WORKER TAKEOVER: ONLY AS A LAST RESORT? Available to Purchase

Attempts by workers to take‐over and revive companies in crisis have been a recurring response to the threat of closure, particularly in times of economic recession. Being above all a response to the threat of unemployment, they logically tend to occur in industries undergoing restructuring where the workforce possesses industry‐specific skills, or where a local community is economically dependent upon the threatened plant. Thus, the current wave of worker take‐overs — beginning in the 1970's and variously manifest throughout the European Community — conforms to a clear, overall pattern which often includes a solidaristic or co‐operative response to such crisis periods.