Day labourers, radical unionism and collective action in Andalusia

Abstract

This article analyses the strategies and the collective action of radical agrarian trade unions in Andalusia (the southern region of Spain) from the Political Transition until today. It traces the origins, evolution and recent transformations of the radical day labourer organisation, the Land Workers Union (Sindicato de Obreros del Campo) and the Andalusian Union of Workers (Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores). The article outlines the main factors for the survival of these organisations by using a synthetic and eclectic theoretical approach to collective action.

Keywords::

• trade unions
• social movements
• radical politics
• agrarian politics
• Andalusia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1.Brenan, El laberinto español.

^2.Hobsbawm, Rebeldes Primitivos.

^3.Bar, La CNT en los Años Rojos.

^4.Engels, Los bakuninistas en acción

^5.Kaplan, Anarchists of Andalusia; and Mintz, Anarchists of Casas Viejas.

^6.Corbin, “El anarquismo andaluz,” 80.

^7.Pérez Serrano, “Orto y ocaso de la izquierda.”

^8. Since the “Moncloa Agreements” in 1977, the two main Spanish trade unions, the CCOO and UGT, have centred on negotiating and achieving social pacts with the government and employers’ organisations. Consequently, they have left labour conflict and collective action in second place. Similarly, the Socialist and Communist Parties took part in the Transition's social pacts, accepting the new liberal monarchy and renouncing deeper social changes. Thus, a wide range of radical political organisations rose in the 1970s in opposition to the Communist Party. Today, the influence of Maoists, Trotskyites and Marxist-Leninists has declined spectacularly: some remain as small groups, others have disappeared and others have transformed into non-governmental organisations.

^9. See note 7 above.

^10. For a deeper understanding of the Spanish system of labour relations, see, for example, Prieto, “Sindicalismo”; Köhler, El movimiento sindical en España; Köhler, Los sindicatos en España frente; and Magone, Iberian Trade Unionism.

^11.Harvey, Espacios del capital.

^12.Roca and Diaz, “De la tierra a los supermercados.”

^13. See, for instance, the article “A Job and No Mortgage for All in a Spanish Town”, published by The New York Times on 25 May 2009. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/world/europe/26spain.html?pagewanted = all&_r = 1&.

^14. This sort of trade union model has been defined by the combination of workplace demands with wider social justice vindications that affect the whole community, and the building of networks with other social movements. See Hyman, “How Can Trade Unions Act”; and Martínez Lucio, “¿Todavía organizadores del descontento?”

^15. See note 12 above.

^16.Connolly and Darlington, “Radical Political Unionism in France,” 124.

^17. Ibid.

^18.Denis, “The Case of SUD-Rail.”

^19. See Ventura, Democracia y sindicalismo de Estado; and Roca, Contrapoder sindical.

^20.CIS, Barómetro de Abril.

^21. See Upchurch, Taylor, and Mathers, Crisis of Social Democratic Trade; and Upchurch and Mathers, “Neoliberal Globalisation and Trade Unionism.”

^22.Fernández Rodríguez, Rojo, and Lucio, “Radical Trade Unionism in Spain.”

^23. This paper contains the partial results of the research project HAR2012-38837 “Sindicalismo y nuevos movimientos sociales en la construcción de la democracia: España, 1976–2012,” funded by the programme National R&D Plan of the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science of Spain.

^24.Biddle, Graeber, and Shukaitis, Constituent Imagination.

^25.Olson, Logic of Collective Action.

^26.Riechman and Fernández Buey, Redes que dan libertad.

^27.Cucó, Antropología urbana, 200.

^28.McAdam, “Cultura y movimientos sociales,” 94.

^29.Tarrow, El poder en movimiento.

^30.Tarrow, El poder en movimiento; and Della Porta, “Las motivaciones individuales en las organizaciones.”

^31.Escobar, “Culture, Practice and Politics”; Melucci, “Asumir un compromiso.”

^32.Juris, Networking Futures.

^33.Castells, La era de la información.

^34.McAdam et al., Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements.

^35.Solana Ruiz, “Las clases sociales en Andalucía.”

^36.Casero and Sánchez, Nuevos surcos en viejas tierras.

^37.Martinez Foronda, La conquista de la libertad.

^38.Moyano, “El sindicalismo democrático en la agricultura española.”

^39. See Talego, Cultura jornalera, poder popular, on the role of the agrarian subsidy in SOC mobilisations and its Management in Marinaleda, a town in the south of Seville governed by the SOC leader, Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo.

^40.Pérez Serrano, “Estrategias de la izquierda radical.”

^41. The Spanish term “union elections” (elecciones sindicales) refers to elections of workforce representatives in enterprises (workers’ committees and workers’ delegates) and in the public service (staff council and workers’ delegates).

^42.Morales Ruiz, “Aproximación a la historia del Sindicato.”

^43. Ibid., 193.

^44.Ocaña, Los orígenes del SOC.

^45.Gómez Oliver, “Jornaleros andaluces, ¿una clase en extinción?”

^46.Gómez Oliver, “Jornaleros andaluces, ¿una clase en extinción?”; and Solana Ruiz, “Las clases sociales en Andalucía.”

^47. See note 35 above.

^48.Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Estadísticas de elecciones a representantes.

^49. See note 12 above.

^50. See note 35 above.

^51. Civil Governor, Gobernador Civil in Spanish, was the representative of the state in a province. After the Political Transition, this institution acquired the name of government sub-delegation.

^52.Talego, Cultura jornalera, poder popular.

^53.Gómez Oliver, “Jornaleros andaluces, ¿una clase en extinción?”; and Morales Ruiz, “Aproximación a la historia del Sindicato.”

^54. See note 33 above.

^55.Moreno, Andalucía: identidad ycultura.

^56.Letamendia, “Acción colectiva, sindicalismo, regulación.”

^57. See note 52 above.

^58. About Fermin Salvochea, see Gutiérrez Molina, Fermín Salvochea. About José Sanchez Rosas, see Gutiérrez Molina, La tiza, la tinta y la palabra.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Beltran Roca

Beltran Roca is Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sevilla (Spain). He is a member of the research group GEISA (Grupo para el Estudio de las Identidades Socioculturales en Andalucia) of the University of Sevilla. His research interests are trade unionism, third sector and collective action. He is author of the book Contrapoder sindical (FAL, 2013), co-author of El pueblo en la calle. Reconversión naval, sindicalismo y protesta popular en el astillero de Puerto Real (FCEA, 2009) and editor of Anarquismo y antropología (LaMalatesta, 2008).