Abstract

Multi-stakeholder co-operatives (MSCs), which allow for multiple parties (both consumer and worker, for example) to share in governance, have come to define a number of regional co-operative models worldwide and are often characterized as particularly inclusive and capable of expanding the democratic capacity of the co-operative movement. In Quebec, the solidarity cooperative—a multi-stakeholder model through which ownership is divided between multiple parties including workers, consumers, and “supporting members” who often represent other organizations —has proliferated significantly in the last several decades and directly encourages the formation of networks across the social economy through its unique governance structure. In addition to the strengths of this model, a number of challenges and tensions arise from its hybridization of worker and consumer co-operative models. This master's thesis examines these tensions from a worker’s perspective using a participant observation case study of The Hive Café, a solidarity cooperative operating out of Concordia University in downtown Montreal. Both formal and informal divisions between workers and other groups within solidarity cooperative governance are explored with the aim of extracting insights useful to those seeking to build socially-oriented economic alternatives.