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Spain Labor
The labor movement, which had been a major component of
support for the Republican forces in the Civil War, was
brutally
suppressed after the Nationalists came to power. Vertical
syndicates replaced trade unions, and strikes were
outlawed
(see The Franco Years
, ch. 1). Nevertheless, mounting strike
activity
in the 1960s and the 1970s, which persisted in spite of
severe
reprisals, testified to the strength of the labor
movement, which
was a key factor in propelling Spain toward a democratic
form of
government.
The political changes that swept through Spain in the
wake of
liberalization were not accompanied by commensurate
changes in
social and economic conditions. One of the reasons for
this was
the labor movement's reluctance to voice strong criticisms
of the
governing UCD for fear of provoking a military coup.
Because of
the army's apparent ambivalence toward the nascent
democratic
system, the parties on the left and the labor movement,
which
normally would have been expected to agitate for a
significant
restructuring of the economy and of society, adopted an
attitude
of cooperation and consensus with the government
(see Transition to Democracy
, ch. 1). Although this stance contributed to
the
success of the transition process, it nevertheless had the
effect
of postponing necessary societal reforms. The consequences
of
this delay were a salient factor in the labor unrest that
reached
crisis proportions in the late 1980s.
Decree laws in March and in April 1977 legalized trade
unions
and introduced the rights to strike and to engage in
collective
bargaining. The 1978 Constitution delineates the rights of
unions
to defend their interests. It grants to all citizens,
except
members of the armed forces and the judiciary, the right
to join
a union. It also guarantees them the right not to join
one. The
first major labor legislation enacted under the 1978
Constitution, the Workers' Statute that came into force in
1980,
further elaborated the rights of workers. It included
guarantees
pertaining to a minimum wage and to social security, and
it
stipulated that labor relations were to be worked out
between
unions and management, with no direct government
involvement. The
statute outlined the format for collective bargaining,
recognizing the right of the elected representatives of
the
workers to negotiate on their behalf.
The basic freedoms and rights of unions were given more
detailed treatment in the Organic Law on Trade Union
Freedom,
which went into effect in August 1985. This law spelled
out the
negotiating role to which larger unions were entitled, and
it
prohibited any form of discrimination on the part of
employers.
An earlier government labor statute called for syndical
elections
to be held every two years, and these provided an
indication of
the national strength of the labor unions.
The two principal unions were the UGT and the CCOO. The
UGT,
which was founded in 1888 and which had a long tradition
of close
ties with the PSOE, was a composite of autonomous local
unions,
each of which consisted of workers engaged in the same
type of
activity, who were organized on a provincial or regional
basis.
The UGT favored the idea of increased power at the local
level,
and allowed local unions to call work stoppages
independently. In
the 1982 union elections, the UGT gained a greater share
of the
vote than the CCOO, which had dominated previous syndical
elections.
The CCOO has a shorter history than the UGT, having
developed
out of locally organized groups of workers that functioned
both
legally and clandestinely during the Franco dictatorship.
Reforms
enacted in the late 1950s allowed for the election of
factory
committees that rapidly evolved into permanent bodies
representing the interests of the workers. Although the
founding
members of this new labor movement were independent
socialists
and leftist Roman Catholics as well as communists, it was
the PCE
that emerged as the dominant force within the movement;
the
majority of leadership positions were held by PCE members.
As these workers' organizations, called commissions,
grew in
strength and began to proliferate, the Francoist
authorities
cracked down, outlawing them in 1967. This did not stop
their
activities. By the time of Franco's death, the CCOO was
the
dominant force in the labor movement. It subsequently
declined in
strength, in part because of the PCE's decreased electoral
support and the concomitant ascendancy of the PSOE.
Like the UGT, the CCOO was organized into federations
of
workers, based on the type of work they performed. These
groups
were in turn linked together as confederations in
territorial
congresses. A national congress met every other year. The
structure of the CCOO was more centralized than that of
the UGT;
decisions made at the top were expected to be carried out
throughout the lower echelons of the union.
The CCOO claimed to be politically independent, but the
union
had strong historical links with the PCE, and its
important
leaders were also prominent communists. Communist ideology
prevailed, although the union began assuming a tactical
distance
from the PCE in the 1980s, as the party became weakened by
internal divisions and lost support at the polls.
The UGT made no effort to de-emphasize its links with
the
PSOE. Both union and party frequently reiterated their
common
aspirations, although there were disagreements between
them as
well as within their respective organizations. The
political ties
of both the UGT and the CCOO were salient factors in the
rivalry
that existed between the two unions.
In addition to these two major unions, other labor
organizations remained active and influential in Spain in
the
late 1980s. The Workers' Syndical Union (Union Sindical
Obrera--
USO) was among those that developed in opposition to the
Franco
regime. Many of its founding members had been involved in
the
Catholic workers' organizations, and they were strongly
anticommunist. At the same time, they sought to replace
capitalism with control of production by the workers.
Militant in
its early days, the USO had evolved into the most
politically
conservative of the major federations by the 1980s.
A more radical trade union, the anarcho-syndicalist
National
Confederation of Labor (Confederacion Nacional del
Trabajo--CNT),
was the second oldest labor organization in Spain; it had
been a
major political force during the Second Republic. Failing
to reestablish its working-class base after the Franco period,
it
found its principal support among white-collar workers. It
boycotted syndical elections as elements of bourgeois
democracy
and preferred direct action strategies.
Two smaller unions that developed as splinter groups
from the
CCOO were the extreme left Confederation of United
Workers'
Unions (Confederacion de Sindicatos Unitarios de
Trabajadores--
CSUT) and the United Syndicate (Sindicato Unitario--SU).
Both
were linked to Maoist political parties; their aim was to
present
a distinctly radical alternative to the moderation of the
major
federations. Although they gained some support in the 1978
union
elections, their influence has steadily declined.
In addition, there were regional unions, two of which
gained
sufficient support to qualify for a formal place in
negotiating
procedures. These were the Basque Workers' Solidarity
(Eusko
Langilleen Alkartasuna-Solidaridad de Trabajadores
Vascos--ELASTV ), which was closely linked to the PNV, and the
National
Galician Workers' Union (Intersindical Nacional de
Trabajadores
Gallegos--INTG).
Although trade unions were highly visible and
influential in
the political process, they all, with the exception of the
ELASTV , suffered from small memberships. While studies
indicated
that less than 20 percent of the wage-earning population
was
affiliated with a union, even fewer of these workers
maintained
their dues payments, leaving the trade unions in a
financially
weak position
(see Labor Relations in the Post-Franco Period
, ch.
3).
Nevertheless, labor unions continued to maintain a high
profile in the political arena. Throughout 1987 and 1988,
periodic strikes plagued the PSOE government and disrupted
the
day-to-day functioning of the country. These strikes had
the
backing of the UGT. Discontent within the labor movement
was
dramatized when the UGT leader, Redondo, formerly close to
Gonzalez, resigned his seat in parliament in protest
against
government policies. He gave voice to the widespread
feeling that
the PSOE's economic policies were benefiting business at
the
expense of the working class. In October 1987, the UGT and
the
CCOO agreed to stage joint demonstrations against the
government's pay and pension policies, and in December
1988 they
staged a general strike
(see Political Developments, 1982-88
, this ch.).
Data as of December 1988
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