Mondragon Experiment: Humanity At Work

Mondragon Experiment: Humanity at Work

Mondragon Experiment is a documentary highlighting the working people of the Mondragon cooperative in the Basque region of Spain. As such, as I was watching the said documentary, my initial reaction was that I am amazed and inspired for I never see such cooperative that lies at the steep slope of a mountain vividly signifies development and success. And it was remarkably awesome that from a single small factory it sprouted to this now the biggest industrial and worker cooperative.

Mondragon is really a network of cooperative and unique creation leading to a notion of development and solidarity at work of all its cooperative members. A cooperative which created by the people and inspired by the principles

Moreover, Mondragon cooperative is a good example of solidarity economy because it allows people to play an active role in shaping their economic lives. Pillared on ethical and values based approached to economic development, self- management and collective ownership and grounded with equity, social well-being over profit, sustainability as well as social and economic democracy. As such, the Mondragon project began by emphasizing employment solidarity and education.

Thus, according to Jose María Arizmendiarrieta (1915-1976), the founder and ideological leader of the Mondragon Cooperative Movement, solidarity is characterized as a common good. A moral virtue, something on a par with equality and freedom. Solidarity is a human responsibility. The commitment to solidarity is something expansive, it has no limit and it has to proceed from the nearest to the farthest among workers, from producers to consumers, from savers to investors, from one economic sector to another, from industry to the countryside, from one generation to another, and so on. And appear to be integrated into the same framework of

2011. Responsabilidad social cooperativa y sostenibilidad a comienzos del siglo XX.Informe de investigación, Universidad Pública de Navarra.

Altuna, L. (2008), La experiencia cooperative de mondragon. Una sintesis general, Eskoriatza.

Corporate Management Model: http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/language/en-US/ENG/Who-we-are/Management-Model.aspx

Mondragon Training Journal: May 18, 2011: Saiolan, Mondragon 's Business Innovation Center

Ong, Jose, 1997, “Market Projects Financed by Municipal Development Fund: An Evaluation”, Philippine Women’s University, Quezon City, September 1997 (Masteral Thesis).

The Mondragon Experiment. Domenic Flessati. Horizon (London, England: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1980).

http://nepa1934.org/articles-and-statements/papers/the-philippine-cooperative-movement http://www.neda.gov.ph/2017/07/26/philippine-development-plan-2017-2022/ http://burawoy.berkeley.edu/Public%20Sociology,%20Live/Flecha&Santacruz.Mondragon.pdf