Collective entrepreneurship through worker cooperatives and employee-owned companies in the autonomous community of Euskadi

Abstract

This article studies collective entrepreneurship through the two legal figures that positive law establishes for the development of associated work: worker cooperatives and labor employee-owned companies (sociedades laborales). Collective self-employment as an alternative formula with respect to salaried work for others, and individual self-employment. The study is based on the main general contributions, both doctrinal and jurisprudential, to focus on the Basque area as regards cooperative positive law. The main objective is to provide a better understanding of the nature, characteristics and legal architecture of worker cooperatives and employee-owned companies, especially in the complex aspect of the legal relationship between the worker-members and the company in which they participate. The nature of that relationship will determine the applicable legal system.