Worker-Owners and Unions: Why Can’t We Just Get Along?
You have probably heard the story of the scorpion that convinces a frog to carry it across a river. Halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog, which means both will drown. The frog does not understand; the scorpion explains, “I couldn’t help myself. It’s my nature.”
In the abstract, worker-owned enterprises and labor unions would appear to have much in common. Both share the goal of improving pay and working conditions. Both aim to give workers a say in the workplace. And both belong on any progressive’s short list of strategies for building a more just economic system.
But when unions and worker-owned businesses actually interact, they sometimes act more like the fabled arachnid.
The Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State, where I work, provides preliminary technical assistance on worker buyouts. I once met with a group of employees exploring a worker buyout of a failing paper mill in southwest Ohio. When I (more…)
