Spanish Syndical Organization
{{Short description|Trade union in Francoist Spain (1940–77)}}
{{Infobox union
| name = Spanish Syndical Organization
| native_name = Organización Sindical Española
| native_name_lang= Spanish
| image = Sindicato Vertical logo, early version.svg
| founded = {{Start date|1940|1|26|df=y}}
| predecessor =
| successor =
| dissolved = {{End date|1977|12|6|df=y}}
| merged =
| members = All employed citizens
| publication = {{Interlanguage link|Pueblo (periodical)|es|Pueblo (periódico)|lt=Pueblo}}
| location_country= Francoist Spain
| affiliation =
| key_people = See Leadership section
| headquarters = Casa Sindical, Madrid
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
{{Francoism sidebar}}
The Spanish Syndical Organization{{Cite journal|last=Witney|first=Fred|date=1966|title=Labor and the Spanish Syndical System|journal=Monthly Labor Review|volume=89|issue=8|pages=867–870|issn=0098-1818|jstor=41836594}}{{Cite journal|last=Foweraker|first=Joe|date=1987|title=Corporatist Strategies and the Transition to Democracy in Spain|journal=Comparative Politics|volume=20|issue=1|pages=57–72|doi=10.2307/421920|issn=0010-4159|jstor=421920}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=23dUzlVxphMC&pg=PA426|title=European Labor Unions|last1=Campbell|first1=Joan|last2=Windmuller|first2=John P.|date=1992|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313263712|language=en}} ({{langx|es|Organización Sindical Española}}; OSE), popularly known in Spain as the {{lang|es|Sindicato Vertical}} (the "Vertical Trade Union"), was the sole legal trade union for most of the Francoist dictatorship. A public-law entity created in 1940, the vertically-structured OSE was a core part of the project for frameworking the Economy and the State in Francoist Spain, following the trend of the new type of "harmonicist" and corporatist understanding of labour relations vouching for worker–employer collaboration developed in totalitarian regimes such as those of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the first half of the 20th century.{{sfn|Giménez Martínez|2015|pp=223; 232}} Up until the early 1950s, it internally worked—at least on a rhetorical basis—according to the discourse of national syndicalism.{{Cite journal|url=http://e-spacio.uned.es/fez/eserv.php?pid=bibliuned:ETFSerie5-BC7C6343-1DDF-3394-322F-267B5DE219E1&dsID=Documento.pdf|title=Auge y caída de la Organización Sindical Española|publisher=Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia|journal=Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie V, Historia Contemporánea|year=1995|volume=8|first=Álvaro|last=Soto Carmona}} Previous unions, like the anarchist CNT and the socialist UGT, were outlawed and driven underground, and joining the OSE was mandatory for all employed citizens.{{cite book |last= Barred|first= Mikel|date= 2006|title=La Democracia española: realidades y desafíos. Análisis del sistema político español.|publisher=Open University of Catalonia}} It was disbanded in 1977.
History
The OSE was founded in 1940, established in a January 1940 Law of "Syndical Unity", while its structure was developed through a December 1940 law, in which the OSE was defined as subordinated to the (single) party.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQ78AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA327|title=The Contemporary Spanish Economy: A Historical Perspective|last=Lieberman|first=Sima|date=2013-11-05|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136590351|language=en}} Its ideological fundamentals date back to the 1938 {{Interlanguage link|Fuero del Trabajo|es}} law.{{Cite journal|journal=Revista Mexicana de Historia del Derecho|volume=XXXI|year=2015|location=Mexico|publisher=UNAM|title=El sindicalismo vertical en la España franquista: principios doctrinales, estructura y desarrollo|doi=10.22201/iij.24487880e.2015.31.10213|url=https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/historia-derecho/article/view/10213/12532|page=228|first=Miguel Ángel|last=Giménez Martínez}}
OSE held its first congress February 27, 1961 – March 4, 1961. The organisation itself claimed to have roots in the trade union activity of the National-Syndicalist Workers Central (CONS), founded in 1935. CONS had been, as a result of the Unification Decree between the Falangists and the Carlists in 1937, fused with the National-Syndicalist Employers Central (CENS) into the National-Syndical Centrals (Centrales Nacional-Sindicalistas). The idea of organising workers, technicians and employers within one "vertical" structure was also integrated in OSE, and the CNS were incorporated into OSE.Organización Sindical Española, Escuela Sindical 1961. Madrid: 1961
At the very beginning of the Francoist State, wages were directly fixed by the state and only later could workers and employers agree upon their wages through this vertical union. This organisation was the practical consequence of the fascist ideal for industrial relations in a corporate state. In it, all the workers, called "producers," and their employers had the right to choose their representatives through elections.
In this organisation, workers and employers supposedly bargained equally. Strikes were forbidden and firing a worker was very expensive and difficult, as the fascism had "bettered capitalism" and had "succeeded in harmonically balancing workers' and employers' interests". In reality, candidates for these elections had to be approved by Francoist Spain and all the process was heavily controlled, as fascism had a very interventionist policy towards the labour market: full employment for men, even at the expense of low wages or inflation, almost no right to work for married women and no unemployment benefits at all.
At the very end of the Francoist State, the sindicato vertical lost its always limited power and illegal trade unions gained force. This led some pragmatic employers to deal with these illegal unions and forsake the "vertical" one. It disappeared in 1977, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
=Clandestine PCE presence=
The banned Communist Party of Spain (PCE) considered that the "union" was heavily lopsided in favour of capital but was there to stay, and decided to infiltrate it with their candidates in order to achieve practical gains for the workers' conditions. This was the basis for the communist Workers' Commissions.
Leadership
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |
| rowspan=2| {{abbr|No.|Number}}
! rowspan=2| Portrait ! rowspan=2| Name ! colspan=3| Term ! rowspan=2| Political party |
|---|
| Took office
! Left office ! Time in office |
| colspan=7| National Delegates |
| {{Officeholder table
| order2 = 1 | image = | officeholder = {{Interlanguage link|Gerardo Salvador Merino|es}} | born_year = 1910 | died_year = 1971 | term_start = 9 September 1939 | term_end = 13 September 1941 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1939|9|9|1941|9|13}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = – | image = | officeholder = {{Interlanguage link|Manuel Valdés Larrañaga|es}} | born_year = 1909 | died_year = 2001 | term_start = 13 September 1941 | term_end = 18 December 1941 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1941|9|13|1941|12|18}} | acting = y | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 2 | image = Fermín Sanz-Orrio y Sanz.jpg | officeholder = Fermín Sanz-Orrio | born_year = 1901 | died_year = 1998 | term_start = 18 December 1941 | term_end = 7 September 1951 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1941|12|18|1951|9|7}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 3 | image = (Colección Cabildo de Gran Canaria) Discurso del ministro del Movimiento José Solís en el cincuentenario del Cabildo de Gran Canaria (cropped).jpg | officeholder = José Solís Ruiz | born_year = 1913 | died_year = 1990 | term_start = 7 September 1951 | term_end = 29 October 1969 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1951|9|7|1969|10|29}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 4 | image = | officeholder = Enrique García-Ramal | officeholder_note = {{small|Cabinet-level official in the Franco VIII Government}} | born_year = 1914 | died_year = 1987 | term_start = 29 October 1969 | term_end = 11 June 1973 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1969|10|29|1973|6|11}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} |
| colspan=7| Ministers of Trade Union Relations |
| {{Officeholder table
| order2 = 1 | image = | officeholder = Enrique García-Ramal | born_year = 1914 | died_year = 1987 | term_start = 11 June 1973 | term_end = 3 January 1974 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1973|6|11|1974|1|3}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 2 | image = | officeholder = Alejandro Fernández Sordo | born_year = 1921 | died_year = 2009 | term_start = 3 January 1974 | term_end = 11 December 1975 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1974|1|3|1975|12|11}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 3 | image = (Martín Villa) Adolfo Suárez conversa con el lehendakari del Gobierno Vasco en presencia del ministro de Administración Territorial en el Palacio de Ajuria Enea - Pool Moncloa (1980-12-09) (cropped).jpeg | officeholder = Rodolfo Martín Villa | born_year = 1934 | died_year = | term_start = 11 December 1975 | term_end = 7 July 1976 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1975|12|11|1976|7|7}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 4 | image = Enrique de la Mata.jpg | officeholder = Enrique de la Mata | born_year = 1933 | died_year = 1987 | term_start = 7 July 1976 | term_end = 4 July 1977 | timeinoffice = {{Age in years and days|1976|7|7|1977|7|4}} | alt_party = Movimiento Nacional }} |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Portal|Organized labour}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1940 establishments in Spain
Category:1977 disestablishments in Spain
Category:Government of Francoist Spain
Category:National trade union centers of Spain
Category:Trade unions established in 1940