Tuesday June 10 – Laboral Kuxta, Cooperative Values, Copreci, Laboral Kuxta – Juan Maunel Sinde

Monday June 9 – International Strategy, Mondragon Management Model, MU and MIK

Sunday June 8th - Group Discussion and San Sebastian

Saturday June 7th - Basque History and Culture, and Internationalization

Parliament of the Basques

Guernica Peace Museum

Anjel Errasti presentation on MCC Internationalization issues and concerns.

Friday June 6th - Research, Culture Change, Entrepreneurship

Koniker (R&D) a division of MIA (Mondragon Industrial Assembly)

Unai Elorza Culture Change Research Presentation

Saiolan Business Incubation

Saiolan is a non profit cooperative and sustainable business incubation center affiliated with Mondragon University. It helps to carry on the Caja Laboral entrepreneurship activities, working with start ups as well as existing cooperatives.

Arrasate Rugby fundraising event in Mondragon.  

Weisswurst and frankfurters.

Friday nights are festive with pinxtos bars packed to the gills...

Thursday, June 5th - Lagun Aro, On Cooperative Education @ Ortalora, Eroski

Wednesday, June 4th - Where it all comes down on the cold hard ground...

We were introduced to Mondragon by Mikel Lezamiz, Director of Cooperative Dissemination.  15,000 visitors a year.  Mikel speaks tirelessly, listens keenly, and teaches with intensity.

The 14th century home to MCC's Otalora management training arm.  

We met with Mikel Uribetxeberria (President of the cooperative, three years into his second four year term).  Plant tour and Q&A.  Fagor Ederlan is supplier to the automotive sector and beyond.  Mikel is a gracious and focused host with a firm grasp on the big picture.  A humble and powerful man.

Tuesday, June 3rd - On the way to Mondragon

We stopped off at a Laboral Kuxta credit union office in Bilbao this morning for a quick walk through. Language barrier aside, it looked like you would expect any credit union office to look like.  I didn't see dedicated messaging  about cooperative values, but those may be ingrained in the brand already.  More to learn about Caja Laboral.

MCC graciously provided passes to the Guggenheim Museo in Bilbao this morning.  The building wowed from the inside, as much and more as the trademark titanium exterior.  Gehry's sensitivity to the siting of the building, knitting it together with both the river and city was powerful.  The building has a simultaneously organic and engineered feel.  A Serra sculpture gallery (there's small scale Serra work at the Walker Art Center) was both a labyrinth and an echo chamber.  The main atrium was especially striking and cathedral like, but the entire museum was saturated with details.  The Yoko Ono exhibit on the third floor will satisfy Yoko Ono fans specifically.

Today included an informal tour of an Eroski Hypermarket to begin to answer "What is an Eroski Hypermarket, and how does it fit into the big picture?"  It's another type of cooperative animal.  It's roughly a Super Target + Iberico ham + affordable wine and beer + worker/member hybrid ownership.   Retail exceeds industrial in annual turnover at Mondragon.  Eroski is just part of the picture.  I thought there was surprisingly little attention paid to organic (Bio) prioritization.  The growth in the North American natural foods market and a trip I made to an EU organic trade fair in Nuremburg in 2006 have me hungry to know what strategies Eroski might be formulating.

(Photos googled.)

Monday, June 2nd - Fracking Lost

Rented a car and took a drive around today.  Enjoyed getting lost in a Southerly direction and encountered anti-fracking signage in a very picturesque area of small farms, mixed with small industrial factories.  Interestingly Bilbao has a lot of public transportation infrastructure (trains, subway, light rail, bus), and the urban density to support its use , but also a very car (less bicycle) oriented culture.  Fracking represents a huge "boom" in domestic oil production in North America, so it should not be a surprise that it's here too. What will the costs be and who will pay them?

https://www.facebook.com/frackingezaraba

Drove on to Santander, West on the Atlantic coast.  Northern Spain is an industrious land.  Freeway infrastructure was very well maintained.  As heavy manufacturing has systematically been "off shored" in the U.S. we've shifted to a puzzling "new" economy featuring real estate bubbles, tech booms and a much reduced industrial core.  It appears that Spain has kept a strong commitment to an industrial base.  I don't have a complete picture, but it's an interesting contrast.

Sunday, June 1st - Cohort Regroups

Chanced into meeting Matthew Epperson of the Daily Grocery (Athens, GA)  yesterday early afternoon.  We walked the city for about four hours noting stunning architecture, a Sunday calm, a plethora of dogs, Caja Laboral and Laboral Kutxa signage, an Eroski city market, an HVAC coop service van, a chicken co-op delivery van.  Co-op culture is percolating as expected.  The Cooperators contingent (Sandra, Karen, Lee) joined us for a stroll and late dinner.

 Caja Laboral

Global singlehanding contender at the Maritime Museum 

Jet Lagged

On arrival in Bilbao I had a conversation with a guy wearing a Cal Berkeley t-shirt.  He was returning after a year's study.  We both agreed Berkeley (my home for 12 years) was a land of contrasts.  His Cal professors were excellent.  Living in Berkeley left him a little ragged.   It kind of depends on the neighborhood.  He was amazed that I was coming all this way for 10 days of study.  A cooperative worker exchange program (international or domestic) is an idea I've had before.Noted a lot of graffiti on freeway sound barriers.  Graffiti fills an interesting gap between self expression and vandalism.  I did a study of graffiti at St. Olaf in a Peace, Violence and Social Justice seminar.  I'm curious to know about how it's perceived in Bilbao.There's some striking architecture on the bus in from the airport including the Gehry Guggenheim.  The Weisman Museum at the University of Minnesota is another Gehry metal shrouded original.  They are both iconic.  The Guggenheim Bilbao was built by a Mondragon Cooperative!Onto figuring out the "strategy" for dealing with jet lag, and catching up on the response to this week's readings....

Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta

Cooperative organizer.  Arizmendiarrieta's synthesis of technological education, Christian ethics, cooperative principles (Rochdale Pioneers among others), economic, political, and cultural savvy are the veins that have led to the development of MCC.  MCC, a collection of worker cooperatives,  is the seventh largest corporation in Spain, represents a case study in cooperative organization, and provides a glimpse into what defines a cooperative economy.

Itinerary

Monday

7:00pm          Welcome and initial briefing – Meet in the lobby of the Hotel Ibis           

8:00                Opening Dinner - Location to be announced

                        Overnight:  Hotel Ibis Centro, Bilbao

Tuesday 

7:30-8:30      Breakfast – bring your luggage to the hotel lobby for storage

9:00am          Depart Hotel Ibis – Gather in the lobby.  We will walk by and brief                                  visits to a Caja Branch and an Eroski store.  There will not be                                        presentations on these visits.  They will be ‘informal visits’.

9:30                Visit to the Guggenheim Museum,  courtesy of the Mondragon Co-                                operative Corporation.  The museum was built by a Mondragon Co-                             operative.

Noon              Lunch wherever your spirit leads you between the Guggenheim and                              the hotel

1:30                Bus leaves Hotel Ibis

2:00-3:30      Visit to an Hipermercado-EROSKI 10000, Bº Zabalandi, s/n - Basauri                            Marche on the outskirts of Bilbao           

5:00                Arrive Hotel Mondragon   00 34 943 712 433

Wednesday 
09:00       Bus to Mondragon Co-operative Corporation headquarters
09:30 h.   Reception at the MONDRAGON Headquarter, Paseo Arizmendiarrieta 5, Arrasate-Mondragón. Mikel Lezamiz.
10:00 h    Situating Mondragon in the Basque Country. Presentation covering the History and Current Situation of the Mondragón Co-operative Experience. Mikel Lezamiz.
11:15 h   Transfer by bus to OTALORA, the Co-operative and Management Training Centre.
11:45 h    How our co-operatives operate internally and how they are organised. Interco-operative funds and MONDRAGON joint funding mechanisms. The importance of Interco-operation for the generation of synergies. Mikel Lezamiz.
13:30 h     Lunch at Otalora.
14:45      Bus departs             
15:00 h.   Visit to one industrial cooperative: FAGOR EDERLAN, car components manufacturer. Mikel Uribetxeberria.
17:15      Bus to Hotel
17:30 h     End of the first day.
Overnight: Hotel Mondragon

Thursday
8:45        Leave Hotel on foot
09:30 h.   Visit and presentation of LAGUN ARO (social welfare system of worker members). Carlos Maza-Kontxi Benitez.
11:00    Bus to Otalora Coffee / Tea.
11:30 h    Introduction process for new members and Training for Governing Council Members at OTALORA. Iñigo Iñurrategi.
13:30 h.    Lunch at Otalora.
14:30      Bus departs
15:00 h.    Visit to a MONDRAGON co-operative: EROSKI (consumer co-operative). Amaia Huidobro.
17:30 h   End of the second day.  Bus to hotel

7:00                Informal session and dinner with Jesús Herrasti  former  CEO of Mondragon International  and former CEO of Garia, Mondragon’s Innovation Park.  Jesús is now retired but has kindly accepted an                                     invitation to join us for dinner.

Overnight: Hotel Mondragon

Friday

09:00 Bus departs
09:30 h    Visit to one research and development centre of MONDRAGON. Coffee / Tea.
11:00         Bus to Otalora
11:15 h.   Culture change process and management training and development at the MONDRAGON. Unai Elorza.
13:00 h.    Lunch at Otalora.
14:45      Bus Departs
15:00 h    Visit to SAIOLAN - Company Incubation Centre (Company promotion). Isabel Uribe.  Bus to hotel
17:30 h.   End of the third day.

Overnight: Hotel Mondragon

Saturday
9:00am          Bus Departs for Visits Guernica, Bermeo, Mandaka –

10:15 We will visit the ancient Parliament of the Basques and The Ancient Oak

11:45 Visit to the Peace Museum in Guernica.

12:45 Bus to Bermeo. 

1:00 – 5:30   Bermeo is a beautiful small fishing town clinging to a steep hillside                                 with a lively harbour and a magnificent breakwater.  This is free time                              from roughly noon until 5:30 

5:30                Bus to Mandaka.  Mandaka , where we will have dinner at Txakolí                                Portuondo overlooking some beautiful scenery. 

9:30                Bus to Hotel Mondragon

10:30             Arrive Hotel Mondragon

Sunday

9:45 Bring luggage to lobby

10:00 Informal discussion 

Noon Lunch

1:00 Bus to Donastia/San Sebastian with luggage

2:30 Session with Anjel Errasti, Professor at the University of the Basque Country and co-author of one of your readings.   He will talk about Fagor and Internationalization   which he sees as connected.  Meet In                          front of City Hall on the corner of Ijentea Kalea and Hemani  Kalea.

3:30 Free time to walk the beach, visit the Aquarium, hike, visit some of the best Tapas bars in the Basque Country

9:00  Bus departs

10:15 Arrive Hotel Sindika  943 78 13 03

Monday 

8:45am          Bus to Otalora

09:30 h    The International Strategy of MONDRAGON. Fernando Fernandez de Landa.

Coffee/Tea.

11:15 h.   The MONDRAGON Corporate Management Model. Iñaki Belaustegi.

13:00 h.    Lunch at Otalora.

14:45      Bus Departs

15:00 h.   Visit to MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY and MIK (Mondragon Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre. Fred Freundlich.

17:30 h.   End of the fourth day.

                             Bus to Hotel

7:30pm          Dinner with Fred and Ana Freundlich

                        Overnight Hotel Sindika,  Arantzazu

Tuesday

8:45am          Bus to Otalora ?

09:30 h.   Presentation of LABORAL KUTXA (the credit union of MONDRAGON) and GAZTEMPRESA (Foundation of LK for create new ventures). Juan Manuel Sinde.

Coffee / Tea.

11:15 h.   The cooperatives values and principles in MONDRAGON. Mikel Lezamiz.                       

13:00 h.    Lunch at Otalora.

15:00 h.   Talking with two blue-collar workers of COPRECI (production of household appliances components). Tere Marcos.

16:30 h    Assessment and conclusions of the seminar and the possibility of transferring the experience elsewhere.

17:00 h.    End of the seminar.

                 Bus to Hotel

                        Overnight Hotel Sindika,  Arantzazu

Wednesday

Check out day – bring your luggage to the lobby and settle your account

9:30am          Small Group sessions and Large Group discussion

12:30             Lunch

3:00pm          Leave by bus for Bilboa

4:30                Arrive Hotel Ibis Centro

7:30pm          Closing dinner – Location to be announced – Meet in Lobby