UGT
Workers' General Union
Unión General de Trabajadores
Founded1888
HeadquartersMadrid, Spain
Location
  • Spain
Members
960,000 members (2017).
86,530 union representatives.[1]
Founder
Pablo Iglesias Posse
Key people
Pepe Álvarez, general secretary
AffiliationsSpanish Socialist Workers' Party
International Trade Union Confederation
European Trade Union Confederation
Websitewww.ugt.es

The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Union of Workers) is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

History

The UGT was founded 12 August 1888 by Pablo Iglesias Posse in Mataró (Barcelona), with Marxist socialism as its ideological basis, despite its statutory apolitical status. Until its nineteenth Congress in 1920, it did not consider class struggle as a basic principle of trade union action. The UGT was closely associated with the PSOE.

During the World War I era, the UGT followed a tactical line of close relationships and unity of action with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT, National Labour Confederation). The UGT grew rapidly after 1917, and by 1920 had 200,000 members.[2] This era came to a sudden end with the advent of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, who gave a legal monopoly on labor organizing to his own government-sponsored union, the Patriotic Union. While the CNT opted for a radical confrontation with the regime and were prohibited on this account, the UGT, although in disagreement with the dictatorship, adopted a collaborative attitude in order to continue to operate legally. The UGT grew from 277,011 in December 1930, to 958,451 in December 1931, to 1,041,539 in June 1932. Much of this growth occurred in its land workers' federation, the Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de la Tierra (FNTT), which grew from 36,639 in June 1930 to 392,953 in June 1932, raising the proportion of land workers in the UGT from 13 percent to 37 percent.[3] The influx of these workers (jornaleros) caused the union's radicalisation, and the bloody breakout of the Spanish Civil War deepened the internal fissures that resulted in the departure of Largo Caballero from the position of UGT secretary general in 1937.

General Francisco Franco confined the UGT to exile and clandestinity after his victory in the Spanish Civil War until his death in 1975. The Union emerged from secrecy during the democratic transition after Franco's death, as did the communist Workers' Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO). The UGT and CCOO, between them, constitute the major avenues for workers' representation in modern Spain, with the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) a distant third.

Objectives

The UGT declares itself to be an institution of productive workers, organized along lines of trades and liberal professions, which respects freedom of thought, leading toward the transformation of the society, in order to establish it on the basis of social justice, equality and solidarity.

Federations and foundations

Current affiliates

UGT headquarters (Madrid).
Local UGT office, Ávila, Spain
Local UGT office, Corunna.
UnionAbbreviationFounded
Federation of Industry, Construction and AgricultureFICA2016
Federation of Public Service EmployeesFeSP2016
Federation of Services, Mobility and ConsumptionFeSMC2016
Pensioners' UnionUJP1978
Professionals and Autonomous Workers' UnionUPTA
Small Farmers' UnionUPA1982

The Unión de Trabajadores por Cuenta Propia (UTCP, Union of Self-Employed Workers) is not an organism of UGT. It is a bottom-up association, formed by the farmers' union UPA and the professional and autonomous workers' union, UPTA, who united in this manner to enhance their representation inside the Union and to form a united front on factional issues where they have common interests.

Former affiliates

UnionAbbreviationFoundedLeftReason leftMembership (1981)Membership (1994)
Federation of Agriculture and Food ProcessingFTA20012011Merged into FITAGN/AN/A
Federation of Commerce19741993Merged into FECHTJ6,552N/A
Federation of Commerce, Catering-Tourism and GamesFECHTJ19932014Merged into SMCN/A51,011
Federation of Communication, Shows and Various TradesCEOV1993Merged into FeS11,145N/A
Federation of Education WorkersFETE19312016Merged into FeSP1,35039,093
Federation of Hospitality19791993Merged into FECHTJ8,179N/A
Federation of Industrial and Agricultural WorkersFITAG20112016Merged into FICAN/AN/A
Federation of Light IndustriesFIA19922011Merged into FITAGN/A69,527
Federation of Public ServicesFSP19822016Merged into FeSP6,888133,501
Federation of ServicesFeS19932016Merged into FeSMCN/A59,346
Federation of Services for Mobility and ConsumptionSMC20142016Merged into FeSMCN/AN/A
Federation of Transport, Communication and SeaTCM19772014Merged into SMC21,94271,629
Metal and ConstructionMCA19982016Merged into FICAN/AN/A
National Federation of AgricultureFTT19302001Merged into FTA11,97923,728
National Federation of Banking, Credit and SavingsFEBCA19771983Merged into FEBASO4,523N/A
National Federation of Banking, Savings, Insurance and OfficesFEBASO19831993Merged into FeSN/AN/A
National Federation of Chemicals, Energy and Related IndustriesFETIQUE19821992Merged into FIA14,560N/A
National Federation of Construction, Wood and Related IndustriesFEMCA19771998Merged into MCA22,70137,166
National Federation of Food Processing and TobaccoFAyT2001Merged into FTA10,45227,511
National Federation of Insurance, Office and Office WorkersFETSO1983Merged into FEBASON/A
National Federation of MetalworkersMETAL19301998Merged into MCA49,348100,774
National Federation of Mineworkers1992Merged into FIA9,652N/A
National Federation of Textiles and Leather19791992Merged into FIA11,401N/A

See also

References

  1. ↑ Los sindicatos recuperan afiliados por segundo año consecutivo tras la crisis. 20 Minutos, 04/02/2018.
  2. ↑ Casanova, Julián. 'Terror and Violence: The Dark Face of Spanish Anarchism' in International Labour and Working-Class History, 67 (Spring 2005), pp. 79-99. p. 88.
  3. ↑ Preston, Paul. The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Spanish Second Republic. Routledge. New York. 1994. p. 78.
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