The ILO should not only be concerned with the conditions of work but also with the conditions of workers. By and large, it is under the organisational form of cooperatives that this concern is best addressed for the largest part of the population.
Albert Thomas
If you want to be incrementally better: be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better: be cooperative.
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These guidelines were adopted on 20 June 2002 at the 90th ILC session in recognition of the important role cooperatives play in job creation, mobilizing resources, generating investment and contributing to the economy. Cooperatives in their various forms promote participation in the economic and social development of all people. In addition to its tripartite constituents – governments and employers' and workers' organizations – the ILO's association with the international cooperative movement dates to the period of Albert Thomas, its first Director (1919–1931). International Cooperative Day, 6 July Cooperatives are democratic organizations owned and controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Their member-driven nature is one of the most clearly differentiating factors of cooperative enterprises. This means that decisions made in cooperatives are balanced between the pursuit of profit, and the needs and interests of members and their communities.
In communities all over the world, cooperative enterprises have been born out of, and in spite of, crisis situations. In fact, as ILO Director General Guy Ryder has pointed out1, the recently published study titled Resilience in a downturn: The power of financial cooperatives has shown that financial cooperatives have fared better than the investor-owned banks in times of crisis. The ILO’s Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation is relevant today not only to confront the immediate crises, but also in shaping the future world of work and the development of enterprise models that effectively combine economic efficiency with social and environmental responsibility.
International Cooperative Day was established by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in 1923. It is observed on the first Saturday of July each year to commemorate and celebrate cooperative principles, and the cooperative movement worldwide. The theme for 2013 is “Cooperative enterprise remains strong in time of crisis”. The celebration of International Cooperative Day is a reminder that solidarity generates strength and the capacity to build, and that effective organizational and business models can indeed be founded on values of justice and solidarity.
