A Visit to Mondragon

Posted by collectivist

"In the Fall of 2019, I visited the Mondragon Cooperatives through the Saint Mary’s Masters of Cooperative Management Field Research course taught by Marcelo Vieta. Before I left for the field research trip, I was attracted to the Mondragon Principle “Sovereignty of Labor”. There is so much to say about this worker cooperative operating at such a large scale. I decided to dive more deeply into how the Sovereignty of Labor shows up in multiple aspects of life, work, and systems. I’m really inspired by it!
Following, you’ll find an adapted version of my final academic paper from my experience. In it, you’ll find information including 7 lessons I learned that contribute to the “Sovereignty of Labor” from Mondragon, connections to the United States and my cooperative, and dreams of a cooperative future.
Enjoy this video capturing our trip by my talented co-learner and friend in the Saint Mary’s program, Anne Caraan.
“The cooperative movement needs to have deep roots of solidarity, justice and freedom, in the interest of those who are committed to our base units, such as our work commitments.”
– Arizmendiarrietta

Introduction

Cooperatives build new economies based on human needs rather than profits. The cooperative model is a shift from the extractive nature of corporate globalization. The cooperative difference is simple. A cooperative serves the needs of its members guided by the cooperative principles. In a capitalist economy, it is not easy to center the needs of cooperative members. In the Arraste region (also known as Mondragon), I witnessed a special connection to work and humanizing workers. In this piece, I reflect on the ways that the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC) has created a humanizing support system and prioritizes its workers and cooperatives.

Lesson 1: Workers are the historic heroes, embedded in history and legends. . ."


https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-03-12/a-visit-to-mondragon/

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