Bruno Roelants served as director general of the International Cooperative alliance from 2018 to 2023 following secretary general roles at CECOP and CICOPA. In February, he published a new book - Cooperativism at Work - which draws on his decades of experience to collect stories of worker owned cooperatives around the world.
The book was a project to mark both the 2025 International Year of Cooperatives and the 100th anniversary of the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS), and includes case studies and reflections from over 30 contributors, bringing together examples from 15 different countries.
"We show the entrepreneurial strength,” he said in an interview with Co-op News.
The case studies cover all continents, with the contributors comprising a combination of academics, activists and practitioners with great working knowledge of the model and how it cooperativises Labour.
“Every cooperative cooperativises something,” says Roelants, “consumption, or credit or housing. In this case, it cooperativises labour, which itself is a central aspect of life, society, and the economy. So, when thinking about the future of work, it is important to see how this co-operativisation of labour can function in different environments.”
The book also explores issues around public policy and legislation, and the direct impact this has on the health of a country’s worker cooperative movement.
It tells stories of democracy in action and worker buyouts, with the hope that worker and social cooperative movements use the examples in the book practically, as a tool to discuss and inform public policies - and inspire interest in cooperative labour.
Cooperativism at Work is published by Routledge and is available now
