Contradictions of Employee Participation in Worker Cooperatives

Abstract

This study will explore employee involvement (EI) and its variations in creating a worker cooperative (and sustaining it) from a family business that went bankrupt and hence deserted by the owners. Using an in-depth longitudinal qualitative study and face-to-face structured interviews, the study examines how variation in the involvement of three key actors—workers, unions, and staff—in three organizational change efforts came about; changes in disciplinary processes, the institution and working of a plant level consultative committee, and changes in workload. The study also addresses how worker cooperatives, and perhaps formal business organizations at large, can sustain high level of EI in organizational change.