Related Stories
Mondragon Cooperative Corporation presents alternative economy
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Yes! Magazine
Posted: June 22nd, 2009
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3511
The Mondragn Cooperative Corporation (MCC), the largest consortium of worker-owned companies, has developed a different way of doing businessa way that puts workers, not shareholders, first. Heres how it played out when one of the Mondragn cooperatives fell on hard times. The worker/owners and the managers met to review their options. After three days of meetings, the worker/owners agreed that 20 percent of the workforce would leave their jobs for a year, during which they would continue to receive 80 percent of their pay and, if they wished, free training for other work. This group would be chosen by lottery, and if the company was still in trouble a year later, the first group would return to work and a second would take a year off. The result? The solution worked and the company thrives to this day. The central importance of workers permeates every aspect of the Mondragn Cooperatives. Even though the MCC businesses are affected by the global financial crisis, there is no unemployment within the MCC businesses. People are moved around to other jobs, or hours are cut without cutting pay. The wages for unworked hours are to be repaid through extra hours worked later in the year. Contrary to what some advocates of top-down management say, this worker-centered focus hasnt been an obstacle to growth. Founded in 1956 by Father Don Jose Arizmendi, a Basque Catholic priest, the Mondragn cooperatives today comprise more than 100 cooperatives, as well as more than 100 subsidiaries that MCC has purchased and hopes to convert. Altogether, MCC companies employ more than 100,000 worker/owners and in 2007 generated revenues of more than $24 billion.
Related Stories
Top Inspiring News Articles
Top Inspiring News Articles from Years Past
