Since 31 July 2014, the law on the SSE (Social and Solidarity Economy) has authorised the creation of groupings of Scops (worker co-ops) in order to improve the model’s competitiveness. The Scop movement has supported the efforts made to bring the Scops TPC and Sefard together in order to create the first Scop grouping, Calice, which was launched officially on 31 May 2016.
Up until recently, Scops wishing to develop and grow externally were not able to create co-operative groupings. As a result, they had to create subsidiaries, which were not Scops. However, following the introduction of this legislative provision, Scops may henceforward create groupings and turn their subsidiaries into Scops in order to establish a truly co-operative form of networked expansion across their entire structure.
The new provision on forming groupings allows Scops not only to develop and to grow bigger in order to be more competitive, but also to ensure that the workers are able to participate in the results and governance of the enterprise and to increase the financing of the group through the introduction of employee share ownership. Furthermore, the Scops which are members of a grouping are required to harmonise their co-operative practices and, therefore, to introduce a high degree of synergy.
In this context, the “parent” Scop holds 51% of the capital and the voting rights, whilst a share in the capital is set-aside for the workers of the so-called “daughter” companies. Read more on Cecop’s website (in English and French).
Photo: TPC works with the cosmetics industry and, together with Sefard Scops, has launched a société coopérative et participative.
