ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the workplace culture and dispute behavior at the Welsh mine, Coal Co-operative. It examines the effect of workplace hierarchy, employee ownership, and worker empowerment on dispute resolution at Coal Cooperative. The co-ownership of the coal mine and the flattened structure provided objective confirmation to members that the ideology was in place, while the ideology helped maintain the importance of a flattened structure and shared ownership. Despite the general shift toward more informal dispute resolution, miners still raised some formal grievances at Coal Co-operative. This was particularly true in the area of safety, where members described themselves as being less flexible than they had been under British Coal. The conversion to a worker co-operative changed how workers and managers addressed potential workplace disputes, both directly and indirectly. Directly, the change to a co-operative increased democratic control, created greater worker power, decreased management power, and promoted greater support for worker opinions and input.
