General Confederation of Labor (Spain)

Not to be confused with the General Confederation of Labour in France

The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) is a federation of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions in Spain. Formed in 1979 after a split from the CNT, it has over 100,000 members and represents 2,000,000 workers across Spain (a country of 47,000,000).

History

During the Second Spanish Revolution in 1975, Spain turned itself around from a fascist dictatorship into a new liberal democracy. But during this transition, the anarchist movement (once the most powerful in the world) began to rebuild itself. The CNT quickly re-emerged, gaining hundreds of thousands of members. But tensions began to emerge over the question of whether or not to participate in state-backed union elections, which would make the union eligible for government subsidies. Combined with harassment from the police and attacks in the Spanish media, the union felt under pressure, and eventually split into two different unions. The faction in favour of government subsidies and participation in union would become the CGT.

Contact

Their website can be found here (in Spanish)