Mondragón Corporacion Collectiva: This should happen more often!

[JanMichael]

Wow. Mairead mentioned this company in another thread so I took a look at it...Undamnedbelievable!

The short story...A Priest convinces 5 young Engineers to form a Collective by taking over a parafin/stove factory and running it on truly Democratic Principles.

Workers are valued over Capital:

The Mondragón Co-operative Experience considers Capital to be an instrument, subordinate to Labour, which is necessary for business development. Therefore, it is understood to be worthy of just remuneration, in accordance with the efforts involved in saving it, although not directly linked to the amount of profit made.

Now it's a multi-billion dollar group of collectives/cooperatives with a University, dozens of schools, and some 60,000 Owners/Workers.

Their home page:

http://www.casi.org.nz/PQList-Archive/1999-04/msg00030.html

A quote from the Socialist Priest that was the catalyst.

"Nothing differentiates people as much as their respective attitudes to the circumstances in which they live. Those who opt to make history and change the course of events themselves have an advantage over those who decide to wait passively for the results of the change".
José María Arizmendiarrieta
(Ideologist and driving force behind the Mondragón Co-operative Experience)

My new personal hero.

The MCC "Experiance": http://www.mondragon.mcc.es/ingles/experiencia.html#jose%20maria

Their Democratic Model:


II. DEMOCRATIC ORGANISATION

Based on the basic equality of the worker-members, which implies acceptance of a democratically organised company based on:

... The sovereignty of the General Assembly, consisting of all the members and which operates on the basis of "one member, one vote".
... The democratic election of governing bodies, especially the Governing Council, which is responsible to the General Assembly for its management.
... Collaboration with management bodies designated to manage the company through the delegation of the members as a whole.

There is a broad delegation of powers on a day-to-day basis. Hence the importance of the election of the Governing Council, renewable every four years - half of the members every two- and the appointment, through this Governing Council, of the executive management, to whom the economic performance and strategy of the company are delegated to a great extent. However, it must always be remembered that final decision-making and control rests with the General Assembly.

Amazing. I have read how there are some managerial issues to be dealt with but overall it has remained a highly Democratic endevour.

Hats off to the Basques!

[htuttle]

1. I've been working at cooperatives for about 11 years

I don't think I'd want to work for a 'regular' company anymore.

It isn't easy, but nobody ever said it was going to be easy (as a co-worker of mine likes to say). My experiences with cooperatives (both good times and bad) are about all that give me any hope for humanity, as a matter of fact.

They have been slowing spreading in the US for years too -- they are not just grocery stores anymore! I know of them in lots of trades and businesses -- manufacturing, engineering, software, transportation, etc...

The Revolution starts at WORK! :evilgrin:

[JanMichael]

2. Yes it does!

It starts at work.

I think this is something that I want to get involved with.

[htuttle]

5. Here's some more info about cooperatives

This is a link to our local university's cooperative outreach program:
http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/

They have a nice page of all-around coop news and information (not just from WI).

The 'information by topic' and 'information by sector' have loads of links, articles, and papers on various cooperative issues encompassing worker, consumer, and supplier coops.

Of course, no informational post on coops would be complete without a recitation of the Rochedale principles.

As one source says:

In 1844 a group of 28 weavers, today known as the 'Rochedale
Pioneers', started a shop in the small town of Rochedale in England.
This group are attributed with the origin of the co-op philosophy

--------------------------------------------------------
The Rochedale Cooperative Principles
1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership
Co-operatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons
able to use their services and willing to accept the
responsibilities of membership, without gender, social,
racial, political, or religious discrimination.

2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control
Co-operatives are democratic organisations controlled by their
members, who actively participate in setting their policies
and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected
representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary
co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member,
one vote), and co-operatives at other levels are also
organised in a democratic manner.

3rd Principle: Member Economic Participation
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control,
the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that
capital is usually the common property of the co-operative.
Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on
capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members
allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes:
developing their co-operative, possibly by setting up
reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible;
benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with
the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by
the membership.

4th Principle: Autonomy and Independence
Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organisations
controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements
with other organisations, including governments, or raise
capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure
democratic control by their members and maintain their
co-operative autonomy.

5th Principle: Education, Training and Information
Co-operatives provide education and training for their
members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so
they can contribute effectively to the development of their
co-operatives. They inform the general public - particularly
young people and opinion leaders - about the nature and
benefits of co-operation.

6th Principle: Co-operation Among Co-operatives
Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and
strengthen the co-operative movement by working together
through local, national, regional, and international
structures.

7th Principle: Concern for Community
Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their
communities through policies approved by their members.
--------------------------------------------------------

Finally, note that specific laws governing cooperatives are a state-level issue, and that each state has slightly different laws regarding the formation of a cooperative.

(on edit)
I just realized that by posting this, I'm upholding the 5th Cooperative Principle. :)

[Clete]

3. Wow, I have often thought that

wouldn't it be better for all the workers to share in the profits of the company and not just the stockholders? I have been looking for a model that has been tested.

Thanks so much, JanMichael and Mairead.

[PsN2Wind]

4. Burley Design Cooperative

in Eugene, Oregon is a pure cooperative. Been in existence many years making tandem bicycles, bike trailers and now, recumbents. It's a laid back place but has the most highly motivated workforce I ever worked with. When I started work there, everyone was paid exactly the same rate from the newest floor-sweeper to the manager. That changed with a new guy being brought in to run the show, and paid a premium, he didn't work out. There are some drawbacks to the system but overall its great.

[Mairead]

6. You're very welcome, Clete

So how does it feel to be a socialist? :evilgrin:

[Clete]

7. Oh I always was a socialist.

I'm not a Marxist though.

[Mairead]

16. Oh, ok, sorry, I misunderstood

(i'm not a Marxist either)

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

8. one member, one vote - just like a credit union

or a labor union for that matter. Democracy is great, I think the Democratic Party should have a strong pro-economic democracy platform. I'm tired of Republicans and Libertarians telling us that democracy is somehow bad for a free enterprise economy. Maybe if we stopped letting state government charter authoritarian, anti-democratic corporations, we'd have more democracy, more free enterprise and a stronger economy.

Who says our economic relationships shouldn't be egalitarian like our social ones? Why should they be unequal?

[htuttle]

9. Point is...

...there's no reason to wait for the government to come along and do it.

You and I (and the guy down the street) can start building a new democratic society today.

Wasn't it Martin Buber who suggested forming coops as a way of "building a new society within the shell of the old"?

[Clete]

10. I have been thinking the same thing.

I have been trying to get material together for a free clinic in my area. I won't be able to participate, but maybe I can do some of the blueprint on it. Someone will actually have to do the work. But it would be killing two birds with one stone, health care for those who need it and a cooperative for the workers.

[Mairead]

20. That would be *wonderful*

Do you have a plan sketched out yet?

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

11. "building a new society within the shell of the old"

Don't remember, but I thought it was a wobbly. No, we can't wait for the government, but I'm don't believe corporations and the government is going to just wither away because of "historical contradictions" or whatever. They don't call it struggle for nothing.

[Aries]

23. It was the IWW

in its Preamble, which is worth reading in the context of this thread. It starts, "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common," and ends with the line you refer to.

I also like this line:

Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."

[JanMichael]

24. Whatever happened to the firebreathing agitators?

Like Bill Haywood or Eugene Debs?

They ate chumps like the chimp for breakfast.

[Aries]

25. Palmer Raids, lynchings, McCarthy red-baiting, Taft-Hartley

That kind of thing has an effect over time.

Imagine Debs getting 10 percent of the vote for President, while in prison for criticizing the draft!

We do have a long radical tradition in this country, consensus reality to the contrary. As Utah Phillips says, "The long memory is the most radical idea in the country. It is the loss of that long memory which deprives our people of that connective flow of thoughts and events that clarifies our vision, not of where we're going but where we want to go."

[JanMichael]

26. True. The defenders of the Plutocracy were viscious.

But like many ideas in History, the IWW/Debs/Haywood/Einstein/MLK/Orwell ideas about Economic Justice will rise again.

The next time smarter, stronger and less willing to capitulate.

[JanMichael]

12. kick

:kick:

[Davis_X_Machina]

13. Jerry Brown talked...

...a lot about the Mondragon Cooperative system when he ran for the nomination last.

Did you know that the ubiquitous Ace Hardware stores ($13 billion turnover) are a cooperative?

(The individual retailers are the members, not the actual employees of each store, however, so it's a little bit different....)

[Mairead]

21. Another cooperative that hardly anyone knows about

is the Land O'Lakes butter people. Like the Ace Hardware deal, LO'L members were the dairy farms and local creameries, which often weren't cooperatives themselves.

(I think LO'L changed their form some years back, though, to a sort of half-capitalist model, it was weird (or perhaps I just didn't understand it))

[htuttle]

22. There's a ton of agricultural coops in the midwest

Those are 'supplier' coops. There's a fairly big fuel coop here too (Cenex) that sort of acts like a consumer or buyer's coop.

And then there's all the housing cooperatives...(not a condo -- a collectively owned house).

There's a lot of hybridization. Some coops have an open membership. Others have closed. Some coops also have employees in addition to members, others forbid that and require all workers to be members. Having to survive in the midst of a capitalist society (meaning everyone eats and is able to pay their rent) requires an eye toward practicality...

(on edit)
Some of the really exciting stuff to happen with coops has going on in Latin America over the last 10-15 years. Cooperative businesses are probably the easiest (financially) type of enterprise for people with no money to start.

'Fair Trade Coffee'-type groups are yet another (supplier's) coop model that has been growing in Latin America.

[tom_paine]

14. Sure, I would love to see something like that for comparison's sake

Let's put that to the test. I believe emprirical data. Let collective corps. (if buyer groups can be put together) stand in the marketplace and compete.

See what happens. It might work and it might fail when "the plebes realize they can vote themselves endless bread and circuses" to periphrase Robt. HeinLein".

The problem being, the Busheviks would NEVER let it happen. Deny the liscences, bribe some judges or zoning officials, or just kill them with repeated blasts from the Right-Wing Scream Machine.

I believe in capitalism, but I wouldn't be against trying out some collective corps. to see if they would succeed or spectacuarly fail.

An ounce of experinece is worth a TOn of talk talk talk.

[htuttle]

15. Um...it's not a dream...it's how millions of people make a living

Cooperatively run businesses compete just fine in the marketplace. Now. Today.

And yes, the 'plebes' do realize they can vote themselves endless bread and circuses now and then, but that's usually cured the first time they have to vote themselves a pay cut to make up for their previous excess. Live and learn.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Busheviks would never let it happen'. The worker coop movement is over 150 years old, and nothing has stopped it yet. Check into your state laws. In Wisconsin, coops are regulated by statute 185. It's right in there with the rest of the ways to incorporate a business.

And as one having more than an ounce of experience with worker coops, I'd have to say that if all the coop principles are followed, they usually succeed quite nicely.

[JanMichael]

18. While there are many, many, US Collectives I don't think that....

...there is anything quite like MCC.

When I read about that company I swear I was so jazzed by their story that the first thing that came to mind was: START ONE, JUST LIKE IT, HERE!!!!

Admittedly though the Spanish government (Under Franco, who knew?) appears to have encouraged this sort of corporation. Perhaps some support could be gathered from local or Fed sources but ultimately, if it got BIG, the goddamned raiders would be at the gates.

Bastards can't leave well enough alone:mad:

That said I'm contemplating my own involvement, perhaps organising on, in a MCC type of company.

Why not? It's better than shooting our way to a more Egalitarian society...

[SoCalDem]

17. Co-ops can be small and involve ZERO money too..I started two

they were "only" babysitting co-ops, but when you are broke and thave 3 small kids and you do not work outside the home, necessity takes over..

They could also work for working mothers and involve no cash.. That's the best part..

It involved neighborhood Moms ... We met in the park and set up the rules.. The simplicity of it is what makes it work..

It's a bit more complicated than I have made it sound, but if any moms are interested, PM me and I'll help you get one started too..

It's also great because you actually KNOW the people watching your kids, and you make some great friends too, since you are not "childcare worker" vs "mom"..

[JanMichael]

19. That's a great idea!

Childcare kills family budgets. Way to take charge.