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Ecuador Labor
Disunited and poorly organized for most of its history, the
labor movement developed only slowly and had only a marginal
political impact. Precise figures on unionization in the late 1980s
were practically nonexistent, even within the unions themselves.
The organized labor movement was divided into four confederations
and a number of independent federations. At the local level, labor
organizations also took the form of artisan guilds, cooperatives,
and neighborhood associations. In addition to representing only a
minority of the workers in all sectors of employment (approximately
one-fifth), the labor movement traditionally was weakened by
rivalry and government repression. Nevertheless, it had influence
disproportionate to its numbers as a result of the concentration of
labor unions in urban areas, mainly Quito and Guayaquil, its
organizational power, and the political impact of strikes and
demonstrations on governments that did not enjoy strong support.
Professional or employee associations (cámaras),
composed of middle-class, white-collar workers, constituted about
25 percent of all labor unions. Representing the dominant economic
groups in the country, these associations exercised a predominant
influence on economic policy; their representatives frequently held
cabinet posts and other top government positions dealing with
economics. The support of the associations proved crucial to most
governments.
Although union organizations began forming in Ecuador early in
the twentieth century, organized workers did not begin to acquire
any influence until the late 1930s. Key events in Ecuador's labor
history took place in 1938 with the promulgation of the Labor Code
and the founding of the first labor confederation, the Ecuadorian
Federation of Classist Organizations (Central Ecuatoriana de
Organizaciones Clasistas--Cedoc). Between 1938 and 1949, some 550
labor organizations were formed. These included the country's
second confederation, the Confederation of Ecuadorian Workers
(Confederación de Trabajadores Ecuatorianos--CTE), which began
operating in 1944. A total of 3,093 unions were established between
1950 and 1973.
Cedoc was never an effective articulator of worker interests,
being more concerned with religious causes, combating efforts to
eliminate exclusion of ecclesiastical control and influence in
labor organizations, and curtailing communist infiltration in the
labor sector. Although of Catholic origin, Cedoc rejected its
Christian Democratic leadership in 1976 and adopted a socialist
orientation. The old leaders retained the support of a few
grassroots organizations and formed a parallel organization.
Approximately 80 percent of Cedoc's membership came from the
Ecuadorian Federation of Peasant Organizations (Federación
Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Campesinas--Fenoc). In the mid-1980s,
Cedoc had unions in fifteen of the twenty provinces; its estimated
membership of 130,000 was largely composed of artisans, with almost
no industrial worker membership. After twelve years of political
division, the two Cedoc branches united in 1988 and formed the
Ecuadorian Confederation of Classist Organizations for Workers'
Unity (Confederación Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Clasistas para
la Unidad de los Trabajadores--CEDOCUT).
Through militant activities, such as petitions, collective
conflicts, and general strikes, the CTE--composed predominantly of
industrial workers and led by members of the communist and
socialist parties--emerged as the principal labor organization in
Ecuador in the late 1970s. Although the CTE had become the largest
of the three national confederations by the 1970s, its hegemony
declined in the 1980s as a result of the growth of rival
confederations, internal conflicts and splits, and governmental
repression. In 1987 only a shadow remained of its peasant
federation, the Ecuadorian Indian Federation (Federación
Ecuatoriana de Indios--FEI). The CTE still included a number of
industrial unions and various public-sector unions, and was
organizing autonomous workers. It encompassed an estimated 55,000
members in 200 affiliated unions.
The Communist Party of Ecuador--Marxist-Leninist established a
small federation, the General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (Unión
General de Trabajadores Ecuatorianos--UGTE), in an attempt to rival
the CTE. Apart from the powerful National Union of Teachers (Unión
Nacional de Educadores--UNE), which had about 100,000 members, the
UGTE had little success in affiliating unions. Together with
student unions and a few other groups, the UGTE formed the Popular
Front (Frente Popular--FP), which in the 1980s was attempting to
rival the United Workers Front (Frente Unitario de Trabajadores--
FUT) in organizing protest action.
The Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers
(Organización Regional Interamericana de Trabajadores--ORIT) tried
to unify the non-Marxist unions by founding the Ecuadorian
Confederation of Free Trade Union Organizations (Confederación
Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres--CEOSL) in 1962.
CEOSL, the third-largest confederation, membership consisted almost
exclusively of urban white- and blue-collar workers. The CEOSL
included fourteen provincial and thirteen national federations made
up of a large proportion of industrial workers, a number of members
from the service sector, and a small number of agricultural
workers, peasants, and craftsmen.
FUT emerged in 1971 and eventually united the three main
confederations--Cedoc, CEOSL, and CTE--plus a number of independent
unions, including the Catholic Federation of Workers (Central
Católica de Obreros--CCO), making FUT the country's largest
workers' confederation. By the 1980s, FUT totaled an estimated
300,000 members and emerged as the leader of a massive movement
that arose spontaneously to protest the economic crisis, and that
greatly outnumbered the ranks of unionized workers. FUT nearly
toppled President Hurtado in 1982 when he introduced austerity
measures in the face of the debt crisis. In June 1988, FUT,
together with the National Coordinator of Workers (Coordinadora
Nacional de Trabajadores--CNT), the Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas
del Ecuador--Conaie), and FP, staged a one-day national strike
aimed at obtaining a large increase in the minimum wage and a
freeze on the prices of basic goods. It was the seventh general
labor action against the Febres Cordero government and coincided
with an ongoing strike by the UNE for a rise in monthly wages. The
impact of FUT remained limited, however, because the federation
tended to maintain its working-class orientation, based on wage
claims, and in practice gave relatively little importance to the
claims of other sectors that looked to it for leadership.
Data as of 1989
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