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Trade unions in Argentina

Trade unions in Argentina
National trade union organization(s) CGT, CTA
International Labour Organization
Argentina is a member of the ILO
Convention ratification
Freedom of Association 18 January 1960
Right to Organise 24 September 1956

Trade unions in Argentina have traditionally played a strong role in the politics of the nation. The largest trade union association, the Confederación General del Trabajo has been a force since the 1930s, and approximately 40% of workers in the formal economy are unionized.

The Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA) was created in 1901. It split in 1915 between the FORA IX (of the Ninth Congress) and the FORA V (of the 5th Congress), the latter supporting an anarcho-syndicalist stance. In January 1919, the FORA notably called for demonstrations after police repression, during the Tragic Week, while it latter organized protests in Patagonia, which led to harsh repression by Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration (the disturbances were known as Patagonia rebelde).

Following the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the founding of the Profintern, the Argentine Syndicates' Union (USA) was created in March 1922. Although more radical than FORA IX, the USA did not join the Profintern and remained independent from any international affiliation. Meanwhile, the FORA V was in steady decline, and was dissolved shortly before the installation of José Félix Uriburu's dictatorship, which opened up the years of the Infamous Decade.

At the time of the 1930 coup, three trade unions existed in Argentina: the Confederación Obrera Argentina (COA, founded in 1926 and linked to the Socialist Party, the Unión Sindical Argentina (USA, anarcho-syndicalist) and the FORA V, dissolved by Uriburu. On 20 September 1930, the COA and the USA merged in the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), although the two rival tendencies remained. The syndicalist current, however, became discredit, supporting alliance with the government in order to reach social advances, while the socialist current proposed open opposition tied to political support to the Socialist party. The syndicalist current was in particular affected by its agreements with the pro-fascist governor of Buenos Aires, Manuel Fresco.


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