Organizational dynamics of worker cooperatives in Argentina

Abstract

Issue Title: Special Issue - Social economy: a responsible people-oriented economy

Worker cooperatives in Argentina have experienced important changes since the beginning of the nineties and their presence became meaningful from 2003 onwards, due to the stimulation of public policies oriented towards their promotion. Similarly to the context under which they were formed, the unfavourable economic conditions and the worsening of work and life conditions of workers played a major role in the rebirth of the sector. Based on case studies, the article suggests an organizational typology which considers business and associative performance of work cooperatives. The typology accounts for the diverse organizational dynamics and meanings the cooperative model adopts.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Serv Bus (2012) 6:8597

DOI 10.1007/s11628-011-0128-4

Mirta Vuotto

Published online: 2 December 2011 Springer-Verlag 2011

Abstract Worker cooperatives in Argentina have experienced important changes since the beginning of the nineties and their presence became meaningful from 2003 onwards, due to the stimulation of public policies oriented towards their promotion. Similarly to the context under which they were formed, the unfavourable economic conditions and the worsening of work and life conditions of workers played a major role in the rebirth of the sector. Based on case studies, the article suggests an organizational typology which considers business and associative performance of work cooperatives. The typology accounts for the diverse organizational dynamics and meanings the cooperative model adopts.

Keywords Worker cooperatives Organizational dynamics Worker-recovered

enterprises

1 About worker cooperatives

Worker cooperatives1 are a type of organization whose principal objective lies in creating and maintaining sustainable jobs and generating wealth, with a view to

1 The principles of production cooperatives were formulated by Philippe Buchez in the Journal des sciences morales et politiques (1831). He describes the entire plan for a workers association, conceived as a means of improving conditions for employees in cities, a publication which precedes, by over a decade, the statutes of the Rochdale Pioneers, where such associations appear.

M. Vuotto (&)

Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. Crdoba 2122 2 211, (1120) Ciudad Autnoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentinae-mail: [email protected]

Organizational dynamics of worker cooperatives in Argentina

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improving the quality of life of its associates, dignifying human labour, allowing the self-management of workers and the promotion of community and local development.2

They are autonomous rms, with social capital and a variable number of members in which decision-making power lies in the hands of the associates. The nature of the relationship between the associate, or member, and the cooperative differs from that of conventional employees. It is an enterprise that is free from the connes of prot-making, but which is subject to the same requirements and conditions of any rm for its economic functioning. Internal regulations are formally established through regimes that are democratically formed and accepted by its associates. In these organizations, it is the workers (associates) who decide on the members of the Board of Directors, whose function is to govern, represent and manage the cooperative, assess the results of that management, although their powers may also be revoked during their mandate.

Worker cooperatives involve the free and voluntary membership of its associates, who contribute their work and economic resources, using the social service (occupation) that the cooperative provides for them.3 Cooperative activity in the rm means work, and members use the capital to guarantee themselves a prot as workers. Wage and benet categories that are delimited and represented by a number of different social agents in neo-classical rms disappear as such, and are substituted by the surplus produced by the cooperative, which is attributed in its entirety to work (Morales et al. 2003). Every decision to capitalize surplus is done so to the extent that it ensures the continuance of the productive activity and with it the jobs of the cooperatives members. The raison dtre of the work cooperative consists specically of providing paid labour, which represents the main source of income for the member.

The participation of members in the management of the organization, in its prots and in rm ownership are reected in the topic of self-management and has been analyzed in economic literature in order to gauge its effects on productive capacity, effort amongst workers and organizational activity (Defourny 1988). Various studies illustrate the advantages and drawbacks associated with participation in the economic activity of the rm, and these have led to its consideration as a key dimension in appreciating the distinctive traits of this type of cooperative.

In organizational terms, the specic nature of this type of association with regard to the commitment of workers towards a social objective has been highlighted, coexisting with the role of the cooperative to cover its sustainability needs, as has

2 These characteristics are recognized by the International Organization of Industrial, Artisanal and Service Producers Cooperatives in their World Declaration on Workers Cooperatives (CICOPA 2005). The declaration recognizes the denition of a cooperative, its values and principles, as contained in the Declaration of Cooperative Identity issued by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA 1995) ratied by Recommendation 193 of the OIT on the Promotion of Cooperatives (ILO 2002).

3 In return for the work carried out, the cooperative allocates the member with a provisory price, generally adopting the current standard price for workers in the same sector/activity established in the respective collective working and wage agreements. At the end of the nancial year, the cooperative decides on a xed price for the work, and once the accounts have been approved, members receive any additional payments still owing to them after the original provisory ones paid during the year (Cracogna 2004).

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the stimuli resulting from egalitarian, participative structures. This type of structure reects the commitment of workers to a culture, with a set of values and with democratic processes that look to favour consensus through dialogue, which looks to translate into a higher degree of satisfaction in the workplace (Rothschild-Whitt and Whitt 1986; Rothschild 2009; Pateman 1970; Comeau and Lvesque 1994).

2 The evolution of worker cooperatives in Argentina 19282011

The cooperative began to appear in Argentina towards the end of the nineteenth century via an initiative started by European emigrants who promoted the constitution of primary cooperatives in different sectors of economic activity. Its origin reects the associative reasoning that brought about the formation of a variety of types of voluntary organization, in an indifferent environment with a lack of legislation that precisely considered the specic nature of cooperatives and their needs. The movement was developed at the start of the century without the incipient legislation or approval of Law 11.388 enacted in 1926 and inspired by the principles of the Rochdale pioneers, a fact that limited its evolution.4

In fact, worker cooperatives were already reected in the rst Law on Cooperatives, under the name of production cooperatives and its evolution can be seen as a result of the economic conditions of the context and the inuence of factors that favour or hinder its business development. This evolution is also linked to the impact of the public policies aimed at promoting the sector.

Throughout the twentieth century, the position and characteristics of worker cooperatives varied considerably. Its presence began to carry more weight towards the end of the 1990s5 in the context of the more prolonged recession that affected the Argentinian economy since the First World War and the collapse of the convertibility regime that ended in the default and devaluation of the peso (Damill et al. 2003).

Since the rst worker cooperative founded in 19286 and up until 1950, 100 organizations of this type were formed, which represented 3.9% of the total number of cooperatives created. Initial development came about particularly in situations where new job creation was slack and public services constituted one of the enabling factors of worker cooperative activity, as did the construction industry. During the decade when the Pern government was in power (19451955), the presence of the State in the management and regulation of the economy brought

4 Numerous initiatives existed previously in terms of substantive law, as well as various national, provincial and municipal regulations that brought in measures to promote cooperatives at different periods (Drimer and Kaplan de Drimer 1973).

5 One of the most notable negative characteristics of the 1990s was the sharp rise in unemployment gures which grew at an annual rate of 14%, quadrupling the number of unemployed people over the course of a decade in the area of Greater Buenos Aires and tripling the number in the inner city areas. In October, 2001, 2.5 million people were listed as jobless nationally, which meant that 21.9% of homes faced a situation of having at least one of its active members jobless (Monza 2002).

6 The cooperative calledLa Edilicia de Pergamin was founded by twelve construction workers in 1928. By 1950, it had over 170 workers from all different areas of construction and owned a brick and tile factory devoted to carrying out large-scale public and private contracts.

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about the constitution of new cooperatives providing different means of stabilization and development (Levn and Verbeke 1997).

The rate of creation of worker cooperatives evolved slowly until the mid-1970s and its growth was the result of the conditions of a context that involved structural difculties in the job market. The tendency towards a persistent growth in cooperatives has been highlighted as a result of the profound deterioration of the economy and steep rises in unemployment, as well as the unreliability and insecurity of the job market that predominated in the 1980s (Vuotto 2007a). The total of 5,787 worker cooperatives that were constituted between 1990 and 2000 represented 50% of the total number of cooperatives created during that decade.

Comparing the evolution of employment with the creation of worker cooperatives between 1980 and the year 2000, bearing in mind the stagnation of job creation in the formal sector and irregular economic growth, the marked difference and even the inverse nature of the prevailing trends in the national economy and the dynamic of this sector is worthy of note. This trend does not necessarily express a sustained effort on the part of worker cooperatives during the years considered here, as the number of registered organizations is overestimated if we consider that many were inactive or were dissolved. Despite the marginal contribution to employment creation and a reduced survival capability, at the end of the 1990s, these organizations constituted 44% of the total number of active registered cooperatives (INAES 2001).

In its evolution since the year 2000, two different scenarios can be discerned; the rst corresponds to the economic crisis that followed on from Argentinas convertibility plan for the peso, where the phenomenon of worker-recovered companies gains relevance. The second, from 2003 onwards, coincides with the implementation of several social programs where worker cooperatives were considered an efcient tool for fostering job creation and for stimulating collective participation.

3 The rst scenario and the crisis of the year 2000

Argentinas pronounced decline since the late 1980s led to an economic and social crisis of unprecedented magnitude which, in the year 2000, precipitated economic collapse. In this scenario, the strong challenge of the legitimacy of government institutions highlights the peculiarity of a State that was incapable of ensuring the maintenance of law and order. The serious consequences of this crisis are reected in the main social variables and employment reecting the notable imbalances accumulated during the 1990s.

Thus, in October of 2001, the number of households affected by the unemployment rate reached over 45% in the two lowest percentiles. As a whole,21.9% of all households were faced with the situation of having at least one unemployed person among its active members (Monza 2002).

The negative impact of the macroeconomic regime and the structural reforms, implemented during the decade of the nineties, were also expressed in the unequal distribution of wealth and income and allowed the resurgence of worker

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cooperatives. In many cases, as a forced option in the face of prospects of unemployment, and often with no clear notion of the specic meaning of the cooperative organization. The irruption of emerging worker cooperatives of this crisis was often under chaotic conditions of factory closures, layoffs, widespread abandonment of companies, occupation of premises, bankruptcy, etc. The virulence of the crisis struck a reality that did not have appropriate legal mechanisms and institutions to assimilate, hence, the court rulings that demonstrated the lack of an adequate repertoire of legal solutions to overcome difculties with appropriate and sustainable solutions.7

The phenomenon of recovered rm workers took place through processes that entailed various levels of conict and which were resolved in a number of different ways. Although the earliest recovery was recorded in 1998, almost half of the existing recovered companies occurred and were consolidated after the year 2000.8

The institutional crisis in 2001 galvanized a series of new, collective actions related to the labour problem, which allowed daily life to be linked with politics and favoured the development of a greater awareness of workers rights. The grave economic crisis paved the way for the appearance of initiatives that did not come about as a result of the deliberate decision of groups of workers that opted for a different path in their personal activity, but rather as an enforced option in the face of long-term unemployment. Often, the formation of these groups had little to do with any clear notion of the specic meaning of what a cooperative organization really is, nor did they have the adequate nancial and technical resources for the needs of the rm itself.

Most of the cooperatives that were formed in this way were created by the people working for companies that went bankrupt or went into receivership. The causes that triggered the conicts that eventually led to rms being recovered were delays in wage payment or non-payment, lay-offs, non-payment of pension contributions, and fraudulent management practices. In cases after 2005, asset stripping processes constituted the most important reason for recovery processes. A survey carried out in 2010 identied 205 active recovered rms and a total of 9,362 workers. Out of these rms, more than 95% were constituted as worker cooperatives (Facultad Abierta 2011).

7 The main effect of expropriation is the transfer of property. In order to have a place, adequate compliance is required at all stages of the expropriation process, including full payment of compensation prior to the transfer. These steps provide for the legislative classication of public utility, the administrative determination of the property and the procedure itself, i.e. the expropriation trial.

8 Different analyses relating to the phenomenon of recovered rms identify the problem of this type of enterprise at three different moments in their evolution. The rst of these corresponds to isolated experiences prior to the 1990s as a result of processes of privatization or stagnation of economic activity (Vuotto 2004). The second occurs within the context of the economic crisis in 2001 and is signicant due to witnessing the movements that form the crux of and represent the sector. During this period, considered by some authors as the origin of this type of rm (Fajn 2003), 161 rms of this type were constituted, mainly in the area of Greater Buenos Aires. By 2005, these rms had a total of 7,135 workers (Ministerio de Trabajo 2005). The largest number of cooperatives belonged to the metalworking industry, followed by the food sector. In the third period, from 2005, in a context of an improving economy and a drop in unemployment at a national level the process of rm recovery continued and 40 new rms were created (Palomino et al. 2010).

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The experiences of rm recovery allow us to assess a phenomenon whose most remarkable expression does not lie in its relevance as an economic fact, but in its potential to lend some sense to the social practices that questioned the law on property rights and enabled the articulation of different levels of claims, among which the most important was that of the defence of the source of work.

Thus, the consequences of worker mobilization and channelling of demands related to restarting activity under the format of self-management had an effect on the sanctioning of several laws that declared buildings, machinery and the facilities of a number of rms to be of public use and subject to expropriation or transitory occupation, which should be assigned to the control of worker cooperatives made up of its employees, in some cases as an outright donation and in others as an onerous one. The action of the movements that represented the workers of these rms allowed for legislative initiatives such as the modication of the Bankruptcy Law to be properly channelled and to drive forward parliamentary debate on the Projected Law on Worker Cooperatives. The main interest of the movements consisted of legitimizing the actions of workers and expressing particular interests in terms of their claims in relation to genuine work that implies respect for worker member rights and the values of this type of rm. From this perspective, worker cooperatives sought to become a recognized socioeconomic agent, whose aim was to build an identity capable of preserving the specic nature of the cooperative organization, whilst promoting the recognition of other collective interests.

Although dynamic, supportive functioning would seem to constitute one of the success factors of these experiences, several restrictions have, in many cases, impeded the reversal of the precarious situation that characterized the early stages of development of these rms, and still presents them with permanent challenges to their survival. Without attempting to form any kind of order of importance or separate the social objectives of each organization from those of an economic nature, it is worthwhile bearing in mind the importance of the latter in the current climate, without losing sight of the fact that the main social impact of the organization is the one it has over its members.

Alongside the changes in the economic context that affected the activity of worker cooperatives since the 1990s, limitations concerning the set of specialist institutions responsible for their support and promotion became clear, and particularly so in the case of the body charged with overseeing the regulations, which promoted the constitution of organizations whose viability and sustainability were scant. The weakness and lack of specialization of the secondary organizations that represented them, the shortage of resources necessary for attending to the needs of the sector on the part of credit institutions and an overly rigid legal framework should also be mentioned.

4 The new scenario since 2003

Since mid-2003, diverse instruments of public policy have been implemented that involve the promotion and development of worker cooperatives, as they were considered to be an adequate vehicle for the creation of genuine employment.

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Amongst these were policies on sector, aimed at the development and consolidation of cooperative enterprises that recognize the social role of cooperatives and their contribution in terms of employment; territorial policies, which allowed for the development of these policies on a local basis; and generic policies, which covered several associative initiatives regardless of the sector of activity and the territory to which it pertained (Vuotto 2007b).

The formation of worker cooperatives of this kind began in 2003 with the development of the Federal Emergency Housing Program, aimed at resolving the housing deciency, whilst responding to employment problems, by incorporating people on unemployment subsidies into house building projects.9 The Ministry for National Social Development later went on to promote initiatives aimed at stimulating such cooperatives: the National Plan on Local Development and Social Economy and the Socio-Productive Projects in 2004; and the Program for Social Investment and the Social Income and employment schemes Plan (PRIST) in 2009.10 Altogether, up until mid-March 2011, 7,315 worker cooperatives were created: The Program for Competitiveness in Self-Managed Enterprise promoted in 2004 by the Ministry for Employment and Social Security can also be added to this list, although the range it covered it was on a smaller scale and it was principally aimed at providing technical assistance to recovered rms.

The process of selecting the instruments of the policy directed at worker cooperatives was becoming progressively modied since 2003, lending greater weight to economic and nancial incentives. The signicant and growing transfer of funds that involved these incentives explains the important number of cooperatives created, especially since the implementation of the Social Income and Employment Schemes Plan. In general, these transfers are linked to the development of new competitions and the creation of new initiatives, rather than the accompaniment and support of the cooperatives already formed.

Despite the clear interest on the part of the State in galvanizing new employment creation by promoting the cooperative formula, the main limitation of these attempts included in the framework of the programs mentioned above lies in its orchestrated and dependent nature. The tools of the policy reinforce the centrism of the state agent (the national ministries involved in the programs) with regard to the cooperatives being created, and particularly to its members and the local authorities, who expected decisions and resources to come from the national public sector, considering the state to be mainly responsible for the activity of the created cooperatives.

9 The Program was promoted by the Ministry for Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services in conjunction with the Ministries for Social Development and Labor. To be included in the Program, cooperatives had to be constituted by a minimum of sixteen people and unemployed people not eligible for unemployment subsidies; those under 18 years of age or who exceeded the maximum age for the subsidy, could form a part of the cooperative as long as they did not go over 25% of the total number of members, whilst not more than one family member could belong to a particular cooperative.

10 The objective of the program was to create 100,000 new jobs through the constitution of cooperatives aimed at jobless people of between 18 and 64 years old. The cooperatives from this Program are made up of 60 people and their objective is to carry out small-scale building work in the interest of the community (construction and repair of streets and sidewalks, renovating squares, etc.).

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The high degree of dependence with regard to ways of contracting cooperatives and, in some cases, the arbitrary way in which they were constituted, may lead them to a precarious and irregular existence. Economic dependence indeed reinforces receptive and passive behaviours, which hinder the development of opportune actions that guarantee the mid-term sustainability of these associative processes.

5 An organizational typology

One relevant aspect with regard to the organizational activity of worker cooperatives is linked to the type and degree of participation of the members of the productive unit and the articulation of their interests and those of other stakeholders. From this perspective, the cooperative can enable the identication of its members with the organization and reect a positive association between the cooperative and the sense of belonging and control in the workplace (Ashforth 2001; Ashforth and Mael 1989; Pratt and Ashforth 2003).

Equally, in terms of feasibility and sustainability, the organizational structure and its relation with the objectives and participation of its members implies a balance between the functioning of the association and the work of the cooperative enterprise. The balance between the two dimensions reects the correspondence between the elements of the rm and contributes to an organizational development that favours the preservation of the cooperative identity.11

The integration of both dimensions (association and rm) ensures that the vision of the association does not question the efciency of the rm, whilst equally ensuring that the objectives of the rm do not contradict the challengers of the association, as the mission should be realized through the rms activity.

Balance in this sense allows for the two branches of corporate identity to associate with one another effectively,12 on the one hand, the branch linked to the organization and the rms policies, and on the other, that relating to cooperation in the workplace, bearing in mind the tensions that can arise from confrontation between the two (Richez-Battesti 2007).

Basing the ideas presented here on organizational activity that arises from worker cooperative case studies of different origins and which focus on organizational

11 The identity of worker cooperatives is based upon the business structures that were built on the principles, values and operational methods of cooperatives around the world. These principles are reected in the Statement on Cooperative Identity (ICA 1995) and agreed on within the framework of the International Cooperative Alliance (ACI), and included in Recommendation 193/2002 of the OIT on the Promotion of Cooperatives. The principles established in this statement are: open and voluntary membership, economic participation of members, democratic control exercised by the members, education, training and information, cooperation between cooperatives and commitment to the community.

12 From an interpretative perspective, organizational identity is inherent in a relational perspective; it requires comparisons with the outside world and is consciously self-reexive (Hatch and Schultz 2004, 2002; Brown et al. 2006).

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Fig. 1 Typology of worker cooperatives

identity13 (Vuotto 2008), the analysis leads to an identication of four prevailing types of cooperative.14 The cases go from defensive, peripheral business models, which originated during socioeconomic crises, to socio-business formulae that seek to have an impact on local development and include publicprivate collaboration in the services sector and innovative practices with regard to genuine job creation.

According to the role of the members of the cooperative as workers and owners of the rm, and depending on the rights and duties that such a position involves, the different types of organization can be categorized into four blocks: business-oriented, integrated, induced and activist (Fig. 1). The types correspond to the nature of the new bodies created and to the activity of those already in existence, and the typology is based on case studies of worker cooperatives that consider variables such as origin, activity, the management processes of both the business and the association and organizational identity.

The business-oriented type of rm relates to an organizational mode in which primacy corresponds to the ownership of the cooperative and the importance of the rights that this ownership endows. It reects the condition of cooperatives where economic activity has predominated in its development, with particular attention to the needs of rm capitalization, prioritizing economic-nancial protability, while putting aside the importance of the socio-organizational aspects of cooperative governance. Acceptance of cooperative principles, respect for its statutes and acceptance of internal regulations that consider the balance between the rights and obligations of the member, in this case, become a mere formality. This type of rm contains some traits that are typical dynamic enterprises from an economic point of view, particularly due to the experience in the workplace of the workers concerned, the network of contacts delimited to the business world and the development of businesses based on the differentiation of products/services.

13 58 cases of cooperatives were analyzed from different sectors of economic activity, differentiating between the autonomous cooperatives of those whose creation was the result of the recovery of rms or induced by government programs. The main variables considered in the analysis allowed for the identication of signicant differences with regard to the management of the rm and of the association, and grouping relatively homogenous organizations together with regard to their behavior.

14 Since the 1990s, job fraud represented a common problem due to the use on the part of some employers of worker cooperatives to reduce labor costs by not applying current work regulations.

- Association +

+ Business-oriented

Integrated

Firm

Induced Activist -

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The integrated type, which expresses a balanced situation between the rm and the association, in accordance with the duties and rights of its workers, often includes cooperatives that are largely consolidated and, in particular, have adequate conditions of capitalization. They generally have a long, consolidated history, and their origins often go back to the 1970s and 1980s. Their identity is rooted in the social economy and their economic activity is usually balanced by the cooperative nature of the enterprise. A good number of these organizations are innovative in production management and most of them provide appropriate responses to the evolution of their internal realities and to the demands of an increasingly competitive market.

The induced type corresponds to organizations promoted by the State via the previously mentioned programs. They reect the situation of cooperatives made up of people who have been excluded from the job market, for whom need/life situation is their main motivation. Numerous cases of this type arose due to the demands of social movements who proposed employment as a means to inclusion as one of their principal claims and needs. The inclusion of such individuals into the claims of these groups and the subsequent formation of worker cooperatives to seek an answer to their needs favoured contacts and, indirectly, dened potential paths for channelling their demands.

Enterprises launched in such a way mainly attend to the need of having work, whether the main activity of the cooperative be focused on providing services or when it is seen as an important externality that the rm generates (employment in enterprises started up by jobless people). Although in both cases, need in itself does not constitute a business idea, the fabric of links and social relations it allows to build can have a stabilizing and reproductive effect, despite the fact that it can result in an important loss of autonomy (Stryjan 1998). The main concern that the cooperative is only a means of resolving its own problems or of obtaining individual benets leads to a short-term vision that values the importance of immediate results and hinders the generation of shared rules related to its associative nature.

The activist type of association is one where the rights of the worker are rst and foremost. In these cooperatives, the reasoning behind the actions of the cooperative are based more on a trade union-type logic than on the usual implication of associative work. The emphasis in this type of cooperative is placed more upon the dimensions of the nature and content of the work involved, as well as the development of an egalitarian policy based on solidarity (Atzeni and Ghigliani 2007; Vieta and Ruggeri 2009). In general, this type corresponds to the organizational reality of recovered rms.

In this case, it is important to establish the difference that exists between the commitment to share responsibilities in terms of defending a common cause from the commitment and responsibility implied in participating in running a self-managed enterprise. The former does not always coincide with the capacity to take on the responsibility of the various functions that the rm requires or the ability to delegate that responsibility.

Regardless of the type of association that the organizations analyzed here belong to, and despite the rapid growth of the sector in recent decades, worker cooperatives face limited access to possibilities of nancing, training and technological improvement in their rms, accompanied, in some cases, by the weak involvement of its members in the defence of their rights as associates and owners in the adhesion of the cooperatives to integration bodies.

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6 Conclusions

The evolution of worker cooperatives in Argentina and the classication of predominant types included in this study show the different restrictions that affect the development of these organizations and the imbalances that frequently hamper the consolidation of autonomous collective projects. For these cooperatives, the main challenge lies in the ability of its workers to articulate the social goals to be reached via their economic activity in each rm, combining a business logic with a prevailing environment of solidarity. This combination ensures that cooperation works as a sector of economic efciency, producing tangible effects and real benets, in comparison with actions of an individual kind.

In all the types considered herein, the limitations of the organizations themselves and the contrasts and contradictions that have occurred in their development in recent decades illustrate the challenges relative to the survival of the sector, or, in other words, economic activity and its democratic functioning.

By considering the role of government policies designed to promote worker cooperatives, it can also be seen that, during the 1990s, the sector was a secondary objective on the public agenda and the policy tools available were subject to the swings of the situation at the time; changes in economic strategy and conicts between different stakeholders, which resulted in a range of actions that were limited in scope.

For their part, the policies implemented since 2003 and the modes adopted by government plans to promote the formation of worker cooperatives, although they attempt to bolster the range and reach of the programs focused on reducing the problem of unemployment or to provide situational solutions to the problem, barely take into account the autonomous nature and the demands posed by these organizations in order to be able to successfully take up their main challenges and achieve an activity and consolidation that is in harmony with their associative nature.

In this respect, it is essential to point out that the development and consolidation of cooperatives of the integrated type require effective public policies with the capacity to provide a material structure (nancing, subsidies, etc.) with a substantive structure. In this way, the autonomy of these organizations could be taken into consideration in a way that is coherent with the demands of the main actors and their interests, without losing sight of the fact that social goals are reached in cooperatives through economic activities and that their membership is the meeting place of its social and economic functions.

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