It is impossible to talk about workers cooperative without talking about the most successful execution of the model up until today; Mondragon.
PHOTOS
Established by Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, a Jesuit priest, Mondragon is a cooperative consisted of 147 smaller cooperatives, employing 80.000 workers in the Basque country in Spain. Jose Arizmendi, alongside many priest in Basque, sided with the commons against the fascists regime who came to power in Spain after overthrowing an elected government in 1936. During that period, the catholic church in Spain supported the fascists coup d etat, thus Jose Arizmendi was jailed because of his opposition to the regime and the dictatorship. Until recently, Jose Arizmendi was excluded from the church, until more recently he has been rediscovered and even being considered for canonization by the church.
PHOTOS
Jose Arizmendi believes that a corporation works at its best when there are no conflicts regarding the day-to-day management, when workers are also owners and they participate in …show more content…
In an instance, the conservative and neoliberal economists used that collapse as an excuse to discredit the cooperative movement. Fagor Electrodomesticos produced electrical material used for domestic uses. Fagor was directly affected by the collapse of the construction industry, a result of the explosion of the housing bubble, as it sold its products primarily to the Spanish market.
Mondragon’s response to the crisis was quite different, however, compared to what regular companies would have done in the same situation. 700 million euros was lent from Mondragon to Fagor to help it recover. Only when recovery looked impossible, then d Mondragon did stop lending money. But then, it relocated 600 of Fagor’s worker-owners to other companies belonging to Mondragon. The solidarity among workers-owners made the collapse more bearable than it would have been
PHOTOS
Established by Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, a Jesuit priest, Mondragon is a cooperative consisted of 147 smaller cooperatives, employing 80.000 workers in the Basque country in Spain. Jose Arizmendi, alongside many priest in Basque, sided with the commons against the fascists regime who came to power in Spain after overthrowing an elected government in 1936. During that period, the catholic church in Spain supported the fascists coup d etat, thus Jose Arizmendi was jailed because of his opposition to the regime and the dictatorship. Until recently, Jose Arizmendi was excluded from the church, until more recently he has been rediscovered and even being considered for canonization by the church.
PHOTOS
Jose Arizmendi believes that a corporation works at its best when there are no conflicts regarding the day-to-day management, when workers are also owners and they participate in …show more content…
In an instance, the conservative and neoliberal economists used that collapse as an excuse to discredit the cooperative movement. Fagor Electrodomesticos produced electrical material used for domestic uses. Fagor was directly affected by the collapse of the construction industry, a result of the explosion of the housing bubble, as it sold its products primarily to the Spanish market.
Mondragon’s response to the crisis was quite different, however, compared to what regular companies would have done in the same situation. 700 million euros was lent from Mondragon to Fagor to help it recover. Only when recovery looked impossible, then d Mondragon did stop lending money. But then, it relocated 600 of Fagor’s worker-owners to other companies belonging to Mondragon. The solidarity among workers-owners made the collapse more bearable than it would have been