{"id":17365,"date":"2019-11-29T09:30:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T08:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newmondragon-corporation.com\/history\/"},"modified":"2020-10-01T12:15:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T10:15:23","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mondragon-corporation.com\/en\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALL OUR HISTORY<\/h3>\n

Toda la historia<\/h1>
<\/div>
<\/div>
1956<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1956<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1956<\/h2>
\"1956\"<\/a><\/div>
\n
\n

On 14th April 1956, whilst many people of Mondrag\u00f3n were discreetly and rather warily celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Second Republic, Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Arizmendiarrieta was blessing the foundation stone of Ulgor, a company with a name which drew together the identity of the founders: Luis Usatorre, Jes\u00fas Larra\u00f1aga, Alfonso Gorro\u00f1ogoitia, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Ormaechea and Javier Ortubay.<\/p>\n

They had to wait almost three years until May 1959, as Jes\u00fas Larra\u00f1aga recalls in the introduction, for the first bylaws of Talleres Ulgor to be approved.<\/p>\n

Father Arizmendiarrieta and Ormaechea went on foot from the old building of the Escuela Profesional, today Mondragon Eskola Politeknikoa<\/strong>, to the piece of land known as Laxarte, where they had already bought a plot for 27 euro cents (45 pesetas) per square metre. Ormaechea was in charge of methodically measuring out the plot and a fortnight later building work started on the MONDRAGON Experience\u2019s first production plant: a 750m2 two-storey concrete structure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1957<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1957<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1957<\/h2>
\"1957\"<\/a><\/div>

The Escuela Profesional<\/strong>, today Mondragon Eskola Politeknikoa<\/strong>, came of age with the upgrading of Vocational Training which passed from the Ministry of Labour to that of Education and Science, thereby regulating that training with official recognition.
\nIn the early years of the Profe, the money to maintain it came from the \u201cMinistry of Education, Provincial Council, Chamber of Commerce, Provincial Savings Bank of Guip\u00fazcoa, town councils of Mondrag\u00f3n, Arechavaleta, Escoriaza and O\u00f1ate\u201d, local companies, family men and associates.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1958<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1958<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1958<\/h2>
\"1958\"<\/a><\/div>

At the end of the year, by order of the Ministry of Labour, members of cooperatives were excluded from the General Social Security System. This decision of the Ministry was decisive in setting in motion the actions aimed at creating what is today Lagun Aro, a Voluntary Mutual Benefit Organisation. Lagun Aro was the co-operative response to a lack of protection.
\nThe first year of female students at the Escuela Profesional also began their studies and at the same time, a chemistry course aimed especially at female students was also started.
\nRegarding training and education for women Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda wrote at the time: \u201cIt is a big mistake that women do not enter vocational training on a general basis, nor take part in retraining and in-service training processes opening the way for professions which are rejected today as unsuitable\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1959<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1959<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1959<\/h2>
\"1959\"<\/a><\/div>

This was the year in which something fundamental for the future of the incipient MONDRAGON co-operative movement took place: Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Arizmendiarrieta invented Caja Laboral Popular<\/strong>.
\nWhat makes Caja Laboral different from the grassroots co-operatives is the mixed composition of its social bodies, based on both worker-members and representatives from the associate co-operatives. In accordance with its suprastructure nature, which Caja Laboral has had from the start and during its subsequent development, the representatives from the co-operatives have the majority in its social bodies.
\nFor more than twenty years the cooperatives would guarantee with 25% of its share capital all the new credit co-operative\u2019s operations. Likewise, in the early years all of Lagun Aro\u2019s financial reserves were fully deposited in Caja Laboral Popular.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1960<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1960<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1960<\/h2>
\"1960\"<\/a><\/div>

The Escuela Profesional<\/strong>, which started its activities in academic year 1943-1944 with twenty-one students, now had more than 300, a figure that began to be significant in the field of ocational training. It was, like many of our other institutions, a creation, above all of Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda and his slogan \u201csocialising knowledge truly democratises power\u201d is an accurate reflection of the motivation behind Eskola, one of his most cherished projects.
\nThe Cooperaci\u00f3n<\/strong> magazine was set up, later to become T.U. (Trabajo y Uni\u00f3n) and finally T.U. Lankide<\/strong>.
\nCaja Laboral\u2019s first branch office was opened in a modest premises on Calle Ferrer\u00edas in Arrasate\/Mondrag\u00f3n and shortly afterwards it moved to its current location at number 27 Calle Don Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Resusta (today Iturriotz Kalea) in the same town. Back then, the slogan libreta o maleta (savings book or suitcase) was popularised, in an attempt to convey the importance of savings to the development of the co-operatives and, by extension, the development of our country.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1961<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1961<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1961<\/h2>
\"1961\"<\/a><\/div>

Without abandoning its first activity, the construction of dies for cutting and drawing, Arrasate, relying on the technical capacity of its working partners, undertakes the manufacture of transfer lines for metallic bodies (refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), continuing with tube machines, profiling machines, eccentric presses and shears. In principle, with the application of imported technology, to gradually assimilate it and get rid of foreign licenses, until it reaches the manufacture of its new products in a totally autonomous way.<\/p>\n

The Arrasate cooperative markets its products under the Taci brand (Talleres Arrasate Industrial Cooperative) later it will adopt the current name Fagor Arrasate.<\/p>\n

An extraordinary decade of development and consolidation of the cooperatives began with Ulgor and Arrasate as tractor units, at the same time that the protectionist measures arbitrated by the economic policy of the dictatorship made the internal market especially accessible.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1962<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1962<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1962<\/h2>
\"1962\"<\/a><\/div>

The opening of the branch office in Aretxabaleta was the first step in Caja Laboral\u2019s<\/strong> expansion. It left Arrasate\/ Mondrag\u00f3n to spread like wildfire to neighbouring towns. Caja Laboral\u2019s Business Division <\/strong>was also created and the industrial co-operatives Copreci, Ederlan<\/strong> and Lana<\/strong> were set up.
\nUlgor continued to expand and on 8th February, with the help of the local and provincial authorities, it opened its new manufacturing facilities for selenium semiconductors.
\nOn the same date, we discovered that Ulgor was spending twice as much as anticipated on training, a fact which according to a reporter at the time was highly alarming. Existing documents also show a high level of awareness in the co-operatives as a group about matters like absenteeism due to illness or accidents at work.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1963<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1963<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1963<\/h2>
\"1963\"<\/a><\/div>
\n

In 1963 the following theory was put forward regarding Democracy: \u201cDemocracy is one of the rules of the game for the co-operative movement. Democracy has to be conceived as the method and procedure for combining the interests of the individual with those of the group\u2026 You have to socialise knowledge to be able to democratise power effectively<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

In March Caja Laboral held its Annual General Meeting. Representative attended from around twenty associate co-operatives, which shows that it was a co-operatives\u2019 co-operative.<\/p>\n

It is curious to note that a return to a culture of saving was very effective in raising the awareness of savers, especially in the early years of Caja Laboral. It is worth highlighting that on 1st May, Labour Day, a new branch office was opened in O\u00f1ati.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1964<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1964<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1964<\/h2>
\"1964\"<\/a><\/div>

A mutual support movement was established between the co-operatives in which it was possible to begin to see some of the Experience\u2019s<\/strong> future structures timidly taking shape. This was an embryonic movement of what would later be called the Mondrag\u00f3n Co-operative Group, then Mondrag\u00f3on Co-operative Corporation<\/strong> and now just MONDRAGON.
\nBack then in 1964 thought was being given to updating the organisation and it was emphasised that: \u201cWe need to think about developing a set of institutions to provide support for our co-operative aims and plans: institutions consistent with our social and economic vision. The co-operative movement will be a passing phenomenon if it does not come to the fore and openly develop in society as a whole thereby taking root in education and in social and economic relations<\/em>\u201d.
\nThere were now one thousand students studying at the Escuela Profesional Polit\u00e9cnica<\/strong> and the co-operatives Irizar and Miba formally joined the movement.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1965<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1965<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1965<\/h2>
\"1965\"<\/a><\/div>

As a result of the plan to split Ulgor<\/strong>, the Electronics Division was turned into a new co-operative called Fagor Electr\u00f3nica,<\/strong> S.C.I. It became the fifth co-operative enterprise to join the Ularco<\/strong> Co-operative Group, which was a promising reality on the threshold of 1966.
\nThere was an accident at Copreci, an interesting report at the time came to the following conclusion: \u201cWhen trying to clean the milling machine carriage with the machine switched on, the blade got tangled with the cloth, dragging his hand and causing the injury. Conclusion: Accident down to the worker for not having switched the machine off before starting to clean it<\/em>\u201d.
\nThe Escuela Profesional Polit\u00e9cnica opened new buildings and a sports complex in the area known as Iturripe, occupying a surface area of 40,000m2.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1966<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1966<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1966<\/h2>
\"1966\"<\/a><\/div>

In May Caja Laboral<\/strong> opened branch offices in Gernika, Eibar and Legazpia. This took the total to 24 branches open to the public and the number of associated co-operatives came to 36.
\nTotal sales for the co-operatives were just in excess of \u20ac18m (3bn pesetas), with exports for the first time accounting for \u20ac312,500 (52m pesetas). The MONDRAGON cooperatives began to open up to international markets and, from that time, exports have always risen significantly faster than total sales.
\nDanok Bat<\/strong>, today Danobat, a firm of recognised prestige in the machine tool sector, was formally set up as a co-operative enterprise and Fagor Electr\u00f3nica and Tajo came on board.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1967<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1967<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1967<\/h2>
\"1967\"<\/a><\/div>

During the year work was carried out to update the whole health and mutual benefit system, with the setting up of the Mutual Benefit Service in the new structure known as Lagun Aro<\/strong>, based on changes recommended by experience and developments in social legislation applied generally in the area of Social Security.
\nIt was in 1967 that Lagun Aro\u2019s current system was practically established, although the Mutual Benefit Service was still part of Caja Laboral<\/strong>.
\nThe same year Impreci became a member, and has now merged with the Fagor Ederlan<\/strong> co-operative.
\nOver the year the total cooperative workforce increased by 17.6% and sales rose by 22.4%.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1968<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1968<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1968<\/h2>
\"1968\"<\/a><\/div>

An Extraordinary General Meeting of Caja Laboral<\/strong> approved the new bylaws for Lagun Aro<\/strong>. This highlighted the level of maturity shown by cooperators in finding a solution to social and economic problems which could affect the co-operatives and their members in the short and long-term.
\nThe Official State Gazette of 15th July Published the Decree by virtue of which the Escuela Profesional Polit\u00e9cnica<\/strong>, today Mondragon Eskola Politeknikoa, was recognised as a State Centre of Middle Grade Technical Education, that is to say, Technical Engineering.
\nThe MONDRAGON co-operatives now had more than 6,000 worker-members, with total turnover in excess of \u20ac24m (4bn pesetas). Amat (today part of Fagor Ederlan), Coinma, Danona, Tolsan, Orona<\/strong> and Goiti<\/strong> all joined the Group.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1969<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1969<\/h2>
\"1969\"<\/a><\/div>

The signing of a preferential agreement between Spain and the European Common Market was on the horizon as a stepping stone towards full membership. This did not pass unnoticed by our co-operatives who saw the need to consolidate their position: either by means of separate development or by means of joint development with other manufacturing or financial enterprises.
\nAlkargo, T. Ochandiano<\/strong> (today Rochman), Batz, Coinma, Eredu, Biurrarena, Matz- Erreka, Egurko and Elkar<\/strong> all came on board.
\nOrona, which now had more than one hundred members, started work on its new factory to produce lifts, whilst Alecop began building work on its new blocks to house offices and workshops, on land next to Eskola.
\nComerco was set up, which the following year would change its name to Eroski<\/strong>, a co-operative that combines worker-members and consumer members. he merger of five consumer cooperatives was behind this new set-up.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1970<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1970<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1970<\/h2>
\"1970\"<\/a><\/div>

The presentation of the Fagor-Mercier<\/strong> cycling team to the media and the sports authorities took place in Mondragon Eskola Politeknikoa\u2019s<\/strong> auditorium. Some of the most wellknown international cyclists like Luis Oca\u00f1a, Stephen Roche, Txomin Perurena and Luis Ota\u00f1o rode for the Fagor<\/strong> team, which did not finally disappear from the scene until the mid-eighties
\nThe MONDRAGON<\/strong> co-operatives now had more than 9,000 workers and the Zubiola<\/strong> co-operative, located in Azpeitia in the province of Gipuzkoa, formally joined.
\nIn 1970, a contributor to TU Lankide<\/strong> alerted us to computers breaking in to the work environment, presuming that it would mean the increasing preponderance of technical mastery over the human aspect, which we could well call technical colonisation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1971<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1971<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1971<\/h2>
\"1971\"<\/a><\/div>

Caja Laboral<\/strong> had more than 100,000 savers, a highly symbolic figure which is a true reflection of the rapid consolidation of our credit co-operative.
\nThe Chief Executive\u2019s report highlighted at the Annual General Meeting that the savings deposited in Caja Laboral<\/strong> showed an increase of 50% over the figures for the end of 1970, in a year in which the general growth in banking activity was 22% and in savings banks 19%.
\nThe associated co-operatives, on the other hand, saw more modest growth: 14%, in a year in which the gross industrial product showed no growth at all. In view of the general slowdown in industry, the year for the co-operatives could be classified as highly satisfactory.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1972<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1972<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1972<\/h2>
\"1972\"<\/a><\/div>

In Tripoli (Libya) Arrasate<\/strong> was awarded a contract, after an international invitation to tender, for a turnkey installation for a production plant to manufacture welded tubes. The plant, with a surface area of 17,000m2, was worth a total of \u20ac4,800,000 (800m pesetas).
\nThe Eroski<\/strong> co-operative, with 32 stores in operation, now had more than 17,00 consumer members, with a significant increase in turnover, the composition of which by sections continued to develop in favour of non-food sectors.
\nIt is interesting to note that in 1972 turnover per head for the co-operatives as a whole was around \u20ac6,000 (1m pesetas in the currency of the time); a far from negligible amount if we take into account the fact t that working hours had been reduced to 45 hours a week. A lot of hours if we compare it with today, but in the early seventies a 45-hour working week was a considerable advance in social terms.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1973<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1973<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1973<\/h2>
\"1973\"<\/a><\/div>

Sales of the co-operatives associated with Caja Laboral<\/strong> totalled \u20ac72.12m (12bn pesetas), with a workforce of 11,600 members which is significant progress in all respects, showing the viability of new types of management company and democratic participation.
\nLagun Aro<\/strong>, the Voluntary Mutual Benefit Organisation, was turned into a second degree co-operative. The Bergara-based co-operative Doiki joined the Group and the process began to set up what would become the Ikerlan<\/strong> Research Centre.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1974<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1974<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1974<\/h2>
\"1974\"<\/a><\/div>

\u201cWe are living the end of an era that has lasted a total of fifty years: the era of neo-capitalism and we are entering a time of radical reappraisal that will inevitably mean new suffering and misfortune. The world that emerges from this crisis will be so different from that of the sixties in the same way that the period we have just left behind was different from the inter-war years\u2026 there is no solution within the framework of the existing system<\/em>\u201d..
\nThe historian Geoffrey Barraclough was not pulling any punches in what he had to say and the developed nations were getting ready to enter one of their worst crises, the MONDRAGON co-operatives as well.
\nCaja Laboral, for its part, opened its brand new head offices on the hillside of Olandixo (now Paseo Don Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Arizmendiarrieta) in Arrasate\/ Mondrag\u00f3n. Since then, the hill where legend has it was located the mythical dragon\u2019s lair, has housed one of the co-operative Experience\u2019s most emblematic buildings.Two co-operatives from the province of Bizkaia joined the Group: Eika based in Markina and Lealde in Lekeitio.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1975<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1975<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1975<\/h2>
\"1975\"<\/a><\/div>

The crisis that started in 1974 would lead to serious difficulties in some cooperatives but, in spite of that, there was an increase in net employment in the co-operatives as a whole. Mutual support from the co-operatives and the magnanimous attitude of Caja Laboral<\/strong>, in short, Solidarity, was the key to our strength and this Solidarity has been MONDRAGON\u2019s main tool for dealing with difficult and uncertain times.
\nSolidarity in terms of effort, but responsible Solidarity as Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda maintained: \u201cNobody in need should be left helpless but neither should we protect, without distinction, those who act diligently and with caution and those who show no concern about things that should not be neglected\u201d.
\nCaja Laboral and several other cooperatives signed formal collaboration agreements with the Ikerlan Technological Research Centre. Ulgor was awarded the Export Leader prize in official recognition of its technological capabilities and the quality of its products.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1976<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1976<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1976<\/h2>
\"1976\"<\/a><\/div>
\n

On 29th November 1976 Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda passed away, leaving us a final message: \u201cLooking back is an offence to God, you must always look forward<\/em>\u201d. Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Arizmendiarrieta came from Markina and arrived in Arrasate\/Mondrag\u00f3n in 1941, as a newly ordained priest. It was to be his first and only placement.
\nHere are some of the key moments in his life:<\/p>\n

1956. Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda blessed Ulgor\u2019s foundation stone.<\/p>\n

1959. Caja Laboral Popular was set up, inspired by Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda, as a support body for the development of the co-operatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1977<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1977<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1977<\/h2>
\"1977\"<\/a><\/div>

\u201cFaced with a near future that looks tough and tense, our greatest strength lies in our willingness to work together, to form a Group, with all that this implies about putting the general interest before that of the individual\u201d so said the introduction to Caja Laboral\u2019s <\/strong>Annual Report. The Caja opened new branches in Donostia-San Sebasti\u00e1n, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Pasai Antxo, Erandio and Santutxu (Bilbao).
\nIn spite of the difficult economic situation and the uncertain prospects, the Group performed extremely well in 1977. Sales were up 37% compared to the previous year and turnover was close to \u20ac198m (33bn pesetas.). The following co-operatives from the province of Gipuzkoa came on board: Latz, Kendu, and Dikar together with Aurrenak<\/strong>, based in Vitoria.
\nIt is interesting to note that from 1963 to 1977 the cost of living increased at a constant annual rate of 9.56% and our wages at an average rate of 15.49%, that is to say, 5.93 percentage points higher, which in fourteen years had led us to double our purchasing power.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1978<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1978<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1978<\/h2>
\"1978\"<\/a><\/div>

In 1978 specific work requested by the co-operatives from the Ikerlan Technological Research Centre accounted for 25% of the centre\u2019s total activity, with the projects carried out involving 12 co-operatives from the Group.
\nThe co-operatives Irizar and Alecop took a significant step in the foreign market. The order was for 40 fitted-out trucks for Venezuela, to be used as travelling classrooms and workshops. The bodywork was built by Irizar, and Alecop, a co-operative largely made up of students, was in charge of the educational equipment.
\nThree industrial co-operatives came into the Group: Herriola from Aulestia\/ Murelaga, Kide located in Ondarroa and Ona-Pres from Trapagaran. It is also worth highlighting the setting up of the Goilan and Orbide groups. Goilan included the following co-operatives: Ederfil, Eredu, Irizar, Kendu and Orkli and the Orbide Group, in turn, included Berriola<\/strong>, Latz<\/strong>, Orona<\/strong> and Vicon<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1979<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1979<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1979<\/h2>
\"1979\"<\/a><\/div>

In 1979 Lagun Aro was studying a new benefit to cover unemployment, and the possibility of giving pensioners representation at its General Assembly. It is worth highlighting the work of Lagun Aro<\/strong> and Caja Laboral<\/strong>, not just in the financial field, where their work was more visible, but also in the economic area: providing considerable external economies, which meant significant support for the co-operatives\u2019 results.
\nIn a difficult year of widespread crisis, the exports of the MONDRAGON cooperatives saw a spectacular leap accounting for close to \u20ac53.5m (8.9bn pesetas) which was a rise of more than 54% although the starting position (\u20ac35.3m, 5.9bn pesetas) seen from the perspective offered by time, was very modest.
\nHertell from Ikaztegieta (Gipuzkoa), a co-operative enterprise manufacturing pumps and depressors for agriculture, joined the Group. With this new member, 90% of the Group\u2019s industrial co-operatives were located in two provinces of the Basque Autonomous Community: Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1980<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1980<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1980<\/h2>
\"1980\"<\/a><\/div>

The Basque Parliament was elected and the new Basque Government created, which took over the bodies of the pre-autonomous Basque General Council, and started to develop its own structures and departments for selfgovernment. This was another step towards the normalisation of democracy.
\nProductivity, which is essential to achieve competitiveness in increasingly globalised markets, had increased in our co-operatives by about 6% in real terms, which reduced the effect of labour on the results. This had not prevented the praiseworthy creation of 400 new jobs in the MONDRAGON co-operatives as a whole.
\nEroski began the eighties with 100,000 consumer members, which was approximately 15% of all families in Euskadi. A significant figure without doubt.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1981<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1981<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1981<\/h2>
\"1981\"<\/a><\/div>

25 years had passed since the start of the MONDRAGON co-operatives, a symbolic anniversary that invited us to take stock of what we had achieved. Caja Laboral <\/strong>had 114 branches and deposits totalling \u20ac383.56m (64bn pesetas), an increase over the year of \u20ac74.45m (12.4bn pesetas) which was 24% in relative terms.
\nThe industrial co-operatives, however, with a 21% increase in sales, had posted a total turnover of \u20ac498.84m (83bn pesetas) and Eroski, with a 38% rise compared to the previous year, had posted close to \u20ac90m (15bn pesetas) in overall turnover. A new hypermarket was opened in Vitoria-Gasteiz, a
\nkey event, which spurred Eroski to go in search of a new dimension.
\nThere were ten Local Groups set up by the end of 1981: Debako in the Bajo Deba, Goilan in Goierri, Indarko in Mungia, Learko in LeaArtibai, Naeko in Navarra, Nerbi\u00f3n in Bilbao, Orbide in Donostia\/San Sebasti\u00e1n, Urcoa in Alava, Urkide in the Urola Valley and Ularco in the Alto Deba, with more than 6,000 co-operators.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1982<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1982<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1982<\/h2>
\"1982\"<\/a><\/div>

In these early years in which the Country was starting its political life it was said that the co-operative movement could not classify itself under any specific symbol, as that would go against its own constitution, although it would make sense to place it in the socialist environment in the widest and most noble sense of the word: socialisation of resources, and democratisation of management, ownership and knowledge.
\nRestraint, on the part of the workermembers as a whole, made it possible to reduce the effect of personnel costs on sales by one percentage point in 1982. This stand made it possible to consolidate jobs in the co-operatives, and even create 327 new jobs.
\nThe following co-operatives joined the Group: Lenniz, now part of Fagor Electrodom\u00e9sticos, Leunkor, also now part of Fagor Arrasate, Orkli and Ondoan. The technological capabilities of the co-operatives were also reinforced with intense collaboration with the applied research centre Ikerlan.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1983<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1983<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1983<\/h2>
\"1983\"<\/a><\/div>

At the end of the year, these were some of Lagun Aro\u2019s<\/strong> highlights.
\nThe maturity reached by MONDRAGON\u2019s industrial co-operatives in terms of exports was clear from the fact that foreign trade now accounted for close to \u20ac144m (24bn pesetas), which was 28% of total turnover.
\nEroski posted an 18% increase over the previous year and its sales were in excess of \u20ac135.82m (22.6bn pesetas).
\nThe food and agriculture co-operative Behi-Alde, located in the Olaeta-Aramaiona<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1984<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1984<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1984<\/h2>
\"1984\"<\/a><\/div>

At the end of the year Caja Laboral celebrated its 25th anniversary. If in the early years it was Caja Laboral<\/strong> which received support from the co-operatives, it was now the co-operatives who were being supported by a credit co-operative, set up at the right time, committed to the consolidation of the Group.
\nThe industrial co-operatives posted a total turnover in excess of \u20ac727.22m (121bn pesetas) and the highest level of export activity was recorded by companies operating in the capital goods and intermediate goods sectors. Job creation has been a constant objective for Eroski and, with 168 new jobs the co-operative had a total of 1,246 worker-members by the end of the year. The co-operative was also awarded the research prize for consumer affairs which was given annually by the National Consumer Institute. The following worker co-operatives joined the Group: Artxa, Etorki, Fagor Clima <\/strong>(today part of Fagor Electrodom\u00e9sticos), Leroa<\/strong> (now in turn part of Danona), and Matriplast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n

1985<\/span><\/div>
25\/08\/1985<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>

1985<\/h2>
\"1985\"<\/a><\/div>
\n

On 1st March the co-operatives\u2019 Group Council<\/strong> was set up, which was the historical embryo of Mondrag\u00f3n Corporaci\u00f3n Cooperativa<\/strong>, what is now MONDRAGON.
\nThe benefits funded by the Distribution System increased significantly compared to previous years. Health care stood out as the first benefit to exceed \u20ac6m in payouts a year. Over the last five years, the number of machines with numerical control manufactured by the Debako Group had gone from 5% to more than 40%. It was clear that the decline in mechanical components in favour of electronics was one of the causes of the crisis in traditional machine tool sectors.<\/p>\n

Barrenetxe<\/strong> now had 80,000 m2 of polytunnel greenhouses, of which 50,000 were in the Markina area. Urssa<\/strong>, for its part, started work on building the support structure for two 170-tonne bridge cranes for Hidroel\u00e9ctrica Espa\u00f1ola. Eroski<\/strong> posted sales in excess of \u20ac180m, which was 14% up on the previous year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n