Workers' Commissions

CCOO

Workers' Commissions
Comisiones Obreras
Logo
Founded	1976
Headquarters	Madrid, Spain
Location	Spain
Members	920,870 (2018) 94,971 union representatives (2018).[1]
Key people	Unai Sordo, general secretary
Affiliations	International Trade Union Confederation European Trade Union Confederation
Website	www.ccoo.es

The Workers' Commissions (

The CCOO were organized in the 1960s by the

For many historians, one of the first places where the Workers' Commissions were formed was the valley of Laciana (province of León), within the Minero Siderurgica de Ponferrada (MSP) industry. Another place that sometimes is also cited as the first is La Camocha mine (Gijón) in 1957, during a strike.^[2] The Asturian miners' strike of 1962 ("La Huelgona") was the first massive action of the union and one of the first massive popular mobilizations against Francoist Spain.

The union was heavily repressed in Spain. In 1972 all the leadership of CCOO was jailed, being judged in the infamous

Since the Fourth Congress (1987), the union's general secretary was Antonio Gutiérrez, reelected in the V Congress (1991). During his mandate CCOO distanced itself from the PCE and a preference for negotiations and the social pacts over strikes and conflictivity was promoted. This was criticized by a faction known as the Critical Sector of CCOO, supported by Marcelino Camacho and Agustin Moreno, in the sixth Congress (1996). The Critical Sector of CCOO has continued to organize the most pro-PCE sector of CCOO since then.

In the VII Congress (2000) José Maria Fidalgo was chosen as the new secretary general, being re-elected at the Eighth Congress in April 2004.^[8] In 2002 CCOO and UGT called for a general strike against a decree of the government of José María Aznar that made firings cheaper, eliminated agricultural subsidies and encouraged job insecurity, known as the decretazo. After protests the measure was withdrawn almost entirely. In this cycle CCOO reached again over one million members. CCOO also opposed the Iraq War and participated in the massive protests against it.

CCOO held its IX Confederal Congress in December 2008, with 1.2 million members and 120,000 elected delegates in the workplaces of Spain at the time. At the Ninth Congress Ignacio Fernández Toxo was elected general secretary, surpassing by 28 votes José María Fidalgo.^[9]

General Secretary

Between 1987 and 2000, the union's general secretary was

The current General Secretary is Ignacio Fernández Toxo. On September 29, 2010, the CCOO called a general strike to protest the José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero government's plans to raise the retirement age and cut spending.^[11]

Organization

CCOO is organized territorially in local, provincial, regional/nationality levels (in regional unions or in nationality confederations) and in a Spain-wide level. Equally and in a parallel way CCOO is organized at the sectoral level, from local unions in a company to the federal branch. The decision-making bodies at the federal level are the Confederal Congress, the Confederal Council and the Confederal Executive Committee.

Current affiliates

Branch federations are:

Former affiliates

Confederal Executive Committee

• Secretary of Social Protection and Public Policy: Carlos Bravo Fernández
• Secretary of Institutional Participation: Francisco Carbonero Cantador
• Secretary of Finance, Administration & Services Mary Cardeñosa Peñas
• Secretary of Trade Union Action: Mercedes Gonzalez Calvo
• Secretary of Women and Equality: Elena Blasco Martín
• Secretary of Organization: Fernando Lezcano López
• Secretary of Occupational Health: Pedro Jose Linares Rodríguez
• Secretary of Training for Trade Union Education and Labour Culture: José Luis Gonzalez
• Secretary of Communication: Empar Pablo Martínez
• Secretary of Environment and Mocility: Mariano Sanz Lubeiro
• Secretary of Membership, Services and Counseling: Francisca Goméz Sanchez
• International and Cooperation Secretariat: Cristina Faciaben Lacorte
• Social movements and networks Secretariat: Paula Guisande Boronat
• Youth and new labour realities Secretariat: Carlos Gutiérrez Calderón

Internal currents

There are 3 internal currents in CCOO:

• Confederal Majority: sector linked to the latest confederal directions. Has a clear majority in 19 organizations: Citizen Services, Industry, Health, Trade and Hospitality, Financial and Administrative Services, Education, Textile and Chemical Industries; and territorial organizations of
  Región de Murcia. In the last Congress it was divided among supporters of José María Fidalgo, prone to continuity, and Ignacio Fernández Toxo
  , supporters of understanding with the opposition currents.
• La Rioja
  .
• Confederal Alternative: a split of the Confederal Majority, headed by former secretary of organization Rodolfo Benito. They have clear majority in the Federations of Construction and Wood, Agrifood, and in the regional unions of
  Aragón, the Canary Islands and Melilla
  . They are known in the union as the rodolfos or benitos.