ULMA Group's Solidarity and Commitment helps to find a home for those people affected by the crisis

Despite the gravity of the economic situation, the cooperative culture which is so firmly entrenched in the Basque Country has emerged as a key ally that has enabled the ULMA Group and the MONDRAGON Corporation to extend a solidarity network in order to alleviate the consequences of the recession.

The principles of collaboration on which cooperativism is based have been the guiding principle behind the actions taken by the ULMA Group in this tumultuous period with a view to finding the best solution for each case.

The goal is being achieved. ULMA has managed to find a solution for all the people who lost their jobs during the crisis, and has also become home to another 100 members from some of the cooperatives in the MONDRAGON Corporation.

Thank you all for every smile and for each kind word for the people who have been relocated. These small gestures are what count most.

We are helping to solve the employment problem because it is in our values, because that's the way we are, because we are ULMA.

In such a complex situation, the ULMA Group has worked extremely hard to carry out an active relocations policy that would enable those people affected to get their careers back on track and have a positive opinion of the management carried out by all stakeholders involved.

It is a problem that has been repeated on several occasions in the past and has affected different businesses in the ULMA Group, but it is a problem which the Group has always faced head on. Since 2009 several businesses have been hit by the crisis and its effects on employment and have taken the necessary measures to address this.

In terms of MONDRAGON, the problem has become more pronounced since the end of 2013 with the situation of Fagor Electrodomésticos, which was added to the issues of the Group's other cooperatives.

More specifically, in the first quarter of 2014 there was still a total of 61 people in the ULMA Group who needed to be relocated in order to pursue their career aspirations. The ULMA Group managed to relocate 55 of these members in one of the Group's eight businesses and 6 more found a position in other cooperatives in the MONDRAGON Corporation.

Over the months these figures have improved significantly. In December 2014, the members affected by ULMA's restructuring had been reduced by almost half and stood at 33. Of that number, 27 were relocated within the ULMA family of companies and 6 more headed to other firms in the Corporation.

Currently, 21 people from ULMA do not have an established position, but none of them are unemployed, as 18 have been relocated within ULMA and 3 have been relocated in other companies in the MONDRAGON Corporation.

This means that, in 18 months, the number of people affected has been reduced by two-thirds. There are currently no people that remain unemployed and most of them have found a solution within the ULMA Group.

Since the beginning of the crisis in 2009, 45 members have found a definitive relocation within the ULMA Group's businesses. In addition, there have been some cases of early retirements or agreed departures that have also assisted with confronting this challenge.

However, ULMA has not only managed to resolve staff movements generated by the crisis within its own business but has also found a home for members from other cooperatives in the MONDRAGON Corporation which have felt the impact of the crisis more keenly.

The collaboration of the eight businesses has enabled the Group to become a benchmark when it comes to finding a home for members of the MONDRAGON Corporation.

In the first quarter of last year, ULMA relocated a total of 56 members from cooperatives in the MONDRAGON Corporation and that figure now stands at 100 members which means the Group has become the new home for many people who have suffered the impact of the crisis.

In the whole of the MONDRAGON Corporation, a total of 1,806 people were affected by structural redundancies in late 2013, but this figure has been reduced thanks to the commitment of the cooperatives that make up the corporation and the activity undertaken by Lagun Aro and the employment office specifically created to manage staff movements.

There are currently 1,189 people who find themselves in that situation, of which 967 have been relocated to one of the Corporation's cooperatives and 148 have remained working in the same cooperative where they were waiting for a permanent solution.

“The volume of relocations is a fair reflection of the degree of solidarity and commitment of all the cooperatives, but also of all those people who made this task possible. Thank you all for every smile and for each kind word for the people who have been relocated. These small gestures are what count most. We are helping to solve the employment problem because it is in our values, because that's the way we are, because we are ULMA”.