Mondragon co-op model gains U.S. adherents
Among a narrow band of U.S. academics and activists, the worker cooperative model provided by the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation has long been attractive. See, for instance, this report from David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance dating from 1992. The story of Mondragón is told well by the late Vermont sociologist George Benello here. Some basic highlights: In 1943, Don José María de Arizmendi-Arrieta, a Spanish priest (better known as Father Arizmendi) who had narrowly missed being put to death by Franco as a result of his support of the Republican side in the Spanish civil war, founded a technical school in the small Basque city of Mondragón. In 1956, five graduates of that school helped found a worker cooperative, Ulgor, that employed 24 and produced kerosene stoves. Over the following 50-plus years, Mondragón has grown to become a worker-cooperative controlled holding company consisting of roughly 260 businesses and over 100,000 employees. In 2007, Mondragón reported 16.7 billion Euros in sales (which, depending on the Euro exchange rate, is roughly $US 22-24 billion).
By contrast, in the United States, worker cooperatives have been largely a niche movement. According to the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, “there are over 300 democratic workplaces in the United States, employing over 3,500 people and generating over $400 million in annual revenues.” Until now at least, the leading form of employee ownership has consisted of companies owned in whole or part by employee stock ownership plans or ESOPs. Here, the numbers are more impressive: the National Center for Employee Ownership reports that, as of 2006, 13.7 million workers in the United States had $928 billion in assets in these enterprises. In the wake of the current economic crisis, however, the worker cooperative model has become increasingly attractive, particularly, as notes blogger Bernard Marszalek here, in the Midwest.
For information on the work of the Democracy Collaborative (host of Community-Wealth.org) in developing worker cooperatives as a wealth building strategy, see our regular updates on our home page or the Cleveland section of the website. Here, however, are some highlights of three other efforts under way:
• In Iowa County in Wisconsin, reporter Marv Balousek of the Wisconsin State Journal writes about an attempt by the Iowa County Area Economic Development Corporation to use a worker cooperative model to develop a quick-frozen vegetable processing plant in Highland. This rural effort aims to expand in future years to develop sustainable poultry processing, hydroponic tomato production and a regional pet-food line.
• In Detroit, Michigan, the Center for Community Based Enterprise aims to develop an employee/community owned fresh grocery market as part of a broader strategy of leveraging existing cultural institutions to support the development of a range of community-owned business.
• In Chicago, Illinois, the Austin Polytechnical Academy, a high school designed to prepare all students for success in academically strong four-year colleges and careers in modern hi-tech manufacturing as production workers, technicians, managers and owners, will be sending eight students and five staff to the Basque country to visit Mondragón and use that information to tailor their curriculum. Austin Polytechnical Academy is a project of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, a partnership of labor, business, government, education and community leaders that aim to work together to establish the Chicagoland region as a global leader in advanced, high value-added manufacturing.
Posted by Steve Dubb on 07/06/2009 at 10:49 AM
Folks may like to know that the US Federation of Worker Cooperative’s has started something they call the Democracy at Work Institute (aka DAWI).
The institute seeks to create a unique nationwide network of advisors to assist in the start-up and expansion of worker co-operatives. Historically the lack of an intellectual “infrastructure” for aspiring worker-cooperators has been a constraint. Whereas the regular entrepreneur or business manager could turn to thousands of consultants, business classes, books, biz magazines, etc. there was very little to help small or young worker co-op’s with their particular needs.
This Spring our worker co-op, Equal Exchange, donated $8,500 to help get the DAWI up & running.
Posted by Rodney North on 07/10/2009 at 02:08 PM
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