My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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Mondragon Cooperative Movement
Dramatic change brought about by the Industrial Revolution
In high
school history we studied how England was the motor that drove the industrial
revolution. Before that time, all “business” was done in homesteads, that is,
in homes. Wool was spun and woven into fabric at home and people would sell
their produce. Better quality got better prices generally. Then someone
invented the “cotton gin”, a machine which processed and wove cotton much
faster than by hand, and the industrial factory was born.
Dramatic conflicts between capital and labor
In the 19th century,
the 1800’s, there were terrible conflicts between capitalist industrialists and
workers. That is primarily because the way factories developed, the work week
consisted of 6 days of 10 to 12 hours. Initially people didn’t mind working so
long because they were accustomed to long hours on their small subsistence
farms. However, factory work was heavy work, and over time, people realized
their hours were too long, their work week was too long, and they were
suffering fatigue and worse health problems.
The
owners, capitalist industrialists, for the most part were not humanists and
generally took a dim view of the workers’ complaints and demands for better
conditions. Setting aside reason and compassion, they resorted to the police
and coercive methods of the state to impose on the workers resolutions favoring
the owners.
Trade unions and the new "middle class"
It took a
long time but eventually, by the early to mid 20th century,
trade unions emerged with sufficient power and representative authority to
effectively negotiate better conditions and payment on behalf of workers,
including all kinds of benefits. By then, the capitalist industrialists didn’t
mind too much making those concessions because they were now making very
healthy profits.
Globalization shatters the "American Dream"
This
“utopia” lasted only a few decades until the 1970’s and 1980’s with the advent
of globalization. American presidents struck down much of the legislation
developed in previous decades to protect workers, with the result that there
were no longer any obstacles to prevent corporations from exporting jobs to
countries where they could pay much lower wages and not be obliged any longer
to provide benefits.
As a
result, America is no longer the “land of the American dream”; rather, it is
increasingly becoming a wasteland. It’s inner city cores are often a dangerous
dead zone of abandoned homes ruled by lawless street gangs, and small towns
across the nation are resembling more and more the exploited towns in third
world countries. How could such a great nation come to this in so short a
period of time? That is the question.
One model of capitalism has a stranglehold on western
societies
The
answer has to do with the model of capitalism at work in the U.S.A. and most of
the western world, but also in the rest of the world that has until now admired
America and its capitalism. It is a capitalism that champions a few of the
basic human values such as the right to private property, the right to work,
the right to generate and to accumulate wealth, and so on. However, its basic
model also has some flaws. In particular, the wealth generated by most
capitalist corporations is accrued almost exclusively to the major shareholders
– who hold majority decision-making power and authority – and also to the
senior officers and the members of the board.
A realistic economic analysis of what is going on
In all of
these corporations, with few exceptions, the workers are not share holders and
have no say in the governance and decision making of the corporation. With the
advent of globalization as a new trend in business and economics, corporations
gave themselves the freedom to export jobs away from the more
expensive home base where they had developed in previous decades in favor of
countries where, for various reasons, they could pay much cheaper wages and not
have to provide benefits, or not as many.
Why is America becoming an economic wasteland?
This
shows that in this model of capitalism, corporations manifest zero loyalty to
the populations that gave rise to them and their success. They show no qualms
about abandoning those populations, putting them all out of work, pulling up
their stakes, and moving out. They do not consider it their concern or
responsibility that their former employees go without work, lose their homes,
and suffer all the harsh consequences of sudden impoverishment.
Worse
still, these corporations show little interest in taking their fair share of
responsibility for the general development and well being of society, what we
could call the common good. The burden of maintaining public infrastructures
for the most part rest squarely on the shoulders of citizen tax payers; while
corporations export their assets to foreign tax havens precisely to avoid
paying taxes on their accumulating wealth.
1.
Traditional capitalist
corporations take zero responsibility for the well being of their workers.
2.
They show zero concern
for the well being of the communities and societies which gave them rise and /
or where they currently operate; avoiding as much as possible sharing the
burden of maintaining public infrastructures.
3.
They do not hesitate
to abandon the populations which gave rise to their success for more profit
elsewhere.
4.
Many of them move much
of their wealth to foreign tax havens to avoid their corporate social
responsibilities.
5.
In an age when workers
are no longer illiterate but well educated, corporations still refuse to allow
them to participate more fully in the management and profit of the corporation.
6.
Due to competitive
pressure from Japanese auto makers, some corporations began to introduce
incentives to employees who proposed innovations that improved productivity,
but these workers remained outsiders with one time rewards their only benefit.
7.
These corporations, by
their very nature, create inequality by separating the small minority of people
who are major shareholders, senior officers, and board members from the workers
and the general population.
It doesn’t have to go
on this way. At present, most of our corporations suck the marrow from the
bones of our society and then, when they can make more profit elsewhere, there
is nothing to hold them here and they simply leave us high and dry. Unless we
choose for ourselves better ways of doing business for ourselves, we and our
society will inevitably go down the drain. The choice is ours to make, alone,
individually, but also collectively.
Anyone who spoke this way 50 years ago would have been
branded a communist by capitalist industrialist interests. Why did they do
this, and why might they do it again? The answer is very simply because they
don’t really like competition, not fair competition anyway. They say they
thrive on competition, but only when they can rig the game in their favor.
That’s how I used to play Monopoly with my 9-year old sister when I was 15. I
liked to win and didn’t care about her feelings. Time goes by and we grow up,
or at least, we should grow up. Why do you think that most corporations have
such big budgets for their lawyers? They need lawyers in order to exploit the
best possible interpretations of laws in their favor.
Our choice IS between
greedy irresponsible capitalism VS
cooperative socially responsible capitalism
In politics this is the difference
between dictatorship / oligarchy VS participation democracy
What if there is a better way to do business? It would be a
way whereby decisions would not be made by senior officers and the profits
would not go to a small minority of people. Instead, the workers would own,
operate, and manage their own company as a cooperative and democratic venture.
After the cooperative company paid its fair share of taxes, taking full
responsibility for its corporate existence on an equal footing with the general
population, the profits would go 100% to the workers according to a formula
something like this:
10% of all profits invested in the education of the workers’ families – in their own schools and university
45% of
all profits would be reinvested into the cooperative company for innovation and
development.
45% of
all profits would go to the worker / owners / members of the cooperative
company, but not in immediate cash; rather invested yearly back into the
cooperative company for innovation and development of more coops, and to be
given to them for their retirement.
This is an alternative version of capitalism – unlike the one we find oppressive and heartless which rewards only major shareholders, senior officers, and board members and sucks dry the marrow of the bones of society and leaving only ruins in their wake – this new innovation has proven since 1956 that we can do it differently and better by together freely turning over the ownership, operation, and management of the company to the worker members. The workers become full participating and voting members of the cooperative and they make all the important decisions for their corporation at the annual general meeting; for which they prepare thoroughly at a series of local meetings on work time. There are no minority millionaires because the whole society benefits from stable work and prosperous living conditions, which in turn enrich and elevate the entire society. How can this work?
Rule #1 – Workers together hire and fire and evaluate the
efficiency of managers
Rule #2 – Best paid workers cannot earn more than 8 X the
lowest wage. In practice it is 4.5 to 6 times at most.
It all began with a poor priest and a handful of his poor
parishioners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gPF4fCGO7c&fbclid=IwAR1ZPtymnIP_b2npKnVC0h1_dT-Wiy1d3V6iF_MRtaT5sMglF5Uik7Zav44
Here's a 35 minute interview to help us understand how the 120 coops of Mondragon Corporation and over 100,000 workers operate... in which workers participate cooperatively in management, innovation, and profits. 10% of profits is invested in education, 45% innovation & development of the corp & growing more coops, 45% to the workers but not in cash; rather in capital investment in the corporation which comes to them in retirement... fascinating....
Here's a 35 minute interview to help us understand how the 120 coops of Mondragon Corporation and over 100,000 workers operate... in which workers participate cooperatively in management, innovation, and profits. 10% of profits is invested in education, 45% innovation & development of the corp & growing more coops, 45% to the workers but not in cash; rather in capital investment in the corporation which comes to them in retirement... fascinating....
Richard
Wolff on Mondragon Cooperatives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bcNfbGxAdY
This is not the only example of innovation and enterprise that puts human beings at the center of any business operation, thereby enriching workers and stabilizing and developing the whole society. There have been and continue to be others. Many believe that these alternative ways of bringing people together cooperatively for work and human development are the future of humanity and they can be seen in such imaginative fiction as the Star Trek universe.
This is not the only example of innovation and enterprise that puts human beings at the center of any business operation, thereby enriching workers and stabilizing and developing the whole society. There have been and continue to be others. Many believe that these alternative ways of bringing people together cooperatively for work and human development are the future of humanity and they can be seen in such imaginative fiction as the Star Trek universe.
In our
real world, Pope Francis has been writing and speaking about these issues,
encouraging everyone to develop new business practices and new economics that
do just that, put people at the center rather than profits. As Mondragon
Corporation successfully shows, when we put people first and at the center,
there will definitely be profits, but these profits will benefit everyone, not
only a few, and the whole of society.
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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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