Sindicato Obrero Canario (Canarian Workers Trade Union, abbreviated SOC) was a nationalist trade union movement in the Canary Islands.Alcántara, Manuel. Las elecciones autonómicas en España: 1980 - 1997. 1998. p. 127 It was founded as an underground movement in 1976, under the leadership of the Canarian Communist Party (Provisional).El País. Presentación del Sindicato Obrero Canario The union was legalized in 1977.Lieberman, Sima. The Contemporary Spanish Economy: A Historical Perspective. London [etc.]: Routledge, 2006. p. 339
History
SOC was a relatively important force in the labour movement on Gran Canaria, but less so on Tenerife.Universidad Comercial de Deusto. Boletín de estudios económicos, edition 106–108. p. 101 SOC came in fourth place (ahead of other nationalist forces in the fray) in the trade union elections in the Canary Islands in 1978. In total SOC managed to get 240 representatives elected (around 7.4% of the total number of delegates of the archipelago).El País. Comisiones Obreras y UGT han ganado en elecciones sindicales It came in third place on Gran Canaria with 49 delegates. On Tenerife it won six delegates.El País. La central socialista dobla en delegados a CCOO At this point the total membership of SOC was estimated at 3,500.Guinea, José Luis. Los movimientos obreros y sindicales en España de 1833 a 1978. Madrid: Ibérico Europea de Ediciones, 1978. p. 257 In the trade union elections of 1980 SOC emerged as the fourth force on Gran Canaria, with 69 delegates.El País. UGT lleva amplia ventaja en las elecciones sindicales canarias
Arcadio Díaz Tejera was a leader of SOC.El País. Algunos partidos de izquierda, los más afectados
In December 1983 CC.OO. claimed to have won over some 500 members and 50 delegates from SOC to their side.El País. Polémica por la incorporación a CC OO de sindicalistas canarios
In 1994 SOC merged with other unions, forming the Intersindical Canaria.Intersindical Canaria. QuÉ es Intersindical Canaria
Political positions
SOC called for, along with other Canarian organizations, a boycott of the 1978 Spanish constitutional referendum.El Canario. El Independentismo Canario
SOC participated in the second anniversary celebrations of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1978. At the event SOC refused to sign a joint statement of the Spanish organizations present, since the statement did not recognize the right of self-determination of the Canary Islands.El País. El Sindicato Obrero Canario planteó en el Sahara la autodeterminación de las islas In 1979 SOC co-signed an appeal sent to a conference of the Organization of African Unity in Monrovia, claiming that the Canary Islands were under 'colonial' rule.Pascual, Pedro. Partidos políticos y constituciones de España. Madrid: Fragua, 1986. p. 493
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