The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Union of Workers) is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE).

History

The UGT was founded 12 August 1888 by

Pablo Iglesias Posse Pablo Iglesias Posse (17 October 1850 – 9 December 1925) was a Spanish socialist and Marxist labour leader. He is regarded as the father of Spanish socialism, having founded the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1879 and the Sp ...

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the Maresme county in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, Maresme coast, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, north-east of Barcel ...

(

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

), with

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

socialism as its ideological basis, despite its statutory apolitical status. Until its nineteenth Congress in 1920, it did not consider

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

as a basic

principle A principle may relate to a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of beliefs or behavior or a chain of reasoning. They provide a guide for behavior or evaluation. A principle can make values explicit, so t ...

of trade union action. The UGT was closely associated with the PSOE. During the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

era, the UGT followed a tactical line of close relationships and unity of action with the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The (CNT; ) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist national trade union center, trade union confederation. Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union ''Solidaridad Obrera (historical union), Solidaridad Obrera'', ...

(CNT, National Labour Confederation). The UGT grew rapidly after 1917, and by 1920 had 200,000 members. This era came to a sudden end with the advent of the dictatorship of

Miguel Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, Grandee, GE (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a Spanish dictator and military officer who ruled as prime minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during the last years of the Resto ...

, who gave a legal monopoly on labor organizing to his own government-sponsored union, the Patriotic Union. While the CNT opted for a radical confrontation with the regime and were prohibited on this account, the UGT, although in disagreement with the dictatorship, adopted a collaborative attitude in order to continue to operate legally. The UGT grew from 277,011 in December 1930, to 958,451 in December 1931, to 1,041,539 in June 1932. Much of this growth occurred in its land workers' federation, the ''Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de la Tierra'' (FNTT), which grew from 36,639 in June 1930 to 392,953 in June 1932, raising the proportion of land workers in the UGT from 13 percent to 37 percent.Preston, Paul. ''The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Spanish Second Republic.'' Routledge. New York. 1994. p. 78. The influx of these workers (''jornaleros'') caused the union's radicalisation, and the bloody breakout of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

deepened the internal fissures that resulted in the departure of Largo Caballero from the position of UGT secretary general in 1937. General

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

confined the UGT to exile and clandestinity after his victory in the Spanish Civil War until his death in 1975. The Union emerged from secrecy during the democratic transition after Franco's death, as did the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Workers' Commissions The Workers' Commissions () since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members, and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), which is ...

(Comisiones Obreras, CCOO). The UGT and CCOO, between them, constitute the major avenues for workers' representation in modern Spain, with the

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) a distant third.

Objectives

The UGT declares itself to be an institution of productive workers, organized along lines of trades and liberal professions, which respects

freedom of thought Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Overview Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by developing knowledge, concepts, theo ...

, leading toward the transformation of the society, in order to establish it on the basis of

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

, equality and

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

Federations and foundations

Current affiliates

The Unión de Trabajadores por Cuenta Propia (UTCP, Union of Self-Employed Workers) is not an organism of UGT. It is a bottom-up association, formed by the farmers' union UPA and the professional and autonomous workers' union, UPTA, who united in this manner to enhance their representation inside the Union and to form a united front on factional issues where they have common interests.

Former affiliates

Leadership

General secretaries

:1899: Antonio García Quejido :1905: Vicente Barrio :1918:

Francisco Largo Caballero Francisco Largo Caballero (15 October 1869 – 23 March 1946) was a Spanish politician and trade unionist who served as the prime minister of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He was one of the historic leaders of the ...

:1938: José Rodríguez Vega :1944: Pascual Tomás :1968: Manuel Muiño Arroyo :1971: ''Joint leadership'' :1976: Nicolás Redondo :1994: Cándido Méndez :2016: Pepe Álvarez Suárez

Presidents

:1888: Antonio García Quejido :1892: Josep Comaposada :1894: Basilio Martín Rodríguez :1896: Luis Zurdo :1899: Pablo Iglesias :1925: Julián Besteiro :1934: Anastasio de Gracia :1938: Ramón González Peña :1944: Trifón Gómez :1956: Rodolfo Llopis :1971: ''Post abolished''

References

External links

UGT – Unión General de Trabajadores
– UGT website
UGT – Unión General de Trabajadores-Federación Española Trabajadores de la Enseñanza de Castilla y León
– FETE-UGT CyL website
Portal del Transporte de la Sección Sindical de UGT
* Unió General de Treballadors de Catalunya Catalan autonomous region's UGT (from Wikipedia in Catalan)
Small history of the UGT in Catalonia
Workers at the Center of Mataró and the 1888 Congress of the Barcelona.
História del sindicato
– History of the union {{DEFAULTSORT:Union General De Trabajadores Trade unions in Spain National federations of trade unions International Trade Union Confederation European Trade Union Confederation Trade unions established in 1888 Spanish Revolution of 1936 Organisations of the Spanish Civil War