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Portugal Organized Labor
Portuguese trade unionism had a history of militancy
and
radicalism. Its roots go back to the late nineteenth
century when
modern industry first appeared. The unions grew during the
period
of the First Republic, 1910-26, when they enjoyed freedom
to
organize. It was in this period that Marxist, Bolshevik,
Trotskyite, anarchist, and syndicalist ideas were
discussed and
disseminated. Although the labor movement was small, a
reflection
of the low level of Portuguese industrialization, it was
active
and vocal.
During the Salazar-Caetano era, militant unions were
abolished, and the labor movement was forcibly
subordinated to
corporatist controls. Many labor leaders were jailed or
sent into
exile. Some cooperated with the new corporative system;
others
organized a militant, communist-controlled underground
labor
organization. With time this union, Intersindical, was
well
enough established that the government actually dealt with
it
almost as if it were a legal bargaining agent.
During the Revolution of 1974, Intersindical, or as it
came
to be known in 1977, the General Confederation of
Portuguese
Workers-National Intersindical (Confederação Geral dos
Trabalhadores Portugueses-Intersindical
Nacional--CGTP-IN), was
at last able to function as a legal labor organization,
and it
expanded rapidly. Controlled by the communists, CGTP-IN
was
closely associated with the PCP's bid for power and for a
time
was the only union permitted to function. Soon, however,
it faced
opposition from the socialist labor organization, the
General
Union of Workers (União Geral dos Trabalhadores--UGT). For
a
time, the communist labor group was overwhelmingly
dominant, but
during the 1980s the UGT grew in size, especially in the
service
sector, and by the end of the decade its overall
membership was
about half that of CGTP-IN. Many other small unions were
active
at the beginning of the 1990s, most notably those
representing
highly specialized professions such as airline pilots.
There was
also a Christian democratic trade union movement.
After 1974 organized labor emerged as a powerful force
in
Portuguese politics, although its influence waned somewhat
after
the revolutionary period. Union membership was not high,
and as
of the early 1990s only about 30 percent of the work force
was
unionized. The communist-led unions were not able to block
the
constitutional amendments of 1982 and 1989, which reduced
the
radical legacy of the revolution. Moreover, some unions
backed
away from the intense ideological unionism of the 1970s in
favor
of more limited and practical objectives.
Data as of January 1993
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