Mondragon Announces Initiatives in the U.S. and India

The Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC), the most famous network of worker cooperatives in the world, announced two major international expansions. The MCC, headquartered in the Basque region of Spain, employs over 80,000 people in over 150 cooperatives. On March 26, Mondragon, together with the United Steelworkers and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, announced the release of a public-domain template for businesses, available at www.union.coop. The USW states the template is for businesses with both employee ownership and collective bargaining, and aims to create an "improved, self-reinforcing, virtuous cycle worker and customer satisfaction through higher accountability, productivity, and efficiency because all workers will have an equal equity stake in the company." Separately, the MCC announced it would open an industrial park in Pune, India, that would house eight factories within the next five years. With 63% of its sales from outside Spain, Mondragon has been seeking expansion and partnerships in other countries. According to Jose Maria Aldecoa, MCC's president, "Due to [the] economic slowdown in Spain, we are planning to expand our business in the other countries like India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, and Russia."