ABSTRACT
Both unions and work cooperatives offer advantages to workers that can help ameliorate some of the negative qualities of labor identified earlier in the book. In addition to the variety of successes obtained by unions in providing better jobs and working conditions, two specific psychological benefits are discussed in this chapter. First, unions facilitate a potentially complete (and competing) group identity that allows workers to exercise a lean, psychologically delineated relationship to employers, and second and relatedly, a way to meet affiliation needs. The psychological characteristics of those likely to join unions are mentioned.
Worker cooperatives similarly may provide psychological benefits that buffer the nature of work. The compressed nature of these organizations means that both power and wage differentials are smaller than is often the case in ordinary organizations. Participating in ownership potentially enables a deep sense of worker identity. The chapter also reflects on some of the challenges to work cooperatives, including the presence of individualistic norms in some societies.
