Interesting commentary by Bernard Marszalek:
“Mondragon obviously is embedded in the global capitalist order. It functions with that reality everyday. Its decisions are based on the proverbial bottom-line. Furthermore, it operates in countries seemingly without concern for the factors many liberals in this country believe should influence investment decisions. Mondragon invests in developing countries to compete on the level of the capitalists. For instance, Mondragon has manufacturing facilities in Mexico so that they can take advantage of NAFTA to import their home appliances into the States.
The critique of globalism can’t escape being applied to Mondragon. Nor can that critique be ignored by those who laud the spectacular growth of the MCC as proof that worker-ownership works!
To close the book on Mondragon based on their ability to play the game of neo-liberalism would be a mistake. US visitors who over the years have not tempered their criticisms of the MCC, especially their overseas operations, have returned home with insights garnered from the daily practices of the cooperatives.
Before venturing into the more positive aspects of the Mondragon experiment, it is only fair to record how Mondragon responds to their critics’ concerns that cooperative principles are flaunted.
In the early 90’s Mondragon learned that a large French retailer planned to open in Spain Wal-Mart-size “big box” stores. Since Mondragon has a large domestic appliance presence in Spain, to loose retail outlets to a foreign operator threatened their national distribution. To prevent these foreign acquisitions, Mondragon began buying up various retails chains throughout Spain. For Mondragon to expand beyond its manufacturing base, was a major corporate decision. And it was also significant for the MCC to absorb thousands of employees throughout Spain in traditional capitalist enterprises.
About ten years ago co-op membership was opened up to these new retail workers on a limited basis to ease the transition into the corporation, but the job growth of these retail outlets was outstripping the rate at which membership was attained.So early this year Mondragon decided to open up membership to all of the 40,000 retail employees. This appears to be a successful policy.
Outside of Spain the acquisitions are usually established firms purchased for strategic reasons. For example Mondragon manufactures the machinery that makes solar panels, but does not fabricate the panels themselves. So for instance in China, the largest factory for solar panels uses their machinery and so it makes sense for the MCC to purchase a Chinese manufacturer to serve as a supplier for these machines using Mondragon’s designs. Similar practices occur all over the globe. The MCC doesn’t buy these firms to spread cooperative principles, but to invest in them for their larger economic viability. In some cases these firms may not be profitable, but with new, proprietary inputs Mondragon expects that over a period of time they will be. Mondragon argues therefore that if the firm is not profitable when purchased why would the workers want to buy in?
In other cases Mondragon might find itself in a country with no legal avenue for creating a worker-cooperative, or where the government actively opposes such a development. That said, where Mondragon has succeeded in establishing a profitable firm and where the workers, the legal system and the government are all favorable to the development of cooperatives, there can be no reason for resistance to cooperative transformation.
It certainly cannot be said that Mondragon would be unable to handle such a transition. Along with the huge manufacturing sector, Mondragon facilitates financial services all over Spain and beyond. It also supports a development agency and a university. The MCC’s bank aids the development agency to guide both new and established firms to succeed. These efforts in turn are supported by the research conducted through the university. And behind the entire complex are the principles of Father Arizmendi. Together these resources provide all the knowledge that is needed to develop cooperatives from traditional capitalist firms.
The reason so many visitors pilgrimage to the Basque country every year lies precisely here. Sophisticated research and decades of proven practices support the assertion that the worker-centered basis of the cooperatives knows no language or cultural barriers. This explains why, in the last years of his life, Cesar Chavez began speculating on the creation of cooperatives based on the Mondragon model. And it is the reason, that recently, economic developers from the America Midwest have been eager to adopt some of the lessons of Mondragon’s history.”