Crisis, Class, and Cooperatives: Some Comments on the United Steelworkers–Mondragón Alliance

Stronger Together? The USW-Mondragon Union Co-op Model

“…Skeptics of the USW-Mondragon model claim that a focus on extrinsic incentives such as wages, work hours, and benefits during collective bargaining puts worker and owner interests at odds and crowds out intrinsic incentives to resolve conflicts cooperatively (Seda-Irizarry 2011). The model envisions the union committee representing the interests of worker-owners as workers and the board of directors representing their interests as owners (Witherell, Cooper, and Peck 2012).…”

“…The final dilemma of unionization is related to the risk of introducing discriminatory practices that are antithetical to a cooperative culture. A legacy of corporate-bureaucratic union practices combined with the historic prevalence of skilled, white, male leaders has led some skeptics to question if unions are a good fit for a rapidly diversifying worker cooperative sector (Seda-Irizarry 2011). U.S. unions now formally embrace civil and women’s rights, but some critics of the USW-Mondragon template claim that their legacy of exclusion will make marginalized workers feel less welcome in a unionized worker cooperative.…”