Institute For The Future

Shift Change & The International Year of Cooperatives

It’s the International Year of Cooperatives and I just saw Shift Change, a great new documentary that’s got me more jazzed about them than ever. I actually used to live in one and was amazed at how much I didn’t know. Fantastic information especially about the Mondragon Coops in Spain that make industrial machines, have created their own banks, and are on a much more massive scale than I had ever imagined.

I wish they had gone further into the differences especially in how each coop deals with seniority, shares of ownership, boards of directors, and other governance issues. From what I could tell, there’s a significant diversity of approaches there. Was also great to learn more about my neighborhood bakery, Arizmendi.

At a time when many are disillusioned with big banks and big business, the economic crisis and growing inequality in our country, employee ownership offers a real solution for workers and communities. Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work is a new documentary (to be released in fall 2012) that highlights worker-owned enterprises in North America and in Mondragon, Spain. The film couldn’t be more timely, as 2012 has been declared by the U.N. as the “International Year of the Cooperative." [Film website]

 Cross-posted at davidevanharris.com