Being An Ordinance To Set Wages And Other Employee Benefits For City: Fill & Download for Free

Trade: The economics profession continues to show a consensus in favor of unfettered international trade, as 83 percent agree and only 10 percent disagree that the United States should eliminate remaining tariffs and other barriers. ...Environmental Issues: Economists are almost unanimous in agreeing that the U.S. should not ban genetically modified crops and are very skeptical of the economic and environmental benefits of the federal subsidy to ethanol. ... the majority, 55 percent, favor eliminating government subsidies to ethanol production and another 23 percent favor reducing the subsidy. ...Health Issues: One oft-discussed proposal is to require employers to provide health insurance to all their employees. Economists roundly reject this idea, with 72 percent against and only 16 percent in favor ... Economists also reject the idea of requiring employers to provide health insurance to their full-time workers, with 61 percent opposed and 25 percent in favor. Another idea (recently enacted in Maryland, but struck down in court) is taxing employers if their employee health insurance expenditures fall below a certain threshold. Economists reject this idea too—with 63 percent opposed and only 17 percent in favor. ...They strongly favor a policy that has received scant political or media consideration—reducing barriers to entering the medical profession—by roughly 2.5 to 1.Another market-based idea is to tackle shortages of human body organs by allowing payments to organ donors and their families. ... this idea is favored by over 70 percent of economists, with only 16 percent opposed. Finally, the majority (61 percent) of economists are skeptical of attacking health problems by imposing taxes on unhealthy foods. ...Wal-Mart and Casinos: ... Fully 72 percent conclude that the benefits of Wal-Mart stores generally outweigh the costs. Fewer than 15 percent disagree. ... Only 17 percent of economists conclude that a casino typically generates more benefits to society than costs, while the majority (53 percent) disagrees.The Fed: If the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, were to target the inflation rate what range should it pick? ... most economists would select a narrow range around 2 percent.Individual Decisions and the Pursuit of Happiness: ... Most economists (61 percent) conclude that Americans (who now work noticeably more than Europeans) work about the right amount, although more than a third believe that they work too much. ... Fully 70 percent conclude that the typical American saves too little ...the vast majority of economists (88 percent) are optimistic that continued economic growth in economies like the U.S. does yield ever greater levels of well being.www.aier.org/aier/publications/ejw_derc_sep09_whaples.pdfA ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available. (93% agree)Tariffs and import quotas usually reduce general economic welfare. (93%)Flexible and floating exchange rates offer an effective international monetary arrangement. (90%)Fiscal policy (e.g., tax cut and/or government expenditure increase) has a significant stimulative impact on a less than fully employed economy. (90%)The United States should not restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries. (90%)The United States should eliminate agricultural subsidies. (85%)Local and state governments should eliminate subsidies to professional sports franchises. (85%)If the federal budget is to be balanced, it should be done over the business cycle rather than yearly. (85%)The gap between Social Security funds and expenditures will become unsustainably large within the next fifty years if current policies remain unchanged. (85%)Cash payments increase the welfare of recipients to a greater degree than do transfers-in-kind of equal cash value. (84%)A large federal budget deficit has an adverse effect on the economy. (83%)A minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers. (79%)The government should restructure the welfare system along the lines of a “negative income tax.” (79%)Effluent taxes and marketable pollution permits represent a better approach to pollution control than imposition of pollution ceilings. (78%)gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/02/news-flash-economists-agree.html100% disagree: "If the US replaced its discretionary monetary policy regime with a gold standard, defining a 'dollar' as a specific number of ounces of gold, the price-stability and employment outcomes would be better for the average American." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_cw1nNUYOXSAKwrq)97% agree: "There are many factors besides US inflation risk that influence the current dollar price of gold." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_cw1nNUYOXSAKwrq)95% disagree: "There are no consequential distortions created by the tax preference that favors obtaining health insurance through employers." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_6Gw7RTJefXPg0o4)95% agree: "Unless they have inside information, very few investors, if any, can consistently make accurate predictions about whether the price of an individual stock will rise or fall on a given day." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_cMSufGmEjNIjCza)93% agree: "All else equal, making drugs illegal raises street prices for those drugs because suppliers require extra compensation for the risk of incarceration and other punishments." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_56aH8qtNcQdaRve)93% agree: "All else equal, permanently raising the federal marginal tax rate on ordinary income by 1 percentage point for those in the top (i.e., currently 35%) tax bracket would increase federal tax revenue over the next 10 years." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_eM6AbvcBTI8MuvG)92% agree: "In general, using more congestion charges in crowded transportation networks — such as higher tolls during peak travel times in cities, and peak fees for airplane takeoff and landing slots — and using the proceeds to lower other taxes would make citizens on average better off." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_3aeMp7lK74rrVFa)90% agree: "A tax on the carbon content of fuels would be a less expensive way to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions than would a collection of policies such as 'corporate average fuel economy' requirements for automobiles." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_9Rezb430SESUA4Y)85% agree: "Eliminating tax deductions for non-investment personal interest expenses (e.g., on mortgages), with reductions in personal tax rates that are both budget neutral and keep the burden of taxes by income group the same, would lead to more efficient financing decisions by individuals." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_1AFdlMiaQywGktu)83% agree: "The Chinese government pursues policies that keep the renminbi's exchange rate vis à vis the dollar lower than it would be if the currency floated without those policies." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_3IWI6URnw6jxTla)81% agree: "One of the leading reasons for rising U.S. income inequality over the past three decades is that technological change has affected workers with some skill sets differently than others." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_0IAlhdDH2FoRDrm)81% disagree: "Local ordinances that limit rent increases for some rental housing units, such as in New York and San Francisco, have had a positive impact over the past three decades on the amount and quality of broadly affordable rental housing in cities that have used them." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_6upyzeUpI73V5k0)80% agree: "Because of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate was lower at the end of 2010 than it would have been without the stimulus bill." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_cw5O9LNJL1oz4Xi)76% disagree: "Plausible expectations of future dividends, discounted using a plausible risk-adjusted interest rate, explain well the level of stock prices for recently listed internet businesses in 1999." (igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_cMSufGmEjNIjCza)

What state are you in? Recent changes to state and local laws may prohibit the employer from seeking this information. I have listed a few states below.State and local governments are increasingly adopting laws and regulations that prohibit employers from requesting salary history information from job applicants.The laws are aimed at ending the cycle of pay discrimination and some go further than merely banning pay history questions. A few also prohibit an employer from relying on an applicant's pay history to set compensation if discovered or volunteered; others prohibit an employer from taking disciplinary action against employees who discuss pay with coworkers.CALIFORNIA-Effective Date: Jan. 1, 2018Employers Affected: All employers, including state and local government employers and the legislatureCalifornia's ban prohibits private and public employers from seeking a candidate's pay history. Even if an employer already has that information or an applicant volunteers it, it still can't be used in determining a new hire's pay. The law also requires employers to give applicants pay scale information if they request it.San FranciscoEffective Date: July 1, 2018Employers Affected: All employers, including city contractors and subcontractorsA city ordinance in San Francisco prohibits employers from both asking and considering a job applicants' current or prior compensation in setting pay. It also bars them from disclosing a current or former employee’s salary information without their consentCOLORADO - State-wideEffective Date: Jan. 1, 2021Employers Affected: All employers, including the state and any political subdivision, commission, department, institution or school district thereof.Employers may not ask about an applicant's pay history, nor can they rely on pay history to determine wages. Employers may not discriminate or retaliate against a prospective employee for failing to disclose their pay history.CONNECTICUT-State-wideEffective Date: Jan. 1, 2019Employers Affected: Any individual, corporation, limited liability company, firm, partnership, voluntary association, joint stock association, the state and any political subdivision thereof and any public corporation within the stateEmployers may not ask about an applicant's pay history, unless it was voluntarily disclosed.DELAWARE-State-wideEffective Date: Dec. 14, 2017Employers Affected: All employers, or an employer's agentEmployers are prohibited from screening applicants based on past compensation and from asking about salary history. They may, however, confirm that information after an offer is extended.NEW YORK-State-wideEffective Date: Jan. 9, 2017Employers Affected: All agencies and departments over which the governor has executive authority, and all public benefit corporations, public authorities, boards and commission for which the governor appoints the chair, the chief executive or the majority of board members, except for the Port Authority of New York and New JerseyState agencies and departments may not request salary history from applicants until after an offer of employment is extended. If an applicant's prior compensation is already known, that information may not be relied upon in determining such applicant's salary, unless required by law or collective bargaining agreement.New York CityEffective Date: Oct. 31, 2017Employers Affected: All employers, employment agencies or employees or agents thereofEmployers in New York City are prohibited from requesting information about job applicants' previous pay or benefits. If an employer already has that information, it is prohibited from using that information to set pay.

Marx’s vision of communism was society in which the workers owned the means of production. It was stateless, moneyless and classless. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”The Soviet Union has been called “communist.” This is a colloquialism. Lenin said the Soviet Union was “socialism working toward communism.” The Soviet Union was Marxist Leninist.Lenin advocated the importance of centralized planning and control to resist imperial attack. Early democratic forms of socialism were destroyed by capitalists and imperialist forces. The most notable was the Paris Commune.The Paris Commune was a democratic socialist community set in the middle of Paris in 1871. There was no private property but communal ownership of the means of production. The workers managed themselves. It was a democratically ran community. It was classless. But it wasn’t long before the French Army slaughtered them. 20,000 people were brutally killed.“Influence on Marx and LeninVladimir LeninAlmost immediately after the defeat of the Communards, left-wing radicals analysed why the revolution had failed. These critiques were very influential. None more so than that of Karl Marx, the founder of Communism. He studied the reasons for the failure of the revolt and published his findings in his work the Civil War in France (1871). He believed that the Commune failed because it was not ruthless enough and that if it should have been led by some professional revolutionaries. Marx believed that the Commune was the first example of the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, that is a form of participatory government, where all power was in the hands of ordinary people. The Communards and their revolution were to have a huge influence on Lenin. The Russian Revolutionary studied the works of Marx on the history of the Communards. He came to the conclusion that professional revolutionaries were needed to ensure that a revolution would succeed and not be quashed as were the Communards. Lenin was also influenced by the organisation of the Communards and wrote extensively on their ideas and revolution. He modelled his Soviets or workers’ councils on the democratic councils established by the French Revolutionaries in 1871. The revolution of 1871 was to have an important influence on the Russian Revolution in 1917.”What was the impact of the Paris Commune of 1871 on Revolutionaries?“The Paris Commune was a failed revolution. It attempted to fulfil the more radical ideas of the French Revolution in 1789. It was savagely repressed and there was to be no similar revolution in France until 1968. The repression of the Communards encouraged many left-wing groups to adopt more violent tactics and in the decades after the revolt, terrorism became a feature of European life. The ideas and the example of the Commune of 1871, were to have a decisive influence on both Marx and Lenin and continues to this day, in left-wing circles.” Id.Revolutionary CataloniaRevolutionary Catalonia was a democratic socialist society that had similar characteristics as the Paris Commune. It was also crushed by the fascist Franco. This happened in 1936.What happens when anarchists run a country? History has an answer.Anarchism in Action - The LandIt was in the countryside that the Spanish revolution was most far reaching. The anarchist philosophy had been absorbed by large layers of the downtrodden peasants and the outbreak of revolution was the opportunity to put these ideas into practice.“Collectivisation of the land was extensive. Close on two thirds of all land in the Republican zone was taken over. In all between five and seven million peasants were involved. The major areas were Aragon where there were 450 collectives, the Levant (the area around Valencia) with 900 collectives and Castille (the area surrounding Madrid) with 300 collectives.Collectivisation was voluntary and thus different from the forced ‘collectivisation’ in Russia. Usually a meeting was called and all present would agree to pool together whatever land, tools and animals they had. The land was divided into rational units and groups of workers were assigned to work them. Each group had its delegate who represented their views at meetings. A management committee was also elected and was responsible for the overall running of the collective. Each collective held regular general meetings of all its participants.If you didn't want to join the collective you were given some land but only as much as you could work yourself. Not only production was affected, distribution was on the basis of what people needed. In many areas money was abolished. If there were shortages rationing would be introduced to ensure that everyone got their fair share.Production greatly increased. Technicians and agronomists helped the peasants to make better use of the land. Scientific methods were introduced and in some areas yields increased by as much as 50%. Food was handed over to the supply committees who looked after distribution in the urban areas.However, slander was also thrown at the collectives. It was claimed that each only looked after itself. This was rubbish as in many areas equalisation funds were set up to redistribute wealth. Machinery and expertise were shifted to areas most in need. One indicator of the solidarity is the fact that 1,000 collectivists from the advanced Levant moved to Castille to help out.Federations of collectives were established, the most successful being in Aragon. In June 1937 a plenum of Regional Federations of Peasants was held. Its aim was the formation of a national federation "for the co-ordination and extension of the collectivist movement and also to ensure an equitable distribution of the produce of the land, not only between the collectives but for the whole country". Unfortunately many collectives were smashed by the Stalinists before this could be done.The collectivists also had a deep commitment to education and many children received an education for the first time. The methods of Francisco Ferrer, the world famous anarchist educationalist, were employed. Children were given basic literacy and inquisitive skills were encouraged.Anarchism in Action - IndustryAlthough the revolution didn't go as far in the cities as it did in the country, many achievements are worth noting.To give some idea of the extent of the collectivisation here is a list provided by one observer (Burnett Bolloten, The Grand Camouflage. By no means an anarchist book!). He says:"railways, traincars and buses, taxicabs and shipping, electric light and power companies, gasworks and waterworks, engineering and automobile assembly plants, mines and cement works, textile mills and paper factories, electrical and chemical concerns, glass bottle factories and perfumeries, food processing plants and breweries were confiscated and controlled by workmens's committees, either term possessing for the owners almost equal significance". He goes on "motion picture theatres and legitimate theatres, newspapers and printing, shops, department stores and hotels, de-lux restaurants and bars were likewise sequestered".In each workplace the assembly of all the workers was the basic unit. Within the factory workers would elect delegates to represent them on day-to-day issues. Anything of overall importance had to go to the assembly. This would elect a committee of between five and fifteen worker, which would elect a manager to oversee the day-to-day running of the workplace. Within each industry there was an Industrial Council which had representatives of the two main unions (CNT and UGT) and representatives from the committees.Within workplaces wages were equalised and conditions greatly improved. Take for example the tramways. Out of the 7,000 workers, 6,500 were members of the CNT. Street battles had brought all transport to a halt. The transport syndicate appointed a commission of seven to occupy the administrative offices while others inspected the tracks and drew up a plan of repair work that needed to be done. Five days after the fighting stopped, 700 tramcars, instead of the usual 600, all painted in the black and red colours of the CNT were operating on the streets of Barcelona.With the profit motive gone, safety became more important and the number of accidents was reduced. Fares were lowered and services improved. In 1936, 183,543,516 passengers were carried. In 1937 this had gone up by 50 million. The trams were running so efficiently that the workers were able to give money to other sections of urban transport. Also, free medical care was provided for the work force.In 1937 the central government admitted that the war industry of Catalonia produced ten times more than the rest of Spanish industry put together and that this output could have been quadrupled if Catalonia had the access to necessary means of purchasing raw materials.”1936-1939: The Spanish civil war and revolutionGeorge Orwell wrote about Revolutionary Catalonia and the Spanish Civil War in his book “Homage to Catalonia.” Homage to Catalonia - WikipediaRevolutionary Catalonia - WikipediaConclusionMarx’s vision of communism was not authoritarian. But Marx also recognized the problems associated with socialist communities under threat of imperial attack.Lenin advanced these theories further and developed Marxism Leninism. His answer to imperial attack was to have vertical power structures where the Communist Party represented the interests of the workers by exercising a dictatorship of the proletariat. This was to ensure that bourgeois enemies do not corrupt the system and destroy it from within and from outside. Lenin talked about how liberal democracy is actually bourgeois democracy, a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, built for the rich and ran by the rich. Politicians would be bought by campaign contributions and laws would be passed for those who owned property, not the public. This system worked well in the Soviet Union so long as the high ranking party members in the government did not develop into their own class of bourgeoisie. To prevent this there was a regular rotation of leaders based on ideological commitment, job performance, and dedication. During the Brezhenev period this stopped. It wasn’t long that the party elites decided they would rather dissolve the Soviet Union and outright steal the public goods. China has done the opposite and the state is strong. This is quite apart from socialism vs market capitalism.In the modern day there are communities ran by the Mondragon Corp model. These are democratically managed, cooperative communities that build socialism from the ground up. Using open source software, non hierarchical management systems, and sharing they have achieved success by leveraging cooperation and community solidarity to become successful.Mondragon: Spain's giant co-operative where times are hard but few go bustCo-operatives in Spain - Mondragon leads the way"The Mondragon Corporation is based on a commitment to solidarity and on democratic methods for its organisation and management," says Mikel Lezamiz, director of Mondragon's c-ooperative dissemination unit. Mondragon demonstrates an alternative to the 'business as usual' mantra of shareholder-owned companies, he maintains: "Our mission is not to earn money, it is to create wealth within society through entrepreneurial development and job creation."Mondragon has grown to be the tenth largest business in Spain and it certainly dominates the Basque economy, historically one of the industrial powerhouses in the Spanish state. Having begun with the manufacture of domestic appliances, it continues to have a strong presence in the white goods industry (mainly under the brand name Fagor). It also has major interests in other areas of manufacture as diverse as bicycle production and lift manufacture (the latter including its UK Quality Lifts subsidiary, based in Wiltshire). It counts as its competitors firms such as Hitachi, Mitsubishi, GE and LG. Mondragon also has major interests in retailing, in finance (where it operates a savings bank and an insurer) and in education, where it operates schools, technical colleges and a cooperative university. There are also 14 research and development centres.Given this breadth of activity, there are obvious questions to ask in relation both to Mondragon's overall strategic management and corporate governance. Mondragon, in fact, operates less as a single corporate entity of the kind familiar from conventional multinational corporations and more as a network of more than 120 separate co-operative ventures, each of which are managed semi-autonomously. This means, for example, that workers in individual businesses within the Mondragon framework have the sort of rights of membership and control more often found in smaller workers' cooperatives. Co-operative membership – and with it the right to benefit from profits - is usually open to employees after an initial six or twelve month period.Mondragon has also explored some interesting models of stakeholder co-operative governance, an area where its ideas may prove to be valuable elsewhere in the world. Its retailer Eroski, for example, is jointly run by representatives of consumer members and employee members. Its schools and universities give formal governance roles not only to staff and students, but also to a wider group of stakeholders, including other co-ops and local authorities.The individual co-operatives within Mondragon contribute financially to the Corporation's development, exchange staff (particularly as an alternative to redundancies in one business) and jointly establish Mondragon's strategy. This is done through the Co-operative Congress (650 delegates, representing each member firm) and the General Council it appoints. One interesting issue which Mondragon has begun to address is the way in which staff working in overseas subsidiaries can be included in the internal cooperative democracy. Mondragon was historically criticised by some for leaving these workers disempowered.This is becoming more important as Mondragon Cooperative Corporation increasingly becomes a global business. International sales now represent 65% of total turnover. Its President José Maria Aldecoa talks of the cooperative's " firm commitment to reinforcing Mondragon's international business", both in Europe and in the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China.Mondragon also has something to teach other cooperatives in its approach to capital, always an issue for businesses not using equity-based capital markets. Employee members are required to make a financial investment in their business, typically of €14,000, which is automatically deducted from salary over the first three or five years of their membership. Profits paid across to members are also retained in the cooperative, being distributed only at retirement or if a member of staff leaves. Interest on members' capital is paid, however, when businesses are profitable.If Mondragon is a unique creation, the impulse which led to its development has also been at work elsewhere within Spain, particularly in the Basque country and Catalonia. The Basque coop confederation KONFEKOOP represents over 800 coops operating in the Basque autonomous region, whilst the equivalent Catalan body is the active Confederació de Cooperatives de Catalunya. Catalonia has over 5000 coops, in broad terms one in five of the total for Spain, and although they are predominantly small ventures (on average, employing about seven staff), they operate in many sectors, especially services and construction, but also in industry and agriculture. Proponents of cooperative schools in the UK may be interested in the Catalan experience, where about forty cooperative schools are currently operating.Workers' cooperatives– there are about 18,000 across Spain, together employing 300,000 people - have their own organisation in Coceta. Coceta, which has just celebrated its 25th birthday, points proudly to recent data from the Spanish state suggesting that coops have in total created 19,000 new jobs in the last quarter of last year. Coceta's president Juan Antonio Pedreño says that coops are providing a valuable solution to Spain's current chronic unemployment problems. "In moments of crisis, coops are capable of creating jobs while other forms of business are destroying them," he says.More generally, cooperatives in Spain are seen as an important constituent part of the broader social economy, which also brings in not-for-profit associations and foundations. "The concept of the social economy is relatively strong in Spain, and cooperatives are seen as one of the key actors," says Klaus Niederlander, Director of Cooperatives Europe. The Spanish social enterprise association Cepes, analogous in some ways with Social Enterprise UK, is a member organisation of the International Cooperative Alliance.” Id.Yes, there is an alternative to capitalism: Mondragon shows the way | Richard Wolff“MC is composed of many co-operative enterprises grouped into four areas: industry, finance, retail and knowledge. In each enterprise, the co-op members (averaging 80-85% of all workers per enterprise) collectively own and direct the enterprise. Through an annual general assembly the workers choose and employ a managing director and retain the power to make all the basic decisions of the enterprise (what, how and where to produce and what to do with the profits).As each enterprise is a constituent of the MC as a whole, its members must confer and decide with all other enterprise members what general rules will govern MC and all its constituent enterprises. In short, MC worker-members collectively choose, hire and fire the directors, whereas in capitalist enterprises the reverse occurs. One of the co-operatively and democratically adopted rules governing the MC limits top-paid worker/members to earning 6.5 times the lowest-paid workers. Nothing more dramatically demonstrates the differences distinguishing this from the capitalist alternative organization of enterprises. (In US corporations, CEOs can expect to be paid 400 times an average worker's salary – a rate that has increased 20-fold since 1965.)Given that MC has 85,000 members (from its 2010 annual report), its pay equity rules can and do contribute to a larger society with far greater income and wealth equality than is typical in societies that have chosen capitalist organizations of enterprises. Over 43% of MC members are women, whose equal powers with male members likewise influence gender relations in society different from capitalist enterprises.MC displays a commitment to job security I have rarely encountered in capitalist enterprises: it operates across, as well as within, particular cooperative enterprises. MC members created a system to move workers from enterprises needing fewer to those needing more workers – in a remarkably open, transparent, rule-governed way and with associated travel and other subsidies to minimize hardship. This security-focused system has transformed the lives of workers, their families, and communities, also in unique ways.The MC rule that all enterprises are to source their inputs from the best and least-costly producers – whether or not those are also MC enterprises – has kept MC at the cutting edge of new technologies. Likewise, the decision to use of a portion of each member enterprise's net revenue as a fund for research and development has funded impressive new product development. R&D within MC now employs 800 people with a budget over $75m. In 2010, 21.4% of sales of MC industries were new products and services that did not exist five years earlier. In addition, MC established and has expanded Mondragon University; it enrolled over 3,400 students in its 2009-2010 academic year, and its degree programs conform to the requirements of the European framework of higher education. Total student enrollment in all its educational centers in 2010 was 9,282.” Id.Mondragon Corporation - WikipediaThe Mondragon model: how a Basque cooperative defied Spain's economic crisis“The essentials of the Mondragon story are simple. What arose in 1956 as a handful of workers in a disused factory, using hand tools and sheet metal to make oil-fired heating and cooking stoves is today a massive conglomerate of some 260 manufacturing, retail, financial, agricultural, civil engineering and support co-operatives and associated entities, with jobs for 83,800 workers, and annual sales in excess of $US20 billion.Mondragon co-operatives now own or joint venture some 114 local and overseas subsidiaries, and are committed to their conversion to employee ownership on a case-by-case basis, consistent with local laws, customs and other cultural and economic considerations.As equal co-owners of their workplaces, members enjoy job security together with individual capital holdings, equal sharing of profits on a proportionate basis and an equal ‘one-member one vote’ say in their governance. Remuneration within the cooperatives is egalitarian, with the highest rates payable other than in exceptional circumstances being no greater than six and a half times the lowest.And members share at one remove in ownership of a unique system of secondary support co-operatives, from which the primary or frontline co-operatives draw resources including financial services, social insurance, education and training and research and development.For example, capital for expanding existing businesses and establishing new ones is drawn in part from the group’s bank and social insurance funds and workers are skilled to high levels at a university of technology, which is itself structured as a co-operative and attracts students in disciplines such as engineering and metallurgy throughout Spain.Reflective of the high priority attached by the primary co-operatives to the competitive advantage of intensive research and development is the augmenting of the original Ikerlan research and development support co-operative with thirteen sister bodies, specialising in the needs of particular aspects of manufacturing activity and product development.Faced repeatedly over their 50-year lifespan with cyclical economic downturns, the co-operatives have been able to avail themselves of significant flexibilities. For example, non-members employed on a temporary basis can be put off until conditions improve.Members can agree to forfeit or postpone entitlements such as one or more of their fourteen per annum pay packets or the payment of interest on their individual capital accounts, or in extreme circumstances authorise individual capital account draw-downs.Co-operatives experiencing reduced demand are able to transfer members to ones where it is increasing, without detriment to their rights or entitlements. And supplementary capital can be accessed from centrally held inter-co-operative solidarity funds.”The Mondragon model: how a Basque cooperative defied Spain's economic crisisDocumentary about Mondragon