On International Workers’ Day (1 May), the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) has welcomed the fact that, according to the latest ICMIF Global Mutual Market Share research, cooperative and mutual insurers have consistently increased their employee numbers since 2012 and over 1.13 million people were employed by the sector across the world in 2016, compared to 1.08m in 2012. The mutual and cooperative insurance sector represented 27% of the global insurance market by premiums in 2016.
Shaun Tarbuck, Chief Executive of ICMIF, said “Mutual and cooperative insurers continue to expand their global reach, shown by a growth in the aggregate number of policyholders served and people employed around the world.
“Around the world cooperatives are helping to reduce inequality by empowering people and by offering them a dignified and sustainable way to make a living. The size and impact of the cooperative (and mutual) sector should not be underestimated. Our Global Mutual Market Share research shows that the social impact of cooperative/mutual insurance is great which gives us reason to celebrate on International Workers’ Day whilst reminding ourselves of the need to continue our fight to increase equality and to ensure no- one is left behind.”
The International Cooperative Alliance has also issued a press release celebrating the commitment of those working in the cooperative sector in creating sustainable jobs and formal work, lowering income inequality, and showing their capacity to be a large laboratory experimenting with innovative and sustainable forms of work. The International Cooperative Alliance (the Alliance) serves and represents over 3 million cooperatives and over 1.2 billion cooperative members around the world, in all sectors of the economy and ICMIF is proud to be the insurance sectoral body of the Alliance.
In its statement the Alliance notes that as people-centred enterprises owned and run by and for their members to realise their common needs and aspirations, whether the members are the customers, employees, users or residents, cooperatives are democratically managed and controlled. Cooperatives’ inherent capacity to innovate and adapt themselves to meet community needs can be a tool to bring democracy, equality and sustainability into the workplace, says the Alliance.
Ariel Guarco, President of the Alliance said, “Technological changes, the knowledge-based economy, big data and delocalisation are, among others, factors that are quickly impacting the world of work – and we still have to take into account issues such as the gender pay gap and, modern slavery, which affects people of all genders and all ages across the world. Cooperatives offer another paradigm, where inclusion, participation and growth go hand in hand”.
The International Cooperative Alliance welcomed the International Labour Organization’s Centenary Initiative with its focus on the Future of Work, and, within this context, the establishment of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Global Commission on the Future of Work. The cooperative movement has presented a position paper on the Global Commission’s Inception Report, called Cooperatives and the Future of Work, showing the relevance of cooperatives in work and employment, and has proposed policy recommendations aimed at promoting cooperatives’ contributions to the future of work.
Read the Alliance press release in full here
