General Union of Workers

The Union General de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras (UGT) is a Spanish labor union organization. Founded in the Barcelona Workers' Congress of 1888, it shares a historical origin with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) evolving from classical Marxism towards a social democratic orientation.

History

The UGT was founded by a group of thirty-two delegates, representatives of forty-four trade societies, on August 12, 1888 in Barcelona, during a workers' congress that took place at the Jovellanos Theater, coinciding with the celebration of the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888.

Pablo Iglesias, leader and founder of UGT and PSOE.

In the work related to said Exhibition, thousands of people had been employed in construction tasks, who carried out their work in harsh conditions, which had generated a certain awareness of the need to organize to defend their interests. In the second session, Pablo Iglesias Posse, a printer of Galician origin, proposed that the national organization of workers' societies that they intended to create be called the General Union of Workers.

The UGT was born in close relationship with Marxist socialism, despite its statutory apoliticalism.

During the First World War, there were tactics of rapprochement and unity of action with the anarcho-syndicalists of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT). Until his XIV Congress of 1920, he did not assume the class struggle as a basic principle of the UG action. Although it never managed to establish a mixed body of institutional connection with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the union was related to the party from its inception, since until the 1980s union membership in the UGT meant affiliation to the PSOE and vice versa. Relations with the CNT were abruptly interrupted with the advent of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, in which the UGT opted for a possible distancing from the regime, while the CNT was prohibited and persecuted. In effect, General Miguel Primo de Rivera applied a completely different policy to the CNT and the UGT. While he tried to attract the socialists, causing a division within them between supporters and opponents of collaboration with the Dictatorship, he subjected the CNT to relentless repression.

During the time of the Second Republic, the UGT exceeded one million members. The last complete census of members of the period was carried out in June 1932 and resulted in the figure of 1,041,539. But in December of that same year one of its leaders, Trifón Gómez, corrected that figure during a meeting of the National Committee of the union: «I take this opportunity to say that the movement of the General Union of Workers is not one of the one million or one million two hundred thousand that has come to be talked about. The reality is 797,796 affiliates, of which 199,860 are outside the regulation, and that today within the regulation, owing one or two quarters, there are no more than 597,846 affiliates." With Largo Caballero at the helm, he was the main protagonist, along with the PSOE, of the 1934 revolution.

During the Civil War, together with the National Labor Confederation, it carried out the Spanish Social Revolution of 1936 that began in the Republican zone after the coup d'état of July 1936. In fact, its leader, Largo Caballero, took office the presidency of the republican government at the beginning of September 1936. The newspaper Las Noticias, founded by Rafael Roldós, acted as spokesperson for the UGT.

Democratic transition

Concentration convened by the UGT Public Service Federation in 1982 to claim the Freedom of Association Act.

After the exile forced by Franco's repression, the activities of the central went from clandestine during the dictatorship to its resurgence in the framework of the democratic transition, together with Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), becoming the options with the largest affiliation in democratic Spain. From the Transition to 1994 its general secretary was the historic trade unionist Nicolás Redondo; he was replaced by Cándido Méndez, re-elected in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2009.

He convened together with CC.OO. the general strikes of 1988, 1992, 1994, 2002, 2010 and the two of 2012 (the one on March 29 and the one on November 14). He also reached the second position as a trade union center in number of delegates.

In 1994, he had to mortgage all his assets in an ICO loan due to a debt generated by the assumption of the entire debt owed by his PSV housing cooperative after its bankruptcy, which affected almost 20,000 cooperative members. Subsequently, Carlos Sotos, former manager of PSV, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for a crime of misappropriation without personal profit and to compensate the almost 20,000 affected. UGT declared subsidiary civil liability, had to face compensation.

Orientation and organization

The UGT defines itself as «an institution eminently of workers, organized by similar groups of trades and liberal professions that, in order to maintain a solid connection, respects the broadest freedom of thought and tactics of its components as long as they tend to the transformation of society, to establish it on the basis of social justice, equality and solidarity".

Since its legalization in 1977, after the Franco dictatorship, the UGT has been internally structured as a trade union confederation made up of state federations that group workers according to the different economic sectors. For the coordination of these structures in the territorial administrative spheres, there are autonomous community unions.

Confederal headquarters of UGT, in the old convent of the Collections of Santa María Magdalena de Madrid, until 2016.

UGT Headquarters on Avenida de América, Madrid.

UGT headquarters in Ávila.

UGT Headquarters in La Coruña.

The main governing body of the UGT is the confederal congress, which meets regularly every four years and is made up of delegates democratically elected by the state federations (60 percent of the delegates) and the autonomous community unions (40 percent). In the Congress the components of the remaining organs of the UGT are elected.

The Confederal Executive Commission is the leadership of the union. After the last Congress, in 2021, the composition of the CEC is as follows:

• General Secretary: Pepe Álvarez Suárez.
• Assistant Secretary General: Cristina Antoñanzas Peñalva
• Assistant Secretary General of Organization: Rafael Espartero García
• Assistant Secretary-General for Trade Union Policy: Mariano Hoya Callosa
• Secretary of Resources and Studies: Luis Pérez Capitán
• Secretary of Institutional Policy and Territorial Policy: Cristina Estévez Navarro
• Secretary of Labor Health: Ana García de la Torre
• Secretary of Communication, Social Media and Digital Agenda: Salvador Duarte Soto
• Secretary of Social Policies and Housing: Ana Isabel García Villanueva
• Secretary of International Relations: Jesús Gallego García
• European Policy Secretary: Mari Carmen Barrera Chamorro
• Secretary of Training: Sebastián Pacheco Cortés
• Project Management Secretary: Adela Carrió Ibáñez
• Confederal Secretary: Diego Martínez Isern
• Confederal Secretary: Amparo Burgueño Luengo
• Confederal Secretary: Fernando Luján de Frías

The Confederal Committee is the highest decision-making body between congresses, and meets ordinarily twice a year.

After the 43rd Confederal Congress of the UGT, held in Valencia, the name change was approved to "Unión General de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores de España", keeping the acronym UGT.

UGT Confederal Executive Commissions: from 1888 to 2016 there have been 47 executives.

Other federal bodies are the Guarantees Commission and the Economic Control Commission.

Organizational structure

The Federations and State Unions, respond to the grouping by trades and are the following:

• Industry, Construction and Agriculture (FICA).
• Services, Mobility and Consumption (FeSMC).
• Public Services (FeSP).
• Retired and Pensioners (UJP).
• Union of Propia Workers (UTCP). The UTCP is not a UGT agency, but it brings together the UPA, the Small Farmers Union, and the UPTA, the Union of Professionals and Self-Employed Workers, the latter who act autonomously even though they are grouped to calculate their representativeness within the union and attend the UGT congresses unified at the UTCP.
• Union of Small Farmers and Livestocks (UPA)
• Union of Autonomous Workers and Professionals (UPTA).

The Territorial Unions are adjusted to the Spanish autonomous map, with as many unions as there are autonomies and autonomous cities.

• Territorial Unions of the General Workers' Union.

• Headquarters of the General Union of Workers in Spain.

Other Organs

• Fundación Francisco Largo Caballero
• Escuela Julián Besteiro
• Trade Union Institute for Development Cooperation - ISCOD
• Sector Ferroviario y Servicios Turísticas de Castilla y León

UGT Congresses

Antonio García Quejido, first president of the General Workers' Union, elected at the Barcelona Workers' Congress in 1888.

• Foundation Congress (Barcelona, August 1888). Antonio García Quejido is elected president of the new socialist union, called Union General de Trabajadores de España on the proposal of Paul Churches.
• II Congress (Villanueva and Geltrú, 1890). Garcia Quejido is re-elected president.
• III Congress (Malaga, 1892). García Quejido abandons the presidency of the union, being replaced by Josep Comaposada i Gili.
• IV. Congress (Madrid, 1894). Garcia Quejido re-enters the address, as secretary. He's elected president Basilio Martín Rodriguez.
• V Congress (Valencia, 1896). Luis Zurdo Olivares is elected president of the UGT; García Quejido is re-elected secretary along with Toribio Reoyo.
• VI Congress (Madrid, 1899). He remembers the transfer of the National Committee of the union from Barcelona to Madrid. Zurdo is replaced by Pablo Iglesias, who will hold the presidency of the UGT until his death; García Quejido remains in the secretariat and Francisco Largo Caballero joins the trade union leadership as a treasurer.
• VII. Congress (Madrid, 1902). García Quejido and Largo Caballero are elected secretary and deputy secretary general, respectively.
• VIII Congress (Madrid, 1905).
• IX Congress (Madrid, 1908).
• X Congress (Madrid, 1911). The UGT replaces Trade Unions for Trade Unions, which improves the union's claim capacity.
• XI Congress (Madrid, 1914).
• XII Congress (Madrid, 1916). The pact with the CNT is approved.
• XIII Congress (Madrid, 1918).
• XIV Congress (Madrid, 1920). The deal with the CNT is broken.
• XV Congress (Madrid, 1922).
• XVI Congress (Madrid, 1928).
• XVII Congress (Madrid, 1932). Julián Besteiro rises with the leadership of the UGT and Francisco Largo Caballero resigns from the general secretariat.
• I Congress in Exile (Toulouse, 1944), Pascual Tomás is elected secretary general.
• II Congress in Exile (Toulouse, 1946).
• III Congress in Exile (Toulouse, 1949).
• IV Congress in Exile (Toulouse, 1951).
• V Congress in Exile (Toulouse, 1953).
• XI Congress in Exile (Toulouse, 1971). Victory of the thesis of the revitalizing sector of the interior on those of exile. Nicolas Redondo is elected political secretary of the union.
• XII Congress in Exile (Toulouse, 1973). Redondo is re-elected in his post.
• XXX Confederal Congress (Madrid, April 1976): To the union unit for freedom. The figure of general secretary, known as the political secretary since 1971, has been recovered.
• Extraordinary Congress of UGT-USO Unification (Madrid, December 1977): Socialism is our union.
• XXXI Confederal Congress (Madrid, May 1978): And the union struggle continues.
• XXXII Confederal Congress (Madrid, April 1980): Unionism for all.
• XXXIII Confederal Congress (Madrid, June 1983): From union power to solidarity.
• XXXIV Confederal Congress (Madrid, April 1986): The union for a new society.
• XXXV Confederal Congress (Madrid, April 1990): UGT, the union.
• XXXVI Confederal Congress (Madrid, April 1994): We're still doing the union today.. Cándido Méndez replaces Nicolás Redondo at the head of the union's general secretariat.
• Extraordinary Congress (Madrid, April 1995). Méndez is re-elected UGT Secretary General.
• XXXVII Confederal Congress (Madrid, March 1998): Employment and solidarity. UGT, for 35 hours. Mendez is re-elected union leader.
• XXXVIII Confederal Congress (Madrid, March 2002): Your strength, the Union. Our strength, equality.
• XXXIX Confederal Congress (Madrid, June 2005): Work and progress. Moving for changes. Cándido Méndez revalidates his fourth term at the head of the union center.
• XL Confederal Congress (Madrid, April 2009): Work is first. Cándido Méndez revalidates his mandate at the head of the union center.
• XLI Confederal Congress (Madrid, April 2013): The Union for Labour. Action and Solidarity. Cándido Méndez revalidates his mandate at the head of the union center.
• XLII Confederal Congress (Madrid, March 2016): The Union standing. Pepe Alvarez has access to the General Secretariat of the union.
• XLIII Confederal Congress (Valencia, May 2021): REDvolution 6.0. Pepe Álvarez, backed by almost the entire organization, renewed its mandate.

Historical leaders