Definition
Empresas recuperadas refer to enterprises that have been taken over and reactivated by workers following processes of bankruptcy, closure, or abandonment.
Scope
These enterprises are typically organised as cooperatives and aim to sustain production. Management, decision-making, and labour organisation are based on collective worker participation. In this sense, workers act both as producers and as decision-makers.
Distinction
Empresas recuperadas differ from other business and cooperative forms in the following ways:
Their origin lies in crisis, bankruptcy, or workplace closures.
Workers’ intervention often involves occupation, resistance, and collective action.
Their primary objective is the preservation of employment rather than profit maximisation.
Historical example
The empresas recuperadas movement expanded significantly in Argentina after the 2001 economic crisis, with workers reactivating hundreds of enterprises.
Evaluation
Empresas recuperadas can be seen as a contemporary form of worker self-management. However, market pressures, legal uncertainties, and financial constraints remain major challenges.
* Worker-recovered factories or worker-recuperated enterprises