Worker-Owned Cooperatives: A Strategy for Expanding Economic Democracy, and Transforming the Informal Sector of the Iranian Economy

Among the Initiatives and Methods for Achieving Economic Democracy, Worker-owner Cooperatives Provide the Deepest Level of Participation for Workers. Worker-owner Cooperatives Play a Significant Role in the Collective Organization of Informal Sector Workers and the Realization of Decent Work Goals. These types of Cooperatives are a Response to the Changes in the World of Work and a Mechanism for Formalizing Non-Standard, part-time, Self-employed Jobs, and an Alternative to Contractors and Other Distorted Forms of Outsourcing. However, Achieving this Goal Requires Expanding the Scope of Labor Law, Revising the Concept of Worker and Employer, and the Practical Commitment of Cooperatives to Decent Work Goals. Otherwise, These types of Cooperatives, Instead of Organizing Work and Supporting Informal Workers, Become a Threat to Formal Workers. Currently, There is no Precise Recognition of Worker-owner Cooperatives and Their Governance Structure in the Iranian legal system. Only in the Cooperative Sector Development Document (2013) and the Amendment (2014) has the Term Labor Cooperatives been used, Without Specifying their Characteristics and mode of Operation and Governance. Another Ambiguous and Neglected Point in the Iranian legal system is the Inclusion or non-Inclusion of Labor Law Protections for Individuals employed in These types of Cooperatives. In this Article, a Descriptive-analytical Method is used to Show the Challenges and Opportunities in this Field.