General Confederation of Labor (Spain)
The General Confederation of Labor (Spanish: Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT) is a Spanish trade union federation.
The CGT was a result of a split in the anarchist National Confederation of Labor (CNT). In 1979, at the first CNT congress after Spain's transition to democracy, there was a fundamental disagreement concerning union elections. Such elections allow Spanish workers to elect union delegates to factory committees every four years. Some deemed this a renewal of anarcho-syndicalism, but the more orthodox in the organization considered such elections a "government intervention in labor–capital relations". Moreover, this would involve receiving state funding.[1] The two factions split and there were two CNTs. They fought over ownership of the name CNT. In 1989, the orthodox CNT prevailed in court and the renovators took the name CGT.[2]
The CGT has since participated in union elections since 1989, receiving the fourth most votes behind CCOO, the UGT, and the CSIF. It has 100,000 members, as of 2018.[3]
References
Sources
- "La CNT renovada adopta de forma provisional las siglas CGT". El País. 1989.
- Ealham, Chris (2015). Living Anarchism: José Peirats and the Spanish Anarcho-Syndicalist Movement. Oakland/Edinburgh: AK Press.
- Pascual, Alfredo (2018). "Del 8M a Amazon: CNT y CGT resucitan a costa de los dinosaurios sindicales". El Confidencial.