Milkerie Worker Cooperative in France: Some Evidence on Why Cooperatives Struggle to Propose an Alternative to Capitalist Enterprise

Abstract

Milkerie¹ worker cooperative was created after a yearlong labor fight against a factory closure announcement. By creating the coop, Milkerie’s workers set out to prove that if workers were given more decision-making power in the economy, it would be possible to create a more inclusive economy that values worker labor and provides them wage-based livelihoods. This chapter describes the historical conditions that the cooperative emerge, shaped its business model and governance structure. If cooperatives are believed to propose an alternative to capitalist enterprises, the case of Milkerie shows how the market pressure turns activism, that is, various types of unpaid voluntary labor, into simple jobs, that is, activities codified by task description and time frame, limiting the possibility to re-imagine the economy collectively.

Citation

Snikersproge, I. (2020), "Milkerie Worker Cooperative in France: Some Evidence on Why Cooperatives Struggle to Propose an Alternative to Capitalist Enterprise", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) Anthropological Enquiries into Policy, Debt, Business, and Capitalism (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 40), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 127-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-128120200000040009