Worker cooperatives : contemporary possibilities and challenges

Worker cooperatives have a lengthy, often radical history, with interest in them growing since the onset of global recession in 2007–2008. Their resurgence, especially in parts of Latin American and Southern Europe, usually as a response to firm closures, has seen them emerge as an alternative to the proliferation of the “gig economy” and its associated job insecurity. Yet, despite their historical longevity and substantial evidence of their relative resilience to economic fluctuations, their presence in most countries remains at most marginal. While cooperative firms overall (including consumer, producer, and buying cooperatives) are quite prominent internationally, with nearly 280 million people working in them, cooperatives owned and managed by workers account for only around 11.1 million members worldwide (Eum 2017: 13). This low figure, though, indicates that worker cooperatives have considerable scope for growth—the premise underpinning these two books: Cooperatives Confront Capitalism: Challenging the Neoliberal Economy By Peter Ranis. London, England: Zed Books, 2016. 171 pages. Paper $26.95. ISBN: 978-1783606498. Labor Managed Firms and Post-Capitalism By Bruno Jossa. Abingdon, Oxon, UK, and New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. 250+vi pages. Cloth $160. ISBN-13: 978-1138237568, ISBN-10: 1138237566