Yes, in fact unions can be mutually beneficial to employee ownership in many ways, according to a Rutgers University report:
- Unions can facilitate various paths to worker ownership, including startups, recovering failed businesses, negotiating sales to employees from hostile owners, and enabling worker cooperatives for sectors like gig workers;
- Worker ownership can appeal to unions as an alternative path when facing closures, ownership transitions, or outsourcing that could lead to job losses;
- Combining union representation with worker ownership can deepen member engagement, expand wealth, promote workforce stability, create better jobs, improve work-life quality, and align with labor values;
- Unions can provide expertise in organizing, physical spaces, training/education, access to capital, and contract negotiations to foster worker ownership. Examples exist of unions supporting marketing co-ops, laying groundwork for worker co-op intermediaries while avoiding legal risks. As employee ownership intersects with labor, challenges will arise but unions have valuable capabilities to contribute.
Cultural considerations are needed as union members may struggle with transcending the standard labor-management duality.