COOPERATIVES IN SPAIN. A SOLUTION TO THE UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS? AGRESTA S. COOP. A CASE STUDY AGRESTA Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Budapest. 7th June 2012 Pablo Ascasíbar. AGRESTA. S. COOP.

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Contents 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

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural 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

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural 2012-International Year of Cooperatives 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

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural 2012-International Year of Cooperatives 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

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural 2012-International Year of Cooperatives An overview of Europe´s cooperatives Co-operative figures: employees enterprises 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, …

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural 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

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Labour situation in Spain The last data (april 2012) says that the cooperatives are creating jobs jobs created from January to March 2012 Maybe to strenghten cooperatives is part of the solution And what about the cooperatives?

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Cooperatives in Spain Our Constitution of 1978 has an article about cooperatives

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Cooperatives in Spain Different types of cooperatives Workers cooperatives Agricultural & livestock cooperative Banking cooperatives Consumers cooperatives Education cooperatives Housing cooperatives Transportation cooperatives PUBLIC SECTOR Administration & Public companies PRIVATE SECTOR Traditional Companies Cooperatives relationship

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Cooperatives in Spain Some examples with numbers: Workers cooperatives: (owned by employees) cooperatives jobs M € of income

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Cooperatives in Spain Some examples with numbers: Agricultural & livestock cooperatives: (union of producers) cooperatives members jobs M € of income

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Cooperatives in Spain Some examples with numbers: Cooperatives of banking: (owned by the clients) - 78 cooperatives members jobs

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Cooperatives in Spain How do we organise? COCETA: Spanish Confederation of Workers Cooperatives

agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural FIRST ASSEMBLIES 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 Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural AGRESTA nowadays We are a network all over the country!!

People agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural 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 agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Ethical finance Preferent use of ethical and cooperative banking Social measures Work 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 agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural

How are we facing the crisis? agresta Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural 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 Gestión Técnica Ambiental y Desarrollo Rural Agresta in 2012 is… THANKS