What is CECOP ?
CECOP is the European confederation of industrial and service cooperatives. CECOP represents 27 members in 16 European countries. These are national federations of cooperatives, and organisations that promote cooperatives. We give voice to 43,000 enterprises, employing 1.3 million workers.
In our network we identify three main types of cooperatives:
- Worker cooperatives are democratically managed and owned by the workers, who share risks and responsibilities. A full definition is provided in the World Declaration on Worker Cooperatives.
- Social cooperatives provide as their primary aim ‘services of general interest’, such as social, cultural, educational and environmental services to the community they belong. Many of them, in addition, contribute to the work integration of disadvantaged and marginalized people. A full definition is provided in the World Standards of Social Cooperatives.
- Cooperatives of self-employed producers such as freelancers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, journalists, masons, graphic designers, consultants, doctors, lawyers etc. These cooperatives help overcome isolation and improve security, by sharing marketing or accountancy services, workspace and equipment. Please read CECOP publication All for one for more insights on this typology of cooperative.
Our vision and mission
CECOP works to create a supportive environment for cooperatives, so that they can operate to their full strength and fulfil their mission of providing sustainable jobs and high quality services to communities. Our aim is to build a stronger and fairer Europe, working through cooperatives to bring democracy and solidarity to the workplace, sustainable economic growth, and social cohesion. As a European confederation, we commit ourselves to:
- Represent the interests of our members to the EU institutions, other European-level policy makers, national governments, and the wider cooperative movement
- Support our members through networking, mutual learning, designing common strategies and agreeing collective positions
- Develop industrial and service cooperatives across Europe, and support their capacity to cooperate with each other – building new national organisations where they don’t yet exist
- Increase the visibility of cooperatives in industry and services, in the forms they are mainly organised - worker cooperatives, social cooperatives and cooperatives of self-employed producers
- Carry out research and contribute to knowledge about industrial and service cooperatives
Strategic plan 2021-2025
The CECOP members have adopted a new strategic direction for the 2021-2025 term. Built together with them, it will consist mainly of three pillars:
First pillar: To enable the environment for EU policies and legislation to be favorable for worker and social cooperatives
Second pillar: To increase the visibility for worker and social cooperatives in Europe
Third pillar: To build a strong and democratically led network
As the world is still recovering from the COVID-19 crisis, its impact on cooperative and their resilience to it, could pose still a struggle. Other challenges such as the green and digital transition for cooperatives, their access to capital and youth engagement will shape the actions of the organisation in the next years. Additionally, the rise in non-standard employment and the ascension of platform cooperatives, will also demand attention and specific actions in the future.
Read it fully here.
Our history
European cooperatives in industry and services go back to at least 1883, when the first recorded worker cooperative was established by jewellery workers in Paris. Around the beginning of the 20th century, there was a wave of worker cooperative development all over the European continent. Responding to the unjust labour conditions of the industrial revolution, they provided worker members with better, fairer and more dignified relations of work, and protected them with systems of welfare and social security.
Social cooperatives emerged around the 1970s, as an answer to communities’ need to overcome the lack of social services and work inclusion.
More recently, we have seen the development of cooperatives of self-employed producers, creating the double benefit of providing members with both autonomy and security, in response to the uncertainty and instability created by non-standard forms of employment.
CECOP was founded in 1979 in Manchester, UK, by a group of cooperators from 6 countries: France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Denmark. In 1982, it established its first secretariat in Brussels, and in 1992 it became a fully fledged confederation.
Facts and figures
- 72% of the workers employed in cooperatives in our network are also members of their cooperatives, which means they are co-owners of their enterprise and have an active role in the governance and control of major entrepreneurial and financial decisions.
- Over 92% of the cooperatives in our network are small or medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Some of them are part of strong horizontal cooperative groups. Examples include the CGM Group of social cooperatives in Italy, and the Mondragon group in the Basque region – Spain’s 7th biggest industrial group, employing over 80,000 workers.
- About 600 cooperatives in the CECOP network are the result of worker buyouts – businesses that were closing, and have been transferred to, or bought out by, their employees and re-established under the worker cooperative form. These data come mostly from France and Italy, however, cooperatives originated from worker buyouts are present also in other countries.
To learn more about industrial and service cooperatives download CECOP SNAPSHOT 2022-2023
Part of a BIGGER movement
Beyond industry and services, there are cooperatives in every sector of the economy in Europe and worldwide. CECOP is the sectoral organisation of Cooperatives Europe, which brings together cooperatives from all sectors. CECOP is also the European regional organisation of CICOPA, the world sectoral organisation for industry and services - itself part of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). CECOP is a member of Social Economy Europe, REVES and Social Platform.