Exploring the Role of Worker Co-operatives in the Co-creation of Meaningful Work

Abstract

This chapter argues that, by compelling workers to act in the interests of owners, customers and shareholders, work in hierarchical capitalist organizations frequently disconnects workers from their core values and from the communities in which they live. For workers, the result is a sense of estrangement from the self, and a weakening of social cohesion with both fellow worker and the wider community. In contrast to these experiences, it is argued that worker co-operatives can create opportunities for workers to reclaim and re-embed their values in the workplace and, through this, create work that is meaningful. Drawing on data collected from two worker co-operatives, the chapter will demonstrate how worker ownership and democratic member control can enable workers to cocreate meaningful work. In doing so it will show that meaning is derived, not only through doing work that is good for the interests of society, but through the messy and ongoing process of negotiating and enacting environmental and social values. As such, worker ownership and democratic control are framed as both a precursor to, and core component of, meaningful work.