Mondragon is a political bookstore and vegan restaurant located in Winnipeg’s historic exchange district. The word Mondragon comes from the Euskadi (Basque) town of the same name meaning “Dragon Mountain” in English. Located in Northern Spain, Mondragon – or Arrasate in the Basque language – is known for its extensive network of workers’ cooperatives, and has been the subject of numerous books and articles.
Inspired by this and many other examples of alternative economics and workplace democracy, our bookstore and coffeehouse is organized as a workers collective. We have no manager, and all worker members, regardless of starting skill or seniority, earn the same rate of pay. We call ours a “participatory” workplace – after the participatory economic model developed by co-authors Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert – and we feel that this structure is consistent with anarchist and libertarian socialist principles.