Forum Post: The Workers Economic Bill of Rights

The Workers Economic Bill of Rights (Based on the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation, of the Basque community in Spain) Written by; Robert Francis Griffin Co-Written by; Aaron Benjamin Griffin All Rights reserved (2011) We recognize that workers have inalienable rights, by reason of their labor, among these are: {#1} The right to own and democratically control the capital. {#2} The right for 10% of the capital to belong to the health, education, and welfare, of the worker and their immediate family. {#3} The right for 20% of the capital to be reinvested in the research and development of new worker own democratically controlled co-operatives. {#4} The right for 70% of the profits to be equally divided by each worker from the time they are hired until retirement. {#5} The right to equitable salaries. Equal services equal pay. {#6} The right to limit management terms in office. {#7} The right to environmentally safe business practices. {#8} Employees have the right to collectively bargain with their employers.

Here is a good website on the sovereignty of labor. http://www.mcc.es/ENG.aspx

Democratic economics is not socialism.The workers at Mondragon make equal salaries according to their services and time. They split the dividends every 15 years equaly. It is a capitalist system based on worker ownership and democratically controlled capitalism. This system we have now is failing. The financial institutions in the world have been bailed out by the taxpayer,the workers. Yet the M.C.C. is growing right now not failing. Mondragon has 120 different companies, 42,000 worker-owners, 43 schools, one college, does more than 4.8 billion dollars of business annually in manufacturing, services, retail and wholesale distribution, administers more than $5 billion in financial assets. In 1941, a bishop sent a young priest to teach in a vocational school in Spain's "Basque Country." In addition to the technical curriculum, young Father Jose Maria Arizmediarrieta taught the social doctrine of the Catholic Church to his students. Some of the students began a small cooperative that built kerosene stoves. In 1959, they started what we would today call a credit union. Today, the associated Mondragon Cooperatives manufacture automobile parts, electronic components, valves, taps, appliances. They have a full line of retail outlets (small & large) offering consumer products, food, appliances, and a wholesale food business catering to restaurants. Their bank has more than 100 branches, they offer a full range of insurance, and take care of their own social security and health insurance programs. They are not only holding their own within the "globalizing" economy, they are expanding. This principle is an evident truth, the priority of labor over capital, that emerges thru the whole of man's history. This is one of the success stories of people who take social doctrine seriously, in particular, the teachings regarding (1) the dignity of the human person and his or her labor, (2) social solidarity, (3) the primacy of labor over capital. In most for profit businesses, labor is hired at the service of capital. For the Mondragon cooperatives, capital is something they rent to benefit the worker-owners. To Americans, this sounds like an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, but the Mondragon model is not only about distribution of the profits, it is also about the control of the business. Management is elected by the workers, not hired by the money men, and the managers are part of the cooperative process in the enterprise. Each enterprise has a social committee that considers issues of health, safety, environment, and the social responsibilities of the enterprise. Capital is borrowed, stock is not sold for financing. All new employees become worker owners. A new cooperative begins with a group of friends. Experience in starting 120 businesses over a 40 year period has taught the Mondragon cooperators that the pre-existing bonds of friendship are a good basis for building a productive working relationship. The Mondragon association provides business and marketing research and assistance; their bank provides capital. The workers themselves must invest some of their own money, either as an upfront contribution or as deductions from wages paid over a 2 year period (about $5,000). Their bank sticks with the new co-op until they can go it alone; if the business gets into trouble, interest on their loans is waived, payments may be suspended, and parts of the loans may be forgiven. The group may be assisted into another line of business or work. As a result, since 1956, they have had only one total failure of a cooperative. Put that against the system we have in place today. Acorrding to the Mondragon history co-operation is more succesfull than competion.This system creates job security as well as capital security. As far as copyrights, I am not proposing anyone give anything away here. And if ever I publish a book on this, the proceeds will go to creating a business like this. Remember it is still a capialist sytem. Just based on employee ownership with democratic control.