Before joining Calverts in 1983, I worked in four different printing companies after leaving college in 1979. Relations with management were distant. They were almost always mediated by the union. At one, the managing director called a meeting with me and a union representative from the London area branch, to inform us that he wanted to make the four oldest workers redundant. It ended with me volunteering for redundancy, at the age of 21.

I am now working for Calverts. We are a collective-type, 100% common ownership worker co-operative with 15 members. We spend far less time and energy doing ‘management’ than most companies of our size, because all the members (we have 100% membership) have a high degree of autonomy in their day-to-day roles. As a result, we spend little time in meetings. It is an extremely efficient setup. The main challenges for worker-members in a small co-operative like ours are meeting far higher standards of personal behaviour and mutual accountability than are required in most employer-employee setups. Developing the skills and confidence to be a good worker co-operator often takes time.

In our industry (graphic design and printing services) there are no reasons why a worker co-operative shouldn’t be competitive. In our markets, our business culture makes us attractive to certain types of clients, who appreciate dealing with equal owner-members, and also like our openness and confident approach to the client-supplier relationship. Finally, we can be more competitive because we retain skilled staff much longer than most companies, and so can build an unusual level of professional knowledge and skills depth within the co-op.

I really think that worker cooperatives could be an alternative employment in the economic crisis affecting us. In a time of crisis and growing unemployment, the traditional weakness of the worker co-op model – scarcity of capital – seems to be less of an absolute barrier to entry. It is logical that when employers are offering fewer jobs, and laying off staff, then confident workers will look for a different way to provide income and an outlet for their skills and creativity.

Furthermore, I feel safe in terms of job security in my cooperative. Calverts has never had a compulsory redundancy in 33 years of trading, and that includes three recessions. Calverts staff stay with the co-op for an average of more than ten years – more than twice as long as the average. There have been times when we needed to make temporary reductions in conditions and real wages, but these were always borne equally by the members, and restored when trading conditions improved. I am very happy with Calverts for providing me with the encouragement, opportunities and solidarity which have given me a secure context for developing myself as a worker and as a human being.

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