Sindicato Obrero Canario

Sindicato Obrero Canario (Canarian Workers Trade Union, abbreviated SOC) was a nationalist trade union movement in the Canary Islands.^[1][2] It was founded as an underground movement in 1976, under the leadership of the Canarian Communist Party (Provisional).^[1][3] The union was legalized in 1977.^[4]

SOC

Sindicato Obrero Canario
Founded	1976 (1976)
Dissolved	1994 (1994)
Location	Spain
Members	3,500 (1978)

History

SOC was a relatively important force in the labour movement on Gran Canaria, but less so on Tenerife.^[5] SOC came in fourth place (ahead of other nationalist forces in the fray) in the trade union elections in the Canary Islands in 1978. In total SOC managed to get 240 representatives elected (around 7.4% of the total number of delegates of the archipelago).^[1][6] It came in third place on Gran Canaria with 49 delegates. On Tenerife it won six delegates.^[7] At this point the total membership of SOC was estimated at around 3,500.^[1] In the trade union elections of 1980 SOC emerged as the fourth force on Gran Canaria, with 69 delegates.^[8]

Arcadio Díaz Tejera was a leader of SOC.^[9]

In December 1983 CC.OO. claimed to have won over some 500 members and 50 delegates from SOC to their side.^[10]

In 1994 SOC merged with other unions, forming the Intersindical Canaria.^[11]

Political positions

SOC called for, along with other Canarian organizations, a boycott of the 1978 Spanish constitutional referendum.^[12]

SOC participated in the second anniversary celebrations of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1978. At the event SOC refused to sign a joint statement of the Spanish organizations present, since the statement did not recognize the right of self-determination of the Canary Islands.^[13] In 1979 SOC co-signed an appeal sent to a conference of the Organization for African Unity in Monrovia, claiming that the Canary Islands were under 'colonial' rule.^[14]

References

1. Guinea, José Luis. Los movimientos obreros y sindicales en España de 1833 a 1978. Madrid: Ibérico Europea de Ediciones, 1978. p. 257
2. Alcántara, Manuel. Las elecciones autonómicas en España: 1980 - 1997. 1998. p. 127
3. El País. Presentación del Sindicato Obrero Canario
4. Lieberman, Sima. The Contemporary Spanish Economy: A Historical Perspective. London [etc.]: Routledge, 2006. p. 339
5. Universidad Comercial de Deusto. Boletín de estudios económicos, edition 106–108. p. 101
6. El País. Comisiones Obreras y UGT han ganado en elecciones sindicales
7. El País. La central socialista dobla en delegados a CCOO
8. El País. UGT lleva amplia ventaja en las elecciones sindicales canarias
9. El País. Algunos partidos de izquierda, los más afectados
10. El País. Polémica por la incorporación a CC OO de sindicalistas canarios
11. Intersindical Canaria. QuÉ es Intersindical Canaria Archived 2012-02-18 at the Wayback Machine
12. El Canario. El Independentismo Canario
13. El País. El Sindicato Obrero Canario planteó en el Sahara la autodeterminación de las islas
14. Pascual, Pedro. Partidos políticos y constituciones de España. Madrid: Fragua, 1986. p. 493