Ulma accuses the Mondragon Corporation of “interference” and will decide on December 16 whether to abandon it

Euskaraz irakurri: Ulmak “presioak” salatu ditu, eta abenduaren 16an erabakiko du Mondragon Taldea utzi edo ez

The nine cooperatives of Ulma will submit to the approval of its 2789 partners and partners on the day December 16, 2022 replace their current relationship as entities adhered to the Mondragon Corporation for model based on agreements by mutual agreement to strengthen the cooperative system.

As reported by the Address of Ulma, “after initiating a process of internal debate, with more than 38 informative sessions already held, the Ulma cooperatives have decided to publish the call for an Extraordinary Assembly, in which it is proposed to “approve the new relational model with Mondragon”, consisting of agree on the possible withdrawal of Ulma from Mondragon and the agreements derived from it“and instruct the Governing Council of Grupo Ulma to try to promote future collaborations with Mondragon“, for the development of the cooperative movement, “and promote the necessary regulatory development so that the contributions made up to now to the funds managed by the Mondragon Foundation can continue to be allocated to the development of the cooperative movement”.

Ulma’s Management points out that, “from the outset, without even allowing the reflection process to conclude, Ulma’s cooperative members have been the object of a pressure campaign by those responsible for Mondragon through different means and communication channels”. The latest expression “of this conduct”, they denounce, “has been the distribution among all the adherent cooperatives of a document against the proposal presented by Orona and Ulma to make the organization of Mondragon more flexible, a proposal that has not been fully and truthfully transmitted to its members”.

The proposal consisted of making it easier for all the cooperatives to consider it a membership model based on inter-cooperation agreements: “Mondragon categorically refused to present this proposal as a presentation to the congress, despite the fact that it was delivered within the rigid deadlines and forms established by the regulation”.

In Ulma’s judgment, “these attacks against the first three cooperative principles of Mondragonfreedom of adhesion, democratic participation and sovereignty of work, have only confirmed the need for Ulma to protect its autonomy from government against interference that threatens the strength of its industrial project”.

In this sense, the Ulma Management has sent a communication to the partners in which it denounces the campaign of which, from its point of view, it is being subjected.

“More sustainable and reasonable” relationship model

Thus, the Ulma cooperatives submit for the approval of their partners a relationship model “more sustainable and reasonable with the Mondragon Corporation, which is not based on the imposition of adhesionsbut in the consensus of agreements for a better inter-cooperation.

As a consequence of this model, “the Ulma cooperatives are not going to stop contributing financial or human resources to the large Mondragon cooperative projects; the only economic consequence of the removal of the Ulma cooperatives as members is that the 1.85 million of euros that they allocate, on an annual average, to the cooperative funds administered by the Mondragon Corporation will be managed, for the same purposes, by the Ulma Foundation.And nothing prevents these funds from being allocated to programs and projects promoted by Mondragon, if it is agreed that they are the best in a context of mutual respect”.

For all these reasons, “the Ulma cooperatives appeal to the sense of responsibility of the Mondragon directors, so that they address this situation, avoiding promoting confrontations that are as harmful as they are sterile for the future of the cooperative movement, and respecting the decision-making autonomy of the cooperatives”.