Worker Ownership, Community Ownership, and Labor Unions: Two Examples

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Abstract
What role do or should US unions play in democratic or worker-owned enterprises? The three major types of US industrial democrats-those favoring collective bargaining, those favoring nonunion, management-run participation, and those favoring setting up alternative organizations-disagree and/or are hostile to each other on this question. This study presents two cases: (1) a set of long-unionized worker-owned companies; and (2) a community-owned economic development organization with unionized workers and union representatives on its board of directors. Qualitative observational and interview data are combined with statistical analysis of attitudinal data. The findings indicate that union presence is problematic for itself and the enterprise. Moreover, the union tends to play a traditional conservative role, emphasizing protection of workers from management abuses, which stem from the imperfect nature of worker/community ownership arrangements and the imperfect nature of democratic management.