The Confederación de los Trabajadores de América Latina (CTAL) was a continental trade union federation for Latin America in the mid-20th century.

History

The CTAL was conceived at the first

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

conference on the Americas in January 1936 when the Latin American resolved to form a strong continental labor organization. This was followed up by a call from the Confederación de Trabajadores de México for a congress in 1938. This congress created the Confederación de los Trabajadores de América Latina and elected

Vicente Lombardo Toledano Vicente Lombardo Toledano (July 16, 1894 – November 16, 1968) was one of the foremost Mexican labor leaders of the 20th century, called "the dean of Mexican Marxism ndthe best-known link between Mexico and the international world of Mar ...

president. The new organization declared that "the social regime that now prevails in most countries on Earth has to be substituted by a regime of justice based on the abolition of man by man". It also condemned

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

in the strongest possible terms. CTAL was very active during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, creating unions where they were non-existent, uniting previously existing unions and assuring that ILO standards like

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membe ...

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...

, the

right to strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the I ...

and

indigenous rights Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...

were respected. After the war, it called for the

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

of Latin America to further its development. After the war most of CTALs affiliates attended the founding conference of the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade unions established in 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the International Federation of ...

in Paris and the CTAL soon became the WFTU's regional organization. However, after the split in the WFTU in 1949 the CTAL was severely weakened. May affiliates drifted away and the Confederation lost strength. Its remaining members agreed to dissolve CTAL in 1964.

References

Bibliography

* Trade unions established in 1936 Trade unions disestablished in 1964 Defunct transnational trade unions Inter-American trade union federations World Federation of Trade Unions {{trade-union-stub es:Confederación de Trabajadores de América Latina fr:Congrès permanent d'unité syndicale des travailleurs d'Amérique latine et des Caraïbes

History

See also

References

Bibliography