Humanising Work: Co-operatives, credit unions and the challenge of mass unemployment

By Chris Beales

Does the search for meaning in work matter? - and is it even possible to ask such a question against a backdrop of mass youth unemployment, widespread poverty and growing inequality? Drawing on the experience of the Mondragon co-operatives in Spain and other innovative models of employment and enterprise from around the world - and the visions a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rainmaker Books
• Release date: Oct 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781909863033

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Title Page

Humanising Work

Copyright © Chris Beales

First Published 2014 in the United Kingdom

No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval system without written permission of the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-909863-03-3

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Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Bibliography

Index

Foreword

Professor Robin Simmons, Professor of Education, the University of Huddersfield.

There has, over recent years, been much debate amongst policymakers, academics and media commentators about unemployment, and the social and economic ills associated with worklessness. This is understandable – being unemployed for significant periods of time can have serious consequences, not only for the individual, but for families, communities, and the economy more broadly.

There has, however, been far less attention paid to employment and the quality of jobs now available to large sections of the population. This is a serious problem – work for many people in twenty-first century Britain is often a negative and alienating experience, and as this book points out, there are more poor people in employment than there are outside the labour market. Whereas, in the past, getting a job invariably offered a way out of poverty, today it is often part of the problem. Yet, as Chris Beales illustrates in this book, it doesn’t have to be this way. Humanising Work reminds us that there are other ways of thinking about employment and, drawing on a range of evidence from the UK and internationally, argues there are more socially and economically just alternatives to providing work, and organising and managing employment.

Chris Beales is, in equal part, activist, campaigner and theologian. He is also a classic example of what Antonio Gramsci famously described as the ‘organic intellectual’: his work is important, and should be read by policymakers, practitioners and others concerned with promoting social justice.

Robin Simmons

September 2014

Preface

What this book is about

Chapter 1:

Meaningful work

Quality, purpose, satisfaction, worth, meaning – are these meaningless concepts for most people in their working lives, or in some sense desirable and achievable objectives? And is it even possible to ask such a question when the UK is experiencing mass youth unemployment, widespread poverty and growing inequality? Does the search for meaning matter? Or is it a rather vague, Western pipedream which, for most people across the world, is irrelevant to the sheer struggle for survival?

Down the ages, people have explored the idea that, while ‘work’ is part of the human condition, ‘enough good work for everyone’ should be a goal towards which we aspire. So, how do we get there? We have to work pragmatically and look for small, practical ways of getting things going, in the hope that, from such examples, broader principles and approaches can be developed. This may be inadequate, given the state of the world, the power of global capital, the widening gap between rich and poor and the serious environmental problems facing humanity in the coming decades. Nevertheless, if we can make things happen, we should do so. What follows is a range of examples and ideas which point towards what could be – enough good work for everyone in a society of mutuality and inter-dependence.

Chapter 2:

The Mondragon Co-operatives

Fr José María Arizmendiarrieta moved to Mondragon, in the Basque Region of Northern Spain, in 1941 to become its parish priest. The Spanish Civil War had just ended and the first impressions he made in Mondragon were not very favourable. But gradually, he built up his work in the town. His emphasis on technical training proved to be exactly what was needed as the economy began to grow and he set up a technical school, the Escuela Profesional, in Mondragon in 1943, the forerunner of the extensive co-operative developments which were to follow.

His vision was rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. This corpus of theological and practical thought stemmed back to the time of Pope Leo X111 who, in 1891, issued an Encyclical, or open letter, Rerum Novarum. It discussed the relationship between labour and capital, as well as government and its citizens. It urged a fairer balance of power between workers and employers and supported the right of workers to form trade unions. Subsequent papal encyclicals reaffirmed the need to create a just and participative society in which human labour was fairly remunerated and working conditions improved.

For Fr Arizmendi, the key concept was the humanisation of work – humanity at work has become the co-operative movement’s brand. At the end of 2012, the Mondragon co-operatives employed 80,321 people in 289 companies and organizations in four areas of activity: finance, industry, retail and knowledge. Although the co-ops remain mainly located in and around Mondragon, the Mondragon Corporation has diversified across Spain and the world. In 2012, just over 40% of employees were based in the Basque Country, 40% in the rest of Spain and nearly 20% in the rest of Europe, Asia and the Americas. The Corporation had 105 production subsidiaries abroad, in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Australia.

Are there lessons we in the UK can learn from the Mondragon experience? The economic problems of the past six years have had a significant impact on the Mondragon co-operatives – but their sustainability during the severe downturn has been impressive.

Chapter 3:

Co-operatives in the UK

According to Co-operatives UK, there are about 1 million co-operatives in the world that serve over 1 billion members and employ more than 100 million people. The 300 largest co-operatives and mutuals generate an annual turnover of 2,200 billion