Unions and Co-ops in Media, Culture, and Tech: Paths to Worker Power
Media, culture, and tech workers in the United States and Canada are increasingly turning to unions and—to a lesser but still significant extent—co-operatives to confront poor working conditions and systemic inequalities in their industries. Since 2015, thousands of workers in digital media, video games, museums, and more have unionized. Likewise, during the last decade, the idea of platform cooperativism has spread and worker-owned businesses have emerged in fields from journalism to photography to tech. These workers view unions and co-ops as ways to collectively address low pay and job insecurity, weak social protections, racism, sexism, excessive hours, and a lack of voice.
Typically, researchers study unions and co-ops separately—a divide that reflects longstanding tensions between these traditions and strategies. Inspired by renewed interest in the union co‐op model, we argue for approaching unions and co-ops with an eye to kinship rather than division. Both are enduring models taken up by workers themselves to meet their livelihood needs, resist exploitation, improve working conditions, address inequality, and build democracy in the workplace.
Image credit: Better Creative
