UGT creates new local and regional structures

In February 2010, the General Workers’ Union (UGT) launched three regional congresses with the aim of creating local structures in the north of Portugal and on the Azores islands. UGT took the decision to create such structures at its national congress in March 2009. The new structures aim to enhance trade union action at these levels, by assembling the unions that are represented at local level and by offering the possibility of direct membership to individual workers.

New structure of UGT

The national congress of the General Workers’ Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT) held in March 2009 decided to create new structures at local or regional levels in Portugal. Before then, UGT included single trade unions and union federations based on occupational or branch criteria. The new UGT statutes (in Portuguese, 157Kb PDF) defined in Article 10 that UGT will be comprised of single trade unions, local or regional structures (Uniões) and federations. Article 60 sets out that UGT may create local or regional structures on mainland Portugal, and on the islands of the Azores and Madeira. A local or regional structure will comprise all of the trade unions affiliated to UGT which have their headquarters in the region or whose scope of action includes the region. The same article provides that independent unions can also be members of UGT local structures. Individual workers might also be directly affiliated to UGT’s local structures, when their respective occupation and work location are not covered by any union affiliated to UGT. Individual workers might also be directly affiliated to federations when they are not represented by the affiliated unions. Furthermore, promoting individual workers’ direct affiliation is also a concern and goal of the UGT Action Programme (in Portuguese, 244Kb PDF) approved at the 2009 congress.

Funding local structures

UGT’s new statutes provide that the definitions of the geographical scope and of the regions’ statute model are a competence of the General Council of UGT. UGT will provide an annual sum to the local structures amounting to a maximum of 10% of the contributions that it receives from the affiliated trade unions regarding the workers of the various regions. Therefore, single trade unions will not have to pay any extra contribution to the local structures.

Regional congresses to launch local structures

The establishment of the local or regional structures will be launched at regional congresses. The first of these congresses was held at Coimbra in central Portugal in October 2009, creating UGT Coimbra. However, the more significant steps towards the full implementation of the local branch were taken in February 2010. On 6 February, the congress for the creation of UGT Braga was held and, on 7 February, another congress resulted in the creation of UGT Viana do Castelo; both regional structures are located in northwestern Portugal. On 27 February, a further congress took place to create UGT Azores.

Commentary

Transversal local or regional trade union structures have been a central feature of the organisational framework of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) for many years. Therefore, they are not an innovative step in Portuguese trade unionism. Nevertheless, within UGT, their creation represents a strategy of innovation that is articulated with promoting individual workers’ direct affiliation to the union. This strategy might be considered in light of trade union restructuring to cope with the effects of the economic crisis. However, setting up a local structure might also be considered as a strategy to organise workers who are subject to increasing mobility between companies and sectors of economic activity, as well as a strategy to enhance potential partnerships at local level.

Maria da Paz Campos Lima, Dinâmia