Cooperatives and productive internationalization: A new challenge

Abstract

This article discusses recent trends in cooperativism, which has expanded its production in foreign markets through productive internationalization, an effective process in terms of increasing economic benefits, but based on massive use of wage labour, often in precarious conditions. Setting out from the Italian experience, it highlights the process by which cooperatives are moving away from the movement's original principles to develop into companies operating according to the ideals of a traditional capitalist company. The only difference from the latter is that profits are divided among a small number of workers who are also members, as already observed in the Mondragón Cooperative Complex in Spain. The article further analyses the trade union's position in this process, concluding that the internationalization of cooperatives represents a more general trend, the culmination of a deep process of cooperative degeneration.