Decent Work and Worker Cooperatives: Proposals for Implementation within the Framework of Law 27/1999

Abstract

The implementation of decent work is a challenge and an opportunity that different countries must face as a consequence of its incorporation into the framework of the Sustainable Development Goal number 8 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this scenario, worker cooperatives appear as ideal actors to materialize workplaces that combine the safeguard and respect for the workers rights, the fight against job insecurity, and real equal opportunities between men and women, offering an ethical and participatory alternative that reduces unemployment and contributes to the creation and maintenance of quality jobs. However, the Spanish legal framework for worker cooperatives, provided for by Law 27/1999, is far from guaranteeing the different dimensions of the decent work paradigm, and needs to be updated. In this context, the aim of this paper is to offer proposals, connected with decent work paradigm, for the legal reformulation of some aspects of worker cooperatives. To this end, this article examines the legal framework of these societies, both from a constitutional and legal perspective, specifying to what extent the application of the concept of "decent work" is compatible within the framework of worker cooperatives. Next, different dimensions of the decent work paradigm will be connected with legal aspects of worker cooperatives, offering proposals for improvement or implementation. Specifically, corporate advances (art. 80. 4 Law 27/1999), the probationary status of members (art. 81 Law 27/1999) and the configuration of working conditions (art. 83 Law 27/1999) and equal opportunities between men and women and mechanisms for reconciling work and family life will be examined.