Worker Cooperatives in Europe

Worker cooperatives are a thriving sector of the European economy, albeit one that receives limited press attention. A new publication, Successful European Worker Cooperative (Coopexel, 1997), details the European experience by reporting on dozens of case studies from England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Spain and Italy have the largest sectors. The Mondragon Cooperative Federation in Spain has over 100 enterprises employing over 20,000 people, while the cooperative network of the Valencia Autonomous Community has 1,200 cooperatives employing about 20,000 people. In Italy, over 4,000 worker cooperatives employ close to 100,000 people. France has 1,450 worker cooperatives with about 30,000 members. The cooperative movements in other European countries are smaller, generally employing a few thousand people in each country.

To obtain a copy of the publication, contact FVECTA, Calle Arquebise Majoral, 11 Bajo, 46002 Valencia, Spain.