Distribute as much as possible by bicycle in towns or cities, whether home-cooked food, packages or magazines. Where there is, for example, they also distribute LIGHT. In Euskal Herria it started in Vitoria with the Eramen cooperative in 2020, a week before the start of the pandemic. There are already 20 people working on it. In Pamplona four people work in the Ziclo-p cooperative and there are also people like Irún, Errenteria, Getxo or Baiona. In Bilbao, one of these cooperatives also started, but he was unable to continue.

The cooperative CoopCycle, founded in the French State, has spread throughout various parts of the world such as Europe, Canada, Chile or Mexico. The French state has 34 cooperatives. These include the Cycle Coop cooperative federation, which through an open platform of software share services such as accounting, logistics or marketing.

They are particularly pleased with the experience of Baiona, La Cours, which has made the limited company cooperative, and among them they have created Cycle Coop Euskal Herria. The level of exploitation of workers in the field of food distribution is well known, Glovo of the best known and has been punished in many countries. Many workers from the companies that have been created in Euskal Herria come from that world, but they are at the other end in terms of the philosophy of work: people-centered, they operate in the social economy, combining division and sustainability, or relying on the fully democratic management of their companies.

The establishment of alliances with people who share the same philosophy of work in other areas is another of its objectives and have already taken the first step in Pamplona. Since May, Ziclo-P and Ondalan have reached an agreement to distribute organic food cooked by the latter.

Support for the Pyrenees Strategy

The energy transition is causing an increasing dispersion of sustainable distribution, including cycling. The Cycle Coop Euskal Herria federation has received the impetus of the Pirenaica Strategy action plan promoted by the CTP (Pyrenees Working Association), which, as we have been informed, are of great importance to them and them.

Paul Iano is one of the founders of the Port of Vitoria and is pleased with the creation of the federation. He was a Glovo worker and the ARGIA reader may be known for his numerous reports of denunciation of his work in Glovo. It considers this to be an important moment and considers that this financial aid is essential. “All the beginnings are difficult and we have already learned what we have to do and what we do not. To move forward, it is very important to have an intensive team that works with a lot of motivation. We are small, but working in the federation we can take forward a number of services that we could not otherwise do. The first two years are hard and, of course, that financial momentum can be key to moving forward.”