Preston Meets Mondragón: Worker ownership and democratic businesses for Preston

A Symposium to be held at the University of Central Lancashire on the 25th July.

In a developing partnership between Preston City Council and the University of Central Lancashire, people, communities, businesses and academics are putting their heads together to try to carve out a new way of working and living in Preston. This work, developed by Dr Julian Manley FRSA and his working group has been called the ‘Preston Model’. As explained by Manley, part of the developing ‘model’ is to encourage the development of worker owned co-operatives, and other forms of co-operatives that can generate and retain local wealth ethically while stimulating local democracy. One place where this seems to be working is Mondragón, in the Basque Country. As a result, speakers from Mondragón are invited to meet stakeholders in Preston to see what can be learned from the Mondragón experience and how these lessons can be applied to Preston.

 Although the Preston Model is clearly a local model, this working group believe basic principles and outline can be adjusted to other towns and cities across the UK.

RSA Fellows who are interested in these matters are invited and should contact Dr Julian Manley FRSA at jymanley@uclan.ac.uk to book a place for our Symposium, which will be running from 09.15 – 17.45 on 25^th July.