cooperatives in spain. a solution to the unemployment crisis? agresta s. coop. a case study agresta...

COOPERATIVES IN SPAIN.

A SOLUTION TO THE

UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS?

AGRESTA S. COOP. A CASE STUDY

Budapest. 7th June 2012

Pablo Ascasíbar. AGRESTA. S. COOP.

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural

Contents

1. 2012. International Year of Cooperatives (IYC)

& Co-coperatives in Europe

2. Labour situation in Spain. Any solution?

3. Cooperatives in Spain

4. AGRESTA S. COOP. A case study


2012-International Year of Cooperatives

“Co-operatives are a reminder to the internacional community that it is posible to pursue both

economic viability and social responsability”

Ban Ki-moon,

United Nations Secretary-General

July 2010

“Co-operatives are economic actors featuring a human dimension, which must be a specificity of

the European model”

Gianni Pittella

Vice-President of the European Parliament

31 May 2011



Cooperative…, what is a cooperative?

A co-operative enterprise is a group of people acting together to meet the common needs and aspirations

of its members, sharing ownership and making decisions democratically



Why cooperatives?

A different purpose: a union of people ≠ a union of capital

A different strategy: long term economic activity ≠ short term financial return

A different control structure: “1 member=1vote” ≠ “1share=1vote”

A different allocation of profit: Profit belongs to all members and is reinvested in the enteprise ≠ return for a small number of investors

Co-operatives are businesses with unique qualities and ways of working that provide a long-term

approach to economic growth



An overview of Europe´s cooperatives

Co-operative figures:

- 5 400 000 employees

- 160 000 enterprises

- 123 000 000 members

All types and sizes:

- from small companies owned by employees, to large banks owned by clients

In all economic sectors:

- Agriculture, industry, banking, housing, …


Labour situation in Spain

Although originated in the financial sector, the global crisis has had different characteristics across countries.

In Spain the impact on unemployment is tremendous!!!

5,639,500 unemployed


Labour situation in Spain

The last data (april 2012) says that the cooperatives are creating jobs

19 602 jobs created from January to March 2012

Maybe to strenghten cooperatives is part of the solution

And what about the cooperatives?


Cooperatives in Spain

Our Constitution of 1978 has an article about cooperatives



Different types of cooperatives

• Workers cooperatives

• Agricultural & livestock cooperative

• Banking cooperatives

• Consumers cooperatives

• Education cooperatives

• Housing cooperatives

•Transportation cooperatives

PUBLIC SECTOR

Administration&

Publiccompanies

PRIVATE SECTOR

TraditionalCompanies

Cooperatives

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tionsh

ip



Some examples with numbers:

• Workers cooperatives: (owned by employees)

- 16 949 cooperatives

- 205 700 jobs

- 22 030 M € of income




•Agricultural & livestock cooperatives: (union of producers)

- 3 039 cooperatives

- 1 160 337 members

- 99 079 jobs

- 18 322 M € of income




•Cooperatives of banking: (owned by the clients)

- 78 cooperatives

- 2 320 634 members

- 20 352 jobs



How do we organise?

COCETA: Spanish Confederation of Workers Cooperatives


FIR

ST A

SS

EM

BLIE

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Our beginings…

AGRESTA S. COOP. A CASE STUDY

At the end of 1999, 10 friends from School of Forestry at the Polytechnic University of Madrid decided to create a cooperative.

Agresta is an environmental consulting firm, specializing in forestry, engineering in the natural environment and environmental impact studies

With a solid professional experience acquired since the year 2000, our work focuses on making projects, studies, advice and reports, as well as the supervision and direction of environmental works throughout the national territory.

Locally rooted, with 5 offices all over the territory and 3 business delegations in order to be close to the client and to know the best solutions to the rural needs.


AGRESTA nowadays

We are a network all over

the country!!

People


Agresta is a multidisciplinary team of over 30 professionals, graduates in:

General Assembly (Valdeavellano, Soria 2011)

Forestry engineering

Surveying engineering

Biology

Statistics

Geography

Economics

Environmental sciences

Technical management and organization of natural resources

Fundamental issues for us


Ethical financePreferent use of ethical and cooperative banking

Social measuresWork as part of personal development

Agresta participates in other Social Economy Networks

Participation in othe social networks

Cooperative formula

One person, one vote. Co-operative principles:

Voluntary and Open Membership

Democratic Member Control

Member Economic Participation

Autonomy and Independence

Education, Training and Information

Co-operation among Co-operatives

Concern for Comunity

Forest Management

Land planning

Natural Environment Engineering

Environmental impacts

Forest Property

Geographic Information System & GPS

Use of forest resources-energy (forest biomass)

Carbon consultancy

LiDAR technology applied to forest

Products & Services


How are we facing the crisis?


The Co-operative model

• People before profit

• Before losing a job we share work

Innovatión

• New products and new technologies...

Searching partners-Intercooperation

• Anyone in Hungary wants to cooperate with us?


Agresta in 2012 is…

THANKS

cooperatives in spain. a solution to the unemployment crisis? agresta s. coop. a case study agresta...

Documents

strenghten cooperatives

spainsome examples

different characteristics

different purpose

economic actors

economic sectors

economic viability

case studyat