> The Guardian (London), January 2, 1993
> CO-OPS FACE AN UNEQUAL FIGHT; Andy Robinson looks at the erosion of
> egalitarianism in a sector facing upheaval
> THE BASQUE co-operative group, Mondragon, whose ability to combine
> co-operative philosophy with business acumen made it the darling of Western
> universities' sociology departments in the 1970s, has been radically
> restructured in preparation for the European Single Market.
> The formation of three sector-based divisions, one industrial, one
> financial and the third retail, together with the concentration of
> managerial power in the 22,000 member cooperative group, will help fend off
> new competition, say Mondragon managers.
> But increased salary differentials, advertising campaigns in Fortune and
> co-operate alliances with companies like Hotpoint have had many co-op
> workers wondering whether in the new Mondragon Cooperative Corporation some
> members are more equal than others.
> The gradual removal of protectionist controls as 1993 approached has forced
> radical changes on the co-ops. Market criteria are regarded as paramount
> Louis Proyect
Much writing on Mondragon has idealized it because of its comparative
success. There has been tendency to downplay start-up role played by
Spanish gov't in 1950s/1960s that provided upwards of 20% of investment
capital to coop ventures and which collected no corporate taxes for
first 10 years. And, as above article indicates, there were quotas &
high tariffs on goods that coops produced.
While Mondragon coops have provided pretty good lives - decent incomes,
job security, social security, educational opportunities - for members,
they may not be models of worker democracy they've been posited to be.
Sharryn Kasmir (_The Myth of Mondragon: Cooperatives, Politics, and
Working Class Life in a Basque Town_, 1996) argues that coops have
fostered management-labor relations that undermine working class identity
and labor unions and she claims that rank-and-file do not really control
decision-making. Moreover, as above article notes, restructuring in
early 1990s shifted more power towards managers who now have greater
autonomy in policymaking and are, therefore, less acountable to worker-
owners. Market ideology has taken its place alongside market activities
upon which coop enterprises are dependent. Michael Hoover
