Worker co-operatives: A dream with jagged edges?

The authors of this paper argue that worker co-ops need to be valued as an improvement in the quality of working life, yet all too often they and the agencies which support them are caught up in a “numbers game” of trying to maximise the number of jobs created in order to justify funding. It is important not to under-estimate the problem of under-capitalisation in co-ops, the stresses of establishing a new business for those with no management experience, and the cost and time needed for training. Co-ops are more an experiment in a new labour process than an easy cure for a dying economy.