Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0017/00170.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 22KB | 357 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00170}
$Pretitle{273}
$Title{Argentina
Chapter 4D.   Labor Groups}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Craig H. Robinson}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{cgt
military
government
labor
unions
political
country
group
leadership
union}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Country:     Argentina
Book:        Argentina, A Country Study
Author:      Craig H. Robinson
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1987

Chapter 4D.   Labor Groups

     The first labor organizations were mutual aid societies established along
ethnic lines by Italian and Spanish immigrants in the early 1850s. The first
formal labor union, the Buenos Aires Printers' Society (Sociedad Tipografica
Bonaerense), was established in 1857. During the 1870s and 1880s a number of
anarchists and socialists came to the country from Europe and soon formed a
number of labor organizations that expressed a wide-often competing-variety of
ideological currents (see The Road to Popular Democracy, ch. 1).

     The Argentine Regional Federation of Workers (Federacion Obrera Regional
Argentina-FORA) was formed in 1890 by socialists but was taken over by
anarchists in 1901. The revolutionary socialists then founded the General
Workers' Union (Union General de Trabajadores-UGT), while the reform
socialists formed the Argentine Workers' Confederation (Confederacion Obrera
Argentina-COA). The Argentine Syndicalist Union (Union Sindical Argentina-USA)
was founded by syndicalists in 1905. In 1909 the UGT was subsumed in a new
socialist organization, the Regional Confederation of Argentine Workers
(Confederacion Obrera Regional Argentina-CORA).

     The anarchist FORA was the major federation during this early period, but
after 1910, largely owing to government repression, the anarchists lost
the labor movement to the syndicalists. At its ninth congress in 1915, FORA
split into two factions, reflecting the division between anarchists and
syndicalists. One faction renounced anarchism and joined with CORA to form
FORA-IX, taking its name from FORA's ninth congress. The other faction,
remaining loyal to the anarchist resolutions of FORA's fifth congress, called
itself FORA-V.

     The syndicalists remained in control of the labor movement until the
mid-1930s. In 1930 the USA and COA merged to form the General Confederation of
Labor (Conferacion General de Trabajo-CGT). In 1935 socialists and
communists took over the CGT, and many of the syndicalist leaders
reconstituted the USA. Few unions joined them, however. After 1935 the
socialists and the communists competed for control of the CGT, leading to its
bifurcation in 1942. The socialist CGT, known as CGT No. 1, sought to use the
Socialist Party as the political vehicle for the CGT. The communist CGT, known
as CGT No. 2, however, preferred to form an independent party to represent the
unions. After the 1943 military coup, the CGT No. 2 was dissolved by
government decree and its leadership arrested. In 1945 the unions that had
been affiliated with it were reincorporated under government auspices into CGT
No. 1, which reverted to its original name, the CGT.

     Under Peron's sponsorship, first from his position as secretary of labor
and social welfare from 1943 to 1945 and then as president from 1946 to 1955,
the socialists and the communists were largely eliminated from the CGT
leadership, and the CGT became the only officially recognized labor
confederation. Under the 1945 Law of Professional Associations, government
recognition was required for a union to have the right to bargain
collectively, to strike, or to appeal to a labor court. In addition, the law
recognized only one union per industry and one national labor confederation.
Union membership was greatly expanded, from 529,000 in 1945 to over 2.2
million in 1954, and wages, fringe benefits, and working conditions improved
appreciably. As a result, the CGT became a principal support base for Peronism
(see National Revolution, 1943-46; Argentina under Peron, 1946-55, ch. 1).

     After Peron's fall in 1955, the military intervened in the CGT and its
constituent unions, replacing Peronist leaders with military officers. When
internal union elections were held in 1956, a number of tendencies emerged
that became known by the number of union elections they won. The 62
Organizations, which included most of the blue-collar unions, was led by the
Peronists; the Group of 19 was led by communists; and the 32 Democratic
Unions, made up mostly of white-collar unions, was led by noncommunist but
anti-Peronist social democrats and Radicals. In 1960 the Group of 19, which by
then had been reduced to only six small unions, reconstituted itself as the
Movement of Labor Unity and Coordination (Movimiento de Unidad y Coordinacion
Sindical-MUCS). That same year most of the constituent unions of the 32
Democratic Unions joined a newly formed sector known as the Independents.

     The CGT was reconstituted in 1963 with the Commission of 20 (equally
divided between representatives of the 62 Organizations and the Independents)
as its leadership. Neither the MUCS nor what remained of the 32 Democratic
Unions was represented. The leadership of the 62 assumed effective control of
the CGT but soon became divided over the position that the Peronist unions
should adopt toward the government. An orthodox faction, led by Jose Alonso,
violently opposed the Frondizi, Jose M. Guido, and Illia administrations and
demanded the immediate return of Peron from exile. A participationist faction,
led by Augusto Vandor, favored negotiation with the government while publicly
maintaining loyalty to Peron.

     In 1964 the CGT, under Alonso's leadership, launched a series of violent
strikes designed to force Peron's return. As a result, the Independents
withdrew from the CGT. Two years later Vandor gained control of the CGT, and
the orthodox faction withdrew. Later, in 1966, both the Independents and the
orthodox faction returned to the CGT, but the organization remained under the
control of the participationists. At the time of the 1966 coup, roughly 70
percent of the organized labor force belonged to the Peronist unions. Some 15
percent of these were nonaligned, and most of the rest were evenly divided
between Vandor's 62 and Alonso's orthodox factions. The MUCS had three or four
small unions with perhaps 2 percent of the CGT membership. The remaining
members were Independents.

     The CGT split again after the 1966 coup. The participationist CGT-now
named the CGT-Azopardo after the street on which its headquarters was located,
though still led by Vandor-favored at least some cooperation with the
government. The oppositionist CGT reconstituted itself in 1968 as the CGT of
the Argentines (also now named the CGT-Paseo Colon after the street on which
its headquarters was located) under the leadership of Raimundo Ongaro. The
Ongania government recognized the CGT-Azopardo and appointed government
officials to run the CGT of the Argentines, although it continued to operate
independently. In May 1969, rioting, largely organized by members of the CGT
of the Argentines, broke out in Cordoba and soon spread to other cities. The
conflict within the labor movement became increasingly violent. Vandor was
murdered in June 1969, and Ongania quickly replaced the leadership of the
entire CGT. The violence continued, however, leading to Ongaro's murder in
1970.

     The CGT again reunited following the inauguration of Peron in 1973. After
a short honeymoon between the CGT and Peron, strikes broke out again. In
September more murders among the CGT leadership caused a general strike,
government repression, and open warfare between the Peronist right and left.

     After the 1976 coup the leader of the CGT and the major unions were
arrested, and new officials were appointed by the government. Many union
leaders "disappeared" in the repression that followed the coup. However, most
unions reorganized under new leadership. By 1978 three major groups had
emerged within the labor movement: the National