Pluralism, unity or uniqueness in labour unions? A historical digression through the political discourses around the single union law

Abstract

The current study follows a historical perspective to analyse the partisan positions and contents of the political discourses around the Single Union Law in Portugal, which was put forward in the revolutionary context that followed the 25th April 1974 revolution. It was enacted in 1975 and led to the first major dissent among the left-wing parties, namely the PS (Socialist Party), the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) and their respective allies. The identification of the most controversial discourses was done using publications on the history of labour unionism under the perspective of the CGTP – General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (report entitled “Contributions towards the history of labour and trade union movement. From its roots to 1977” – Silva et al., 2011) and the UGT – General Workers Union (Brito & Rodrigues, 2013), the two labour union federations in Portugal. The results are discussed in the conclusion, as well as the influence of labour unionism in the current times of crisis.