Sindicato Unitario ("Unitary Trade Union", abbreviated SU) is a trade union movement in Spain. SU was tied to the Workers Revolutionary Organization (ORT), a Maoist political organization.Gunther, Richard, Giacomo Sani, and Goldie Shabad. Spain After Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System; [with a New Epilogue]. Berkeley [u.a.]: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1988. p. 203Sindicato Unitario de Catalunya. QUIENES SOMOS

Split in CC.OO. The organization emerged from a split away from Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.) trade union movement in 1976.Carr, Raymond, and Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpurúa. Spain, Dictatorship to Democracy. London: Harper Collins Academic, 1981. p. xvii ORT was part of the 'Minority Tendency' inside CC.OO.Brugos Salas, Valentín. La izquierda revolucionaria en Asturias. Los diferentes intentos de construcción de un proyecto alternativo al PCE A meeting was held on November 7, 1976 in Coslada at which opponents to the CC.OO. leadership gathered. The CC.OO. dissidents opposed the dominance of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) in CC.OO.Aracil Martí, Rafael, Antoni Segura, and Macià Alavedra i Moner. Memòria de la transició a Espanya i a Catalunya. Barcelona: Edicions Universitat de Barcelona, 2000. p. 22 However, the dissident unionists gathered in Coslada were split in two. One group went on to form CSUT. The other, led by José Miguel Ibarrola, formed SU.

Founding congress SU was founded at a clandestine congress on May 1, 1977 in Madrid. The civil government of Madrid had prohibited the group from holding the congress, citing concerns about disturbances to the 'public order'.El País. Prohibido el congreso del Sindicato Unitario Around one thousand unionists had gathered. The congress approved the name, symbol and statues of the new organization.

The organization identified itself as a class-based union, seeking to engage in class struggle.Lieberman, Sima. Labor Movements and Labor Thought: Spain, France, Germany, and the United States. New York: Praeger, 1986. pp. 95-96 SU rejected the Moncloa Pact.Fishman, Robert M. Working-Class Organization and the Return to Democracy in Spain. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990. p. 219

Ibarrola was elected general secretary of SU. Cristino Domenech was elected second secretary. Five other secretariat members were elected; Jesús San Martín, Luis Royo, Pedro Cristóbal, Paco Esteban and María del Carmen Fraile. SU had invited other unions to the closing session of the congress, but only CSUT and a French group called 'Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition' were present.El País. Constituido el Sindicato UnitarioHarper, F. John. Trade Unions of the World. Detroit: Gale Research Co, 1987. p. 373

Organization At the time of its foundation SU was estimated to have a membership of 47,000. Its strongholds were Navarre, Cantabria, Madrid, Cáceres, Badajoz, Burgos and Murcia. In June 1977, a statewide council of SU was elected.El País. Constituido el consejo estatal del Sindicato Unitario

As of 1978, the organization had 217 offices across the country.Guinea, José Luis. Los movimientos obreros y sindicales en España de 1833 a 1978. Madrid: Ibérico Europea de Ediciones, 1978. p. 219 Cristino Domenech was the first secretary of SU in Madrid. At the time, SU claimed a membership of 500,000.El País. El SU centra su campaña en la consecución de un frente sindical común

1978 trade union election In the 1978 trade union elections SU raised the slogan "Un frente común por el pan, el trabajo y la libertad" ('A common front for bread, work and freedom').El País. Las centrales ultiman sus campañas SU won 3,376 delegate seats across Spain (2.7% of the seats elected).El País. Comisiones Obreras y UGT han ganado en elecciones sindicales

SU emerged as a major force in Navarre in the polls. In Navarre, the majority that had been active in Comisiones Obreras had left to build SU.El País. Hoy comienzan las votaciones en Navarra According to the official count, SU had won 269 delegates out of a total of 2,614 (becoming the largest trade union in the fray). However a count made by Diario de Navarra presented different numbers, putting SU at 432 seats (15.23%, just behind CC.OO.).Ramírez Sábada, José Luis, and Ignacio Aranda Pérez. Democratización y amejoramiento foral: una historia de la transición en Navarra (1975-1983). [Pamplona]: Gobierno de Navarra, Departamento de Presidencia e Interior, 1999. p. 162Gran Enciclopedia Navarra. SU also obtained high numbers of delegates in Huelva province, where it won 248 delegates (23.4%).El País. UGT pasa al primer lugar en Granada

SU won the election at the conservative newspaper ABC in Madrid.El País. Amplia victoria del Sindicato Unitario en "ABC"Eaton, Samuel Dickinson. The Forces of Freedom in Spain, 1974-1979: A Personal Account. Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1981. p. 166 At the Barajas printing centre, SU won 7 out of the 13 committee seats. At the calle Serrano editorial and administrative office, SU won 7 out of 22 seats.

SU dedicated its May Day rally of 1978 to highlighting its opposition to the Moncloa Pact. According to Guardia Civil, 4,000 people took part in the SU rally in Madrid (SU itself claimed a participation of 50,000).El País. El Sindicato Unitario centró la celebración obrera en su oposición al pacto de la Moncloa

Second Congress The second congress of SU convened in Madrid on May 25, 1978. Around one thousand delegates took part in the event, which had the slogan 'Common front against the Social Pact'. The dias carried the portrait of Joaquín Macías, a SU leader from Badajoz that had died in an accident. A number of international delegations visited the congress, from Germany, France, Argentina, Italy and Portugal.El País. Comienza en Madrid el II Congeso del Sindicato UnitarioSindicato Unitario. Unidad Sindical, no. 10. June 1978 The congress approved new statues for the organization.ABC. El Sindicato Unitario aprueba nuevos estatutos

Decline The electoral failures of ORT in the 1977 general election had a negative impact on the movement. SU would never recover from this set-back. By 1979 the SU membership was estimated at 17,000.Revista de fomento social, Edition 157–160. 1985. p. 345 As ORT moved ahead towards a merger with the Party of Labour of Spain (PTE), SU and CSUT (the PTE labour wing) entered into a unification process.Berger, Suzanne. Organizing Interests in Western Europe: Pluralism, Corporatism, and the Transformation of Politics. Cambridge [Eng.]: Cambridge University Press, 1981. p. 397El País. Hacia la fusión entre CSUT y SU The process did however not proceed smoothly, as there were differences regarding the organizational structure and the national question.El País. Dificultades en la fusión SU-CSUT

The third congress SU was held in June 1980.El País. Intento minoritario del SU para integrarse en Comisiones ObrerasSindicato Unitario. Unidad Sindical, no. 25. 1980. At the congress Ibarrola discarded the possibility of a merger with CSUT. Instead the majority of the SU leadership proposed taking part in unity processes from below, such as the Confederación Sindical Galega. A minority, headed by Miguel Jesús Sánchez (provincial secretary from SU in Valladolid and member of the confederal secretariat of SU) and supported by the SU organizations in Madrid and Biscay, argued in favour of a merger with CC.OO.

SU applied for membership in the European Trade Union Confederation in 1980, but this request was denied as the organization was perceived as lacking representativity amongst workers in Spain.El País. La Confederación Europea de Sindicatos rechaza el ingreso de SU, CSUT y SOC

SU and CSUT did not launch campaigns of their own ahead of the 1980 trade union elections. Rather, they took part in building workers unity slates (especially at the level of the autonomous communities).El País. Hoy comienzan las elecciones sindicales

SU continues to exist in places like Huelva, Madrid, Cantabria and Barcelona.En Lucha. [Entrevista Sindicato Unitario] SU is active in the Barcelona Metro, having won four delegate seats in the 2006 trade union election and three seats in 2010.CGT FeTyG. LA CGT VUELVE A GANAR LAS ELECCIONES EN EL METRO DE BARCELONA

References

External links Sindicato Unitario de Andalucía Sindicato Unitario de Catalunya Sindicato Unitario de Cantabria