The General Confederation of Workers ( es, Confederación General de Trabajadores, CGT) was a union federation in Puerto Rico. The CGT was formed in March 1940 at a congress held in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

. The congress was attended by delegates from 42 unions, and it had an initial membership of 72,000. The small Puerto Rican Communist Party played a leading role in its development. One offshoot of the General Confederation of Workers is the similarly named General Confederation of Farmers. The CGT quickly surpassed the older Free Federation of Workers (FLT) as the largest union federation in Puerto Rico. It affiliated with the US

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

(CIO), and like the CIO it organized workers based on

industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...

. As the CGT grew closer politically to the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), the radical wing of the federation broke off and formed the General Confederation of Workers (Authentic).

References

{{US-trade-union-stub Political history of Puerto Rico 1940 establishments in Puerto Rico National federations of trade unions Trade unions in Puerto Rico Trade unions established in 1940