in sectors undergoing restructur-

ing or due to company closure, but

also in areas of small innovative

firms, allowing the creation of new

jobs.

Q.: The takeover of companies in cri-

sis or without heirs by their workers

has already saved many jobs in

Europe. Don‟t you find that this

method should be taken more into

account in European policies?

A.: It is regrettable that the 2020 strat-

egy, without exclude it formally, con-

siders this method of recovery by the

workers just as a stopgap...

Q.: The vast majority of cooperatives

have so far shown a better resistance

to the crisis compared with average

companies from the same sectors and

the same countries. Do you believe

that their governance and manage-

ment system has something to do with

this?

A.: It's obvious that companies from

sectors more touched by competition

and that, because of this reason, have

developed short-term strategies for

surviving to a wild dumping are those

that are more threatened.

Q.: Finally, if you wished to create a

cooperative, which would be its main

activity?

A.: I have already participated and I

am member of a housing cooperative

for social purposes, offering a dozen

of associations working in the social

fields of premise shared services, a

common work ethic, a knowledge

platform and services. If I had to cre-

ate another, it would be based on the

field of art production (cinema, thea-

tre, image, new technologies): I am

convinced that in this matter which

cannot be conceived without a real

human commitment, without a guide-

line that makes sense; there is a huge

need for sharing strategies and re-

sources. ■

| 15

“In a trade where

individual producers’

income is isolated and

placed in jeopardy

structurally, the

organisation into

workers’ cooperatives,

running their own

company, turns out

to be particularly

appropriate and

adequate”

→ 1994-1999: Co-president of the Ecolo party in Belgium

→ 1999-2003: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Mobility and Transport

in the Belgian government of Guy Verhofstadt

→ 2004-2009: re-elected as Co-president of the Ecolo party

→ 2009: elected MEP (EFA / The Greens) and Vice-President of the

European Parliament

BIO

GR

AP

HY

Interview conducted by Olivier Biron, CECOP

http://s.coop/1e4z

http://twitter.com/cicopa

http://www.youtube.com/user/SustainableEmpl

FOLLOW US

16 |

he new political and socio-

economic context of MER-

COSUR highlights the role of the

Social and Solidarity Economy as

an alternative to boost job oppor-

tunities and employment inclu-

sion of extensive social sectors in

the region. The worker coopera-

tives block not only have influ-

enced the construction of this new

reality in every Mercosur coun-

try, but also they have taken a

major leap to be a forum for po-

litical, social, economic and cul-

tural heritage expression, called

Red del Sur (Southern Network).

This network, established in 2007 by

several organisations representing

worker cooperatives of the region, is

formed by the Producers‟ Coopera-

tives Federation of Uruguay (FCPU),

the Regional Union of Cooperatives

and Solidarity Enterprises of Brazil

(UNISOL), the National Confedera-

tion of Worker Cooperatives

(CNCT) from Argentina (in which

we should emphasize the role of FE-

COOTRA, FACTA and Metalworker

Cooperatives Network), and the

Paraguayan Cooperatives Confedera-

tion (CONPACOOP).

Political representation of worker

cooperatives before national and lo-

cal government agencies and MER-

COSUR agencies, as well as devel-

opment of a common regional iden-

tity by integrating knowledge, val-

ues, and professional trajectories are

the main objectives of this network.

Moreover, Red del Sur also aims to

gain a bigger position for the social

economy in regional economy, espe-

cially for worker cooperatives

through the development of eco-

nomic networks between coopera-

tives, strengthening workers‟ coop-

eratives in strategic areas.

International cooperation towards

South

Red del Sur has been able to realize

its potential thanks to the support of

several development organizations

that have been strategic to strengthen

the sector, including most notably

Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei

Paesi Emergenti (COSPE, Italy), the

Cooperation and Research Founda-

tion CIDEAL (CIDEAL, Spain), Isti-

tuto Sindacale per la Cooperazione e

lo Sviluppo (ISCOS Nazionale and

ISCOS ER, Italy) and Nexus (Italy).

The network‟s role at MERCOSUR

level was essential in the adoption by

the European Union of a support pro-

ject to this regional cooperative proc-

ess called Promoting worker coop-

eratives and strengthening networks

of Mercosur Social Economy Enter-

prises as a strategy for fighting pov-

erty and building a more democratic

and sustainable society.

The project, launched in April 2010

(see article page 5), allows for the

implementation of strategies aimed

to the strengthen the participation of

regional companies in the market; to

develop initiatives between coopera-

tives creating production chains; and

to combine tools to promote public

policies and social development pro-

grams. All these lines are crucial to

promote social and solidary enter-

prises as a strategy to encourage a

more human and sustainable devel-

opment model. ■

T

Cooperativa de Trabajadores Navales, member of the Federation of

Worker Cooperatives of Uruguay (FCPU) - Photo: Manlio Masucci (ISCOS)

| 17

here plants are closed

down, worker cooperatives

reopen them. Out of 16,000 co-

operatives in Argentina, half of

them are worker cooperatives.

They created 300,000 jobs and

account for 10% of the gross do-

mestic product (GDP). Out of

some 40 million inhabitants in

this South-American country, 10

million are linked directly or in-

directly to cooperatives and mu-

tual societies.

These data unveil that the challenge

for worker cooperative is to enhance

their visibility as a sector. Many

citizens consume products and/or

services of cooperatives without

being aware. With this in mind, the

vice president of the Federation of

W o r k e r C o o p e r a t i v e s

(FECOOTRA), Fabián Silveira,

made clear: “a new map of the so-

cial economy is taking shape.

Worker cooperatives emerge as a

new political, economic and social

reality. They are mak-

ing their own voice

heard, the workers‟

voice in the constella-

tion of the social

economy”.

Some of the achieve-

ments are the follow-

ing: to revamp CI-

COPA-Americas, to

create a National Confederation of

Worker Cooperatives (CNCT), to

weave networks of joint manage-

ment, to reopen plants, to set up

worker cooperatives of young pro-

fessionals in the various sectors

(communication, free software,

graphic design, financial, account-

ing and legal services). Managing

social inclusion programs at State

level has also been possible. One

example is the program „Argentina

Trabaja‟ („Argentina works‟) which

in its first phase has succeeded in

rescuing the jobs of 1,984 unem-

p loyed wor ker s

through the creation

of worker coopera-

tives.

Worker cooperatives

mean to recover jobs

with dignity, i.e.

meeting the economic

needs and enhance

the persons who be-

come genuinely ac-

tors, giving greater importance to

the member worker members than

to capital. The challenge is to ensure

that this means be sustainable and

worker cooperatives in Argentina

are heading toward this objective. ■

CICOPA keeps expanding in the American continent

As for November 2010, CICOPA

counts seven members in Latin Amer-

ica. The last two which joined CI-

COPA are the „Confederación Nacional

de Cooperativas de Actividades Diver-

s a s d e l a Re p ú b l i c a M e x i -

cana‟ (Mexico) and the „Confederación

Paraguaya de Cooperativas, CON-

PACOOP‟ (Paraguay).

The Mexican organisation has 247 af-

filiated cooperatives in various sectors

such as mining, building, broadcasting

and ports services. It is the only Mexi-

can organisation affiliating worker co-

operatives. CONPACOOP is an inter-

sectoral confederation grouping mainly

farmers‟ and credit cooperatives. One

of the main goals of this affiliation is to

develop worker cooperatives in Para-

guay. ■

Argentina works, teaches and learns

The program „Argen t ina Tra-

baja‟ (‟Argentina works‟) is aimed at

rescuing more than 150,000 workers‟

jobs through the involvement of the

concerned employees in worker coop-

eratives. It is managed jointly by the

national government, worker coopera-

tives, the Federation of Worker Coop-

eratives, FECOOTRA, and the National

Confederation of Worker Cooperatives

of Argentina (CNCT). In its first phase,

the constitution of cooperatives enabled

the federation to safeguard 2,000 jobs.

The work, more precisely repairs of

municipal buildings and rehabilitation

of public areas, is carried out in social

clubs, community integration centres,

mobile services, etc. The workers can

decide what in their community they

will transform. With a model of integral

development in mind, the Labour Min-

istry, the Social Development Ministry

and FECOOTRA have proposed a con-

sistent capacity-building program of

school literacy training, secondary

schools, capacity-building in coopera-

tives and vocational training. ■

Participants to the

'Argentina Trabaja' programme

W

“Worker

cooperatives

emerge as a new

political,

economic and

social reality”

18 |

espite a consolidated Labour

Law since 1st May 1943 in

Brazil, there is some adversity in

the legal and socio-economic fields.

However, worker cooperatives

have played an important role in

the sustainability of jobs: retaining

the workforce, promoting competi-

tive conditions for cooperatives and

dignity for their members.

Cooperatives have been established as

a third way. It is less costly because a

cooperative member is the master of

his or her own business and supplier

of workforce; and more plausible be-

cause the cooperative member is able

to negotiate and establish better work-

ing conditions.

Worker cooperatives have made a

huge effort to strengthen their organi-

sations and principles. Under the OCB

leadership there is a process of adding

cooperative organisations to the docu-

ment entitled „Criteria for identifica-

tion of worker cooperatives‟ which

gives guidelines for two very impor-

tant initiatives in the sector. On the

one hand by the elaboration of a spe-

cific draft legislation aimed to regu-

late worker cooperatives and on the

other hand by the National Compli-

ance Program for Worker Coopera-

tives (PNC-Labour).

The new legislation reaffirms the

worker cooperative and is independ-

ent from traditional Brazilian labour

laws. This legal project is still pending

in National Congress but it is ready to

be approved by parliament in 2011

and signed by the President. After

that, all cooperatives will have to

comply with the requirements of the

new law in order to be recognized and

this will create clear standards to iden-

tify legitimate worker cooperatives.

The PNC provides worker coopera-

tives with the opportunity to officially

differentiate themselves on the mar-

ket. Companies hiring worker coop-

eratives which are participants in the

PNC are assured a good standard of

business. The company has the assur-

ance that the cooperatives will follow

the law and comply with the demands

of the new draft legislation mentioned

above. The cooperatives that have

been awarded the title have an in-

creasing number of customers and

increasing revenue. They have in-

creased the number of employees,

increased membership and have credi-

bility on the market. ■

ince the emergence of the first

cooperatives in Paraguay, 80

years ago, the cooperative sector

has continued growing and unifying

itself. The Paraguayan Cooperative

Confederation (CONPACOOP)

comprises a total of almost 700 co-

operatives, especially those from the

savings, credit and farmer sectors,

and to a lesser extent, worker coop-

eratives.

Worker cooperatives are living an

incipient growth in Paraguay. CON-

PACOOP has set as one of its objec-

tives, in the framework of its now

strategic plan to develop and

strengthen the worker cooperative

sector. This objective has been largely

driven by the cooperative movement

of MERCOSUR, which has encour-

aged CONPACOOP to continue along

this road.

CONPACOOP's commitment to boost

the creation and sustainability of this

sector has led this organization to link

with Red del Sur (Southern Network)

as a regional place of expression for

such cooperatives in the MERCOSUR

region, receiving the support of the

federations of workers‟ cooperatives

of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Among the difficulties that the move-

ment faces to achieve this goal, we

can find the unfavorable regulatory

framework. "Here the law only pro-

vides with normal facilities to other

kinds of cooperatives, but workers

cooperatives need more than tax ex-

emptions to be created”, pointed out

Antonio Ortiz Guanes, President of

the National Institute of Cooperatives

(INCOOP). Just to give you an illus-

trative comparison, in Brazil, for ex-

ample, fewer people are needed to

create a worker cooperative; they are

granted allocations, lower interest

rates and free expert technical assis-

tance from the State. ■

S

D

Logo of the „PNC- Trabalho‟ standard

To know more about this program visit

http://s.coop/1641

rom October 11th to 15th

2011 tow key conferences

will be held in Quebec. The first

conference titled „Business Suc-

cession and Employee Ownership

Conference‟ will take place from

the 11th to 13th of October. The

second one named „CICOPA

North America Conference: Co-

operation without Borders‟ will

be from the 13th to 15th of Octo-

ber.

The objective of the first conference

is to raise awareness of worker coop-

eratives as an alternative for busi-

nesses without successors and to de-

velop the expertise of stakeholders

through the exchange and analysis of

their experience. In the coming years

the world is facing a very significant

phenomenon, and one with major

socio-economic consequences: the

mass exodus to retirement by busi-

ness owners from the so-called "baby

boomer" generation. It is estimated

that about 200,000 Canadian busi-

nesses will change hands in the next

fifteen years. The phenomenon will

be proportionately comparable in the

U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

The exceptional scale of this transi-

tion may cause the loss of many en-

terprises for lack of buyers, or for

being sold to competitors. A recent

study by the Quebec Department of

Economic Development, Innovation

and Exports (MDEIE) has shown that

although the phenomenon is already

under way, we are currently witness-

ing only its very earliest beginnings

and that departures should reach their

peak between 2017 and 2020 and

that, when we are approaching this

peak in 4 to 5 years‟ time, there will

no longer be sufficient individuals

willing to purchase these companies.

This phenomenon of a missing next

generation of individual entrepre-

neurs should also manifest itself

much earlier in rural areas. The social

and economic risk is substantial and

many companies risk closure; as a

result tens of thousands of jobs could

disappear, whole villages and com-

munities could go into decline.

Faced with this threat of business

disintegration and accompanying

massive job losses, the alternative to

transfer these companies to their em-

ployees through the worker coopera-

tive model appears increasingly to be

the ideal solution and a tremendous

opportunity for the worker coopera-

tive movement to grow. The worker

cooperative model (along with re-

lated models like multi-stakeholder

cooperatives) helps to maintain and

develop these enterprises, and helps

workers maintain local control over

their future.

The second conference, “Co-

operation without Borders", has the

objectives to provide a venue for the

worker cooperative movements in

Quebec, the rest of Canada and the

United States to come together and

share experiences. The organization

of this Conference is a historic event.

For the first time, hundreds of mem-

bers of worker cooperatives from

across North America will meet and

share their experiences together to

improve their governance practices

and democratic management of their

businesses, and to demonstrate to-

gether their solidarity and common

will to build a caring economy based

on ownership and control of enter-

prises by workers. The Conference is

being organized by CWCF with sup-

port from 'le Réseau de la coopéra-

tion du travail du Québec', the US

Federation of Worker Cooperatives

and other partners. ■

F

Member of the Canadian delivery business Shift Delivery Co-op

| 19

For more information :

http://www.cooperation2011.coop

ork Together‟ interviewed

Melissa Hoover to know the

United States‟ cooperative sec-

tor‟s situation in depth and its

vision as an engine for worldwide

sustainable jobs.

Melissa Hoover is the executive di-

rector of the US Federation of

Worker Cooperatives (USFWC)

since its beginning in 2004. The fed-

eration now has 75 members and

represents about 1.400 people. Hoo-

ver says that their membership in-

cludes about a third of the worker

cooperatives in the United States. On

the topic of the cooperative contribu-

tion to sustainable employment,

Melissa Hoover says: “I believe co-

operatives and worker cooperatives

in particular are crucial to creating

sustainable employment, sustainable

for the humans employed, and for the

earth we depend on”.

For Melissa Hoover, much of the

cooperative contribution to sustain-

able work is given by the fact that

cooperatives “are a powerful combi-

nation of abstract and practical”, she

says, “valuing autonomy, democracy

and education and basically valuing

people. It is a powerful statement to

make and one that directly counters

the profit motive and individualism

that are embedded into our public

dialogue, at least here in the United

States”.

She explains that on a practical level

“to conduct business according to

these values and to do it well and

successfully is inspiring to so many

people who see the problems of an

unfair economy and do not want to

just protest but to build an actual so-

lution”.

Melissa Hoover believes that the

principles of cooperation between

cooperatives and concern for the

community are the cornerstones to

sustainability. “Cooperating with

other cooperatives keeps us in mind

of the myriad of interests we are al-

ways balancing, and contradicts the

dominant message that competition is

the only way to succeed”. She added

that a worker cooperative is generally

environmentally sustainable “because

worker-owners tend to live in the

community in which they work and

make workplace decisions, they are

less likely to make decisions to dam-

age that environment”.

On the other hand, she indicated that

cooperatives, rather than laying off

workers, may decide to re-train and

relocate them. “They can share the

burden of an economic downturn

rather than displace it onto the most

vulnerable. Self-management brings

dignity to work, and it offers opportu-

nities for significant growth as work-

ers engage not just in their daily tasks

but in the larger operations and coop-

erative decisions”.

“It is this human-centred job security,

and personal growth through the ex-

ercise of democratic rights, that I find

inspiring and potentially transforma-

tive for society. I believe worker co-

operatives and the capacity they build

for democratic participation make us

better citizens, better family mem-

bers, better neighbours and better

advocates of sustainable values”, she

stressed. ■

The Arizmendi Bakery worker cooperative group has 5 bakeries in the US

Photo: Myleen Hollero

20 |

“Worker cooperatives

are crucial to

creating sustainable

employment,

sustainable for the

humans employed,

and for the earth

we depend on”

To access to the full interview of

Melissa Hoover, click here

„W

lthough this model is far

from being a marginal econ-

omy, there are no precise figures

for the number and influence of

cooperatives in Mexico. There is

a lack of recognition and promo-

tion required for this sector‟s de-

velopment. A new Cooperative

Societies Act aims to find solu-

tions to the obstacles this move-

ment is facing.

In the production cooperatives sector

in Mexico we find a number of illus-

trative and very strong companies

such as Pascual, Cruz Azul, El

Grullo (Jalisco) and Trado. They

show that it is possible to reach high

levels of economic success. How-

ever, there are still a large number of

small cooperatives not organized or

not affiliated to any second level or-

ganizations that could represent

them.

“One of the objectives of our confed-

eration is to achieve the integration

of this large number of production

cooperatives - present throughout the

country- into a broader representative

framework”, pointed out the director

of the Mexican cooperative confed-

eration for all the sectors (CMC),

Dov Orian.

The current law governing coopera-

tives dates from 1994 and presents

some gaps that have created barriers

in its implementation. Moreover, this

law is more oriented to the control

and management of cooperatives

than to their development and pro-

motion. “Regarding production coop-

eratives, they often find difficulties

in size and access to credits; there-

fore it is hard for them to live up to

today's modern technological devel-

opment”, states Orian. These are

some of the aspects that the proposed

new Cooperative Societies Act seeks

to correct in Mexico, and that were

launched last week at the Chamber of

Deputies by the Senior Council of

Cooperatives (COSUCOOP).

One of the points which the new Co-

operative Societies Act desires to

highlight is the fact that the govern-

ment should be involved in support-

ing, encouraging and promoting the

cooperative concept within the

movement as well as outside.

Another challenge this sector is fac-

ing constitutes the sector‟s fragmen-

tation and the lack of statistical infor-

mation reporting on its real size.

“Since Mexico is a large country,

with significant geographic dis-

tances, we often do not even know of

the existence of some cooperatives”,

stated the Headquarters Chair of the

Mexican Confederation. The new

law envisages that Mexico´s National

Institute of Geography and Statistics

incorporates the cooperative title in

the resident registration in order to

overcome this problem. ■

| 21

A

Dov Orian, director of the Mexican

cooperative confederation

for all the sectors (CMC)

A cooperative of journalists works with the New York Times

Launched in late October 2009, the

'Chicago News Cooperative' produces

public-interest journalism, focused

especially on the reality of Chicago

(United States). The cooperative is

composed of the former Chicago Trib-

une managing editor, James O‟Shea,

and other recognized professionals.

Their contents are published in the

'New York Times' twice a week, being

the first outside news organization to

produce entire pages to this prominent

American newspaper. In 2011, Chi-

cago News Cooperative expects to

launch a website that will be the centre

of its operations and introduce new

ways of communication for the com-

munity. ■

Colors Restaurant: cooperative in the heart of New York

Worker cooperatives in the United

States cover all sectors of activity and

catering is no exception. The restaurant

cooperative Colors, located in the city

of New York, has shown how the crisis

can be an opportunity.

The worker cooperative Colors Restau-

rant was founded in 2006 by surviving

workers from the World Trade Center

tragedy that occurred on 11th Septem-

ber 2001.

The restaurant offers international cui-

sine based on locally produced ingredi-

ents. Being organized in the form of a

cooperative means to the staff-owners

that they have access to better working

conditions, better salary and racial

equality, together with an economically

viable activity. Worker members come

from more than a dozen countries.

The group is part of the Restaurant

Opportunities Center (ROC), an or-

ganization that fights for fair working

conditions for workers in the foodser-

vice industry, and also launched cam-

paigns to fight against exploitation of

restaurant workers. ■

010 was a good year for co-

operatives in Uganda. A

number of milestones were

reached, showing that in recent

times, it had made good progress

towards the building of a new

cooperative movement. In 2009

and 2010 a number of new coop-

eratives were created in several

economic sectors, including

worker cooperatives. Some of the

cooperatives created outside the

agricultural sector come from the

energy sector and there are also

new handicrafts and furniture

cooperatives, as well as irrigation

cooperatives.

This means that more and more peo-

ple from different fields continue to

recognise the role of the cooperative

model in improving their standard of

living. At a governmental level, the

cooperative movement has also re-

ceived more support with a new coop-

erative policy which was launched

during the year. It recognizes coopera-

tives as part of the private sector and

therefore lays a good foundation for a

modern cooperative law.

During 2010, the Uganda Cooperative

Alliance (UCA) turned its attention to

the concept of horizontal integration

and its benefits could quickly be seen

in the conduct of cooperative busi-

ness. “This is now contributing to the

good reputation and reliability of our

cooperatives in the eyes of big buyers.

Horizontal and vertical integration

will strengthen the whole cooperative

system by making it more effective

and efficient, and increasing its power

both in the market and society as a

whole”, says Leonard Msemakweli,

UCA‟s Secretary General. ■

Worker take-overs have become a

phenomenon which saves many enter-

prises around the world. There are

many examples in Europe or South

America of workers deciding to not let

their enterprise disappear and to be-

come owners of the enterprise. This is

not where it ends! South Africa has

also opened the path to worker buy-

outs. In October 2010, the workers of

the Mine Line/TAP Engineering fac-

tory in Krugersdorp, just outside

Soweto, started an occupation of their

workplace to stop the former owner

from stripping the factory of machin-

ery and other assets and to fight to

save their jobs.

They occupied the plant and began a

campaign of solidarity, demanding

that the state takes over of the factory.

Now the factory has re-opened and is a

democratically run worker coopera-

tive. However, in order to succeed in

this activity, they need the support of

the Industrial Development Coopera-

tion, a state-owned national develop-

ment institution that provides financ-

ing to entrepreneurs and businesses

engaged in competitive industries. “If

they do assist this cooperative, it

would open up a door from the gov-

ernment to many other worker coop-

eratives” says Athish Kirun from CO-

PAC, an independent agency active in

the development of worker coopera-

tives in South Africa. “If they don‟t

help the cooperative, we will then go

back to demonstrate in the streets”. ■

22 |

2

Uganda Co-operative Alliance's members

gypt has experienced an un-

precedented revolution

which led to the fall of President

Hosni Moubarack. Essam

Charaf, the new Prime Minister,

has been nominated by Egypt‟s

Supreme Council of the Armed

Forces. In the meantime, it has

been announced that presidential

elections will be held by the end

of the year. So far, the first step

towards democracy has been

reached with the referendum on

constitutional amendments ap-

proved by 77.2% of Egyptians.

The Egyptian revolution has com-

pletely modified the destiny of the

country which till recently was in the

regime‟s hands, leaving little space

for the freedom of thought or to do

business. For 30 years, the fallen

president relied on police control and

a political party which answered to

him, in a country where more than

40% of the population lives on only 2

dollars per day. “Egypt has woken up

to a new political consciousness; and

will not be fooled by anyone!” de-

clared the Egyptian writer Alaa el-

Aswany to the French newspaper

'Libération'.

The chaotic situation in Egypt has had

important consequences for the econ-

omy of the country. A drop of 25% is

foreseen in the income generated by

tourism. In this respect, cooperatives

represented by the Production Co-

operatives Union (PCU) have also felt

the pinch. “The Egyptian economy is

experiencing a slow-down, everything

has stopped. The unrest in the streets

doesn‟t help. All this has affected the

activity of the cooperatives, although

what has happened to the country is

something positive” says Mounir

Shaarawy, the PCU Secretary Gen-

eral. “We are very proud of our noble

revolution and are optimistic that re-

forms are coming, especially for as-

pects of cooperative work. Hope is

now floating as the control of some

big businesses over the Egyptian ad-

ministration has disintegrated. Former

business magnates controlled laws

and the decisions of the ministries

undermined the efforts of coopera-

tives as they threatened corrupt activi-

ties”.

Until now, cooperatives were con-

trolled by the ruling power. Needless

to say, worker cooperatives which are

based on democratic values and prin-

ciples did not have any advantages

granted. Today, it seems that things

are better for cooperatives. “The re-

gime had no trust in cooperatives

since they were always working

against decisions made about the wel-

fare of workers and small businesses.

They aimed at making cooperatives

suffer by cancelling many of their

legal privileges, such as tax exemp-

tions, in order to increase their operat-

ing costs and making their work more

difficult” says Shaarawy.

Mounir Shaarawy is confident about

the future. “We are on the right track”

he says. “We have seen positive signs.

With reforms and a new administra-

tion that arose from the Egyptian peo-

ple, we believe that the new laws to be

enforced will be to the benefit of the

cooperatives, workers, and trade un-

ions to create a call for social justice.”

Today, Egypt is slowly waking up to

this revolution and there is quite a

long way to go. Things will gradually

turn back to normal for the Egyptian

people. At least they can be assured

that they will re-emerge much

stronger from this Nile revolution. ■

E

Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

| 23

24 |

Six weeks after the earthquake

and tsunami which hit Japan on

11th March, the country is ex-

periencing a number of after-

shocks and the situation of the

power plants in Fukushima Pre-

fecture is very unstable. The au-

thorities have raised the nuclear

threat to seven, its highest level.

Despite the hardship, JWCU, the

Japanese organisation for worker‟s

cooperatives is still working ex-

tremely hard: “We are moving for-

ward, and our global members are

helping us” said a spokesperson of the

organisation. In order to help the

worker cooperative movement in the

affected areas, JWCU set up a relief

fund that will help the organisation to

provide its members with essential

supplies and financial support (see

frame).

There is a myriad of examples of soli-

darity which show how cooperatives

are trying to recover from the disaster.

In Senai, the biggest city of the To-

hoku region, two children‟s centres

managed by a worker cooperative

opened in April. Children, particularly

those who had to evacuate, are having

an extremely tough time, as their

usual daily routines have been se-

verely disrupted. They now have to

come to terms with the instability of

the situation and a completely new

environment. “Our members are de-

Japan‟s recovery

JWCU, the Japanese organisation for worker‟s

cooperatives is reporting an extremely hard

situation within their members with the after-

shocks that are still hitting the country. A relief

fund has been set up to help the cooperatives.

Yoshiko Yamada, JWCU

JWCU set up a relief fund

“The need for supplies

and co-ordination is

expected to continue

for a long time”

| 25

termined to provide a safe and en-

joyable environment for these chil-

dren”, declared JWCU. Over

200,000 yens (around 1,700 Euros)

were dutifully raised in a charity

concert on 27th March in Tokyo to

support the region of Tohoku. The

Worker Coop Art Project (WAP)

composed of JWCU members and

friends talented in music and art

have organised this concert.

Severe damages amongst

cooperatives

JWCU are regularly reporting severe

damages among its members. The

chaotic situation has made the rescue

work even more difficult. Despite

the challenges, the aid has been or-

ganised and people are working to-

gether and demonstrating solidarity.

The JWCU head office and regional

offices were receiving goods and

supplies from members throughout

the country. In a message to the co-

operative movement, JWCU de-

clared last month that “since there is

an urgent need for food, we are fo-

cusing on delivering suitable food

which is practical and quick to pre-

pare, as well as vegetables. The need

for supplies and co-ordination is ex-

pected to continue for a long time”.

The first delivery trucks arrived

from Tokyo in the Tohoku regions,

(the cities of Noda, Ohsaki, Ishi-

nomaki, and Onagawa). The resi-

dents from the affected areas needed

practical help with removing debris

and cleaning the damaged houses.

Several cooperatives offered the use

of trucks and to send more people to

help, which was necessary to clear

up the devastated zones. ■

For more information:

http://english.roukyou.gr.jp/

index.html

The Noda village has been completely devastated

“There is a myriad

of examples of

solidarity which

show how

cooperatives are

trying to recover

from the disaster”

26 |

Relief fund for worker cooperatives in Japan:

As a job-creating organisation, JWCU is determined to support its members in securing jobs and in-

come to reconstruct peoples‟ lives. In a statement, the organisation declared: “While there is still a

need for food and supplies in order to survive each day, we will continue to respond to those material

needs. Some of our members (and numerous other people) have lost their jobs, homes and belongings.

Others have been evacuated to different cities and do not know when they will be able to return to their

homes or if they can be moved into temporary housing. Under these extremely difficult circumstances,

however, the local people still need to make a living. The needs exist in many regions, including Tokyo

and its surrounding areas, where evacuees are staying”.

If you want to know more about the relief fund or if you wish to make a donation, you can visit the

JWCU website on: http://english.roukyou.gr.jp/JWCU2011Earthquake_Relief_Fund.pdf

Boxes of foods are loaded on a truck, heading to Tohoku

Charity concert on 27th March in Tokyo Children' hall in Sendai

Solidarity

among JWCU

members

outh Korea has a specific

cooperative legislation sys-

tem in which each cooperative

sector is regulated by its own leg-

islation which depends on differ-

ent ministries. As a direct conse-

quence, although there are strong

cooperative sectors such as agri-

culture, the interests of the coop-

erative movement as a whole can-

not be protected by legislation,

but only by its sectoral interests.

This is the case for consumer co-

operatives in particular, for

which it is always very difficult to

get a legal status as a cooperative.

To solve this problem, several or-

ganisations in the newly emerging

cooperative movement, including

KASEE, the Korean CICOPA mem-

ber, launched a project for enacting a

legislation which could cover various

types of cooperatives, which were

lacking a proper legal status. The

main target of this legislation is

worker cooperatives, which KASEE

represents. However, there are also

differing needs. For instance, medical

users‟ cooperatives, are actually con-

sidered as partly consumer coopera-

tives, and would need to acquire a

new legal status enabling them to

open more to non-members by en-

forcing non-surplus distribution con-

straints.

There are also several care workers‟

associations, which call for legal rec-

ognition to give their workers a

status, which is neither 'employed'

nor unemployed. To cover those dif-

ferent needs, these organisations

reached an agreement on a draft leg-

islation to cover various types of co-

operatives which are not covered by

the existing sectoral cooperative leg-

islation.

This new legislation would have a

similar form to general laws on coop-

eratives but it would also mention

specific types of cooperatives.

KASEE, Solidarity of Medical Con-

sumer Cooperatives, the Korean As-

sociation of Local Centres for the

inclusion through the Economic Ac-

tivity, the Institute for Cooperative

Research, the Social Investment

Foundation and several care workers‟

associations are taking part in this

project. They expect to design a new

legislation within the next year. ■

A KASEE member enterprise in the construction sector

S

| 27

CECOP-CICOPA Europe has launched its campaign

on sustainable employment because Europe

urgently needs quality jobs to ensure a better

future for all workers and all enterprises.

28 |