
Saúl Edólver Ubaldini (December 29, 1936 – November 19, 2006) was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...
labor leader and parliamentarian for the
Peronist
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism.
Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...
.
Ubaldini was born in the
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...
''barrio'' of
Mataderos
Mataderos (Spanish for "slaughterhouses") is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is one of the three ''barrios'' that make up the Comuna 9, alongside Liniers and Parque Avellaneda. Located in the south-west end of the city, ...
, the son of a meat worker and a seamstress. He worked in the processing plants and became involved in the trade union. In 1969 he started work at a small yeast factory and seven years later he was elected the Secretary-General of the small union of beer-industry workers. During the Proceso dictatorship, he was elected
general secretary
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derive ...
of the
CGT, the trade union umbrella body, in 1979. In the years that followed, he led the "Brasil" fraction of the CGT, which showed a harder line against the military than its "CGT Azopardo" counterpart. He led a march of 10,000 protesters against the dictatorship in 1981, the first large protest of that period.
When democracy returned, he became leader of the CGT in 1986. From this position he launched 13
general strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coa ...
s against
Radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
* Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
's government. However, the CGT's combativeness subsided once
Peronism
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of ...
was back in power. In 1989 Ubaldini was displaced as head of the CGT by supporters of President
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. ...
. Although he had backed Menem's election campaign publicly, Ubaldini opposed Menem's free market reforms and refused to vacate the CGT building.
In 1993, Ubaldini stood to be Governor of
Buenos Aires Province, heavily defeated by the Menemist
Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentine Peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President and Governor of Buenos Aires in the 1990s.
Bor ...
. He was elected in 1997 and again in 2001 as a
national deputy for
Buenos Aires Province. In his last role he assisted the Planning Minister
Julio de Vido
Julio Miguel de Vido (born December 26, 1949) is an Argentine politician who was Minister of Planning and Public Investment between 2003 and 2015.
Biography
De Vido was born in the City of Buenos Aires in 1949. Enrolling at the University of Bu ...
. He had also been vice president of the international trade union movement
CIOSL (now known as
Trade Union Confederation of the Americas).
He died of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
, aged 69, in Buenos Aires.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ubaldini, Saul
1936 births
2006 deaths
Members of the General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
Argentine activists
Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province
Justicialist Party politicians
Argentine people of Italian descent
People from Buenos Aires
Deaths from lung cancer in Argentina
Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery