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Hi, greetings from a worker that work at Ikerlan (a research/technological center part of the corporation). We are a second degree cooperative. Formed by workers and companies that we work for. You can see things that we do at https://www.ikerlan.es/en/ Happy to answer to questions if I can :)
So some thing that are a bit less glamorous than described on the article is that one reason this works so well is because of the conditions of the place it runs in. This coop comes from the basque country, a northern autonomous region of Spain. It is a fairly rich area, with a huge port and industrial past and a pretty tight knit community. This generates an environment that allows for certain things to happen. One…
I also really doubt what you explain is universally applicable as it looks to be a very large corporation anyway.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The number of non owner employees is also growing. The numbers used to be much higher when they had Fagor but they fired most of the work force when it went bankrupt in 2013 and the buying company only opened 700 jobs to replace the old plant. Now a ton of their business is their supermarket branch in Eroski and most are temp workers with obviously no owner rights.
I always see the same faces in all the Eroskis in my city, are you sure most of them are temp workers?
From the article: At Mondragon, there are agreed-upon wage ratios between executive work and field or factory work which earns a minimum wage. These ratios range from 3:1 to 9:1 in different cooperatives and average 5:1. That is, the general manager of an average Mondragon cooperative earns no more than 5 times as much as the theoretical minimum wage paid in their cooperative. For most workers, this ratio is smaller…
So maybe there is a study to be done about what could be the optimum wage ratio that allows a company to attract top talent for management positions and at the same time is not perceived as injust and exploitative by the lower workers.
So some thing that are a bit less glamorous than described on the article is that one reason this works so well is because of the conditions of the place it runs in. This coop comes from the basque country, a northern autonomous region of Spain. It is a fairly rich area, with a huge port and industrial past and a pretty tight knit community. This generates an environment that allows for certain things to happen. One…
To advertise something as "it's better because it's basque/$COUNTRY" is not xenophobic at all. First, because by that definition then almost everyone would be (e.g. french). Second, because there are actual objective benefits of sourcing local products (e.g. environmental). I also really doubt what you explain is universally applicable as it looks to be a very large corporation anyway.
There are tons of objective reasons to promote local products, we have incredible soil and weather, we have a historical tradition of shepherding and sea faring. But none of that is promoted, its the "its from here" with vague connotations.
It is a large corporation that has had a huge trouble expanding outside the local area of influence. Eroski has been a huge supermarket in the basque country for decades and has never hold more than a minimun influence in spain (despite other supermaket chains like Mercadona appearing much later and now dominating the country). Fagor grew steadily to 5,600 employees and then went bankrupt leaving all but 700 unemployed when a company from elsewhere bought the remains. The university has 4 thousand students and most are basque.
They are massive but they are massive because they have a huge influence on a very rich part of spain
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I always see the same faces in all the Eroskis in my city, are you sure most of them are temp workers?
By contract many are. At least in Bizkaia last time I asked is kinda how they got around giving them voting rights. I wonder if now they are giving them contratos indefinidios (full contracts) with no voting rights. But I do know most still cannot vote, and now only 40% have voting rights since Fagor went broke in 2013
As I know the general objective is to be around 60-70%.
So some thing that are a bit less glamorous than described on the article is that one reason this works so well is because of the conditions of the place it runs in. This coop comes from the basque country, a northern autonomous region of Spain. It is a fairly rich area, with a huge port and industrial past and a pretty tight knit community. This generates an environment that allows for certain things to happen. One…
To advertise something as "it's better because it's basque/$COUNTRY" is not xenophobic at all. First, because by that definition then almost everyone would be (e.g. french). Second, because there are actual objective benefits of sourcing local products (e.g. environmental). I also really doubt what you explain is universally applicable as it looks to be a very large corporation anyway.
Not always true. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/mar/23/food.eth...
From the article: At Mondragon, there are agreed-upon wage ratios between executive work and field or factory work which earns a minimum wage. These ratios range from 3:1 to 9:1 in different cooperatives and average 5:1. That is, the general manager of an average Mondragon cooperative earns no more than 5 times as much as the theoretical minimum wage paid in their cooperative. For most workers, this ratio is smaller…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
By contract many are. At least in Bizkaia last time I asked is kinda how they got around giving them voting rights. I wonder if now they are giving them contratos indefinidios (full contracts) with no voting rights. But I do know most still cannot vote, and now only 40% have voting rights since Fagor went broke in 2013
I think this is more related to each company status (and laws). Eroski almost broke and is in "survival mode" right now. As I know the general objective is to be around 60-70%.
But you work there so you probably know better
Earlier quoted context omitted.
To advertise something as "it's better because it's basque/$COUNTRY" is not xenophobic at all. First, because by that definition then almost everyone would be (e.g. french). Second, because there are actual objective benefits of sourcing local products (e.g. environmental). I also really doubt what you explain is universally applicable as it looks to be a very large corporation anyway.
Its better because its local is not xenophobic, its better because its from within some made up geographical boundries is. There are tons of objective reasons to promote local products, we have incredible soil and weather, we have a historical tradition of shepherding and sea faring. But none of that is promoted, its the "its from here" with vague connotations. It is a large corporation that has had a huge trouble ex…
I.e. a supermarket advertising "it's from here" produce is not xenophobic. From my experience, Spain is actually one of the countries in Europe where it is extremely hard to find local produce. Almost everywhere else I can find specific aisle for "it's from here stuff" and again I fail to see why that would be xenophobic. At least I always prefer to buy from there since it's usually more reasonable ecologically-wise.