The start of Intersindical under Marcelo Caetano

Abstract

Marcelo Caetano, Salazar's successor in the leadership of the Portuguese corporatist regime, has attempted, since 1968, to achieve several reforms within the fields of trade unionism and collective bargaining. Taking advantage from this opportunity, the opposition has concquered about 30 trade unions where elections had been less controlled than before. As a consequence, the atmosphere of corporative peace under which the collective bargaining took place has changed and the trade unions oriented their action to the fight against the government. Moreover, an embryonic trade union confederacy, the Intersindical, was born, grouping some of the major workers' associations (banking, commerce, metallurgy, wool industry, etc.). Formally forbidden by the government in 1971, the Intersindical managed to survive in a semi-clandestineness until the 1974 Revolution, during which it has very often played a leading part.