Nov 6-17 '98 Mondragon Co-ops Study Tour

[cssb at igc.apc.org]

INTERCOMMUNITY JUSTICE AND PEACE CENTER
215 East 14th Street
Cincinnati, OH 45210 USA

Contact: Alice Gerdeman
Tel: (513) 579-8547
Fax: (513) 579-0674
e-mail: IJPCCinti@aol.com

Cincinnati's Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center is sponsoring a 12-day
study tour exploring concepts of worker ownership in the Mondragon Cooperative
Corporation and other Spanish cooperatives from November 6 - 17, 1998.

Mondragon, located in Spain's Basque region, is the largest, most successful
group of worker-owned companies. Annual sales are $4.8 Billion (U.S.) and 39%
of their industrial sales were exports. Over 80 highly productive co-ops, 70
of which are industrial, employ over 29,000 people producing a wide range of
goods and services. In this democratically governed, integrated complex of
high-tech firms worker-owners benefit from wages and capital appreciation, job
security, extensive technical education and occupational retraining. One
industrial company is Spain's largest producer of consumer durables
(refrigerators, stoves, electrical appliances) and Spain's fifth largest
manufacturer. The complex includes a large chain of supermarkets,
agricultural, construction, and service co-ops, a community development bank,
technical school and social service system.

While using the Mondragon experiment as its context for analysis, the tour
also spends time visiting smaller co-ops. Development strategies, the
dramatic restructuring of the co-ops presented by the European Economic
Community and the globalization of trade are challenges explored with
Mondragon, other cooperatives, labor leaders, government representatives as
well as presenters from the Institute of Cooperative Law and Social Economy of
the University of the Basque Country.

The Mondragon Cooperatives Study Tour includes people with backgrounds in
community and business development, labor, public policy, journalism, anti-
poverty work, religious and educational institutions who are concerned with
the economic stability of their communities and are willing to analyze new
models and strategies for development.

Participants will meet in Madrid, Spain on November 6, 1998. The $2600 (U.S.)
price of this escorted tour includes English language translations, travel in
Spain, accommodations, and some meals. The tour is limited to 20 persons. If
interested, inquire as soon as possible.

Contact: IJPC, 215 East 14th Street,
Cincinnati, OH 45210 USA,
Tel: (513) 579-8547, Fax: (513) 579-0674
e-mail: IJPCCinti@aol.com




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[watkinsc at ozemail.com.a]

Fascinating! How did this company happen to be - did it start out as a
big company which then became worker owned, or as a small worker owned
company which then became big?

btw, a big thanks to Cris Himes for the report summary - also really
interesting.



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[reynolds at AAE.WISC.EDU]

Hi -- in response to this comment:
> Fascinating! How did this company happen to be - did it start out as a
> big company which then became worker owned, or as a small worker owned
> company which then became big?

You might want to check out The University of Wisconsin Center for
Cooperatives' web site -- our worker co-op page
(http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/links/work.html) has links to Mondragon's web site,
a link to a web site about Mondragon and 2 articles on worker democracy
at Mondragon. Both the Mondragon sites include background information.
For instance, according to the Mondragon site,

"MONDRAGON CORPORACION COOPERATIVA (MCC) began its activities in the
Basque town of Mondragon, thanks to the drive of an exceptional man: Don Jose Maria
Arizmendiarrieta.

His first initiative was the creation of the Polytechnic School, today Mondragon Eskola
Politeknikoa, in 1943. In 1956, five young men, who had studied at this school, created Ulgor,
today Fagor Electrodomesticos, the embryo of the present-day MCC in historic terms.

Later, new co-operatives emerged. The creation in 1959 of Caja Laboral, a credit co-operative,
stands out, as this entity has had a key role in the promotion and development of our co-operative
enterprises. "

--Anne Reynolds
University of Wisconsin
Center for Cooperatives
230 Taylor Hall, 427 Lorch St.
Madison, WI 53706-1503
608-263-4775(ph) 608-262-3251 (fax)
UWCC Home Page: http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc

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