Nicolás Redondo, former UGT leader, in a file photo. /
The one who was general secretary of the UGT for almost two decades elevated González y Guerra to the head of the PSOE to later lead in 1988 one of the most successful strikes in the history of Spain
Nicolás Redondo Urbieta marked with capital letters the history of Spanish unionism at the head of UGT, to the point of transcending it due to his role during the dictatorship, then the transition and finally the first two decades of democracy to establish himself as one of the most important characters Spain in the second half of the 20th century. Passed away this Tuesday night at the age of 96, since the beginning of the new century he preferred to occupy a discreet background, aware that his figure could still leave a long shadow over the plant that he loved so much but also that required so much vital effort.
It was in April 1994, after 18 years at the head of the General Union of Workers (UGT), when Nicolás Redondo became a simple union member. It depends on who writes the story how the veteran leader will be remembered. But then many members of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) breathed easy because the man who separated the union and the party in the socialist family was finally leaving.
Others, on the contrary, sighed with a certain nostalgia because it seemed like yesterday when, at the PSOE Congress held in Suresnes (France) in 1974, Nicolás Redondo promoted Felipe González and Alfonso Guerra as secretary and vice-secretary of the party, respectively. Three historic names that marked the history of the party and the union for decades.
Nicolás Redondo Urbieta was born on June 16, 1927 in Baracaldo (Vizcaya), into a working-class, socialist and unionist family. At the age of ten he was evacuated to France with a group of Basque children and taken in by a mining family of Spanish origin, with whom he lived until 1940. At the end of the Civil War he returned to Spain and studied elementary school for two years. in Barcelona.
Half a century of militancy.
When he was 18 years old, he joined the Socialist Youth and the General Union of Workers (UGT). He entered the labor market when he worked at the Naval de Sestao, a shipyard in which he organized several strikes, the first of which was in 1946.
Already in the 1950s he was engaged in clandestine activities of organization and Ugetista propaganda and during the dictatorship of General Franco he was arrested 14 times and even while other young socialists visited Paris in 1968, he was in exile. For two months he was sent to Las Hurdes (Cáceres) because of his manifest opposition to the dictatorship.
In the fight
During the Franco dictatorship he was arrested fourteen times, spent five months in jail and was even in exile
His last arrest took place in 1973 and then the Supreme Court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison, of which he spent five months in jail and the rest on probation. In 1975 he benefited from the amnesty for political prisoners.
Two years later he joined the Executive Commission of the UGT and the PSOE and in 1976 he assumed the position of general secretary of the union after having refused to play the highest leadership in the party in 1974. That happened at the Congress of Suresnes ( France).
In the upper image Nicolás Redondo and Felipe González, still happy, at the beginning of the 80s; below, the Puerta del Sol in Madrid during the general strike of December 14, 1988; finally, Redondo taking over as general secretary of the UGT in 1994 to Cándido Méndez. /
Since 1976, Nicolás Redondo was re-elected Secretary General at the successive UGT congresses held in 1980, 1983, 1986 and 1990. It was precisely in this last congress that he spoke publicly about his retirement, although he did not specify anything at that time, since it was a man to measure his words enough and choose the occasions precisely.
socialist confrontation
During his tenure in the UGT, there were key dates in his relationship with the leaders of the PSOE and the socialist governments since they came to power in October 1982. In fact, since the establishment of the democratic regime, Nicolás Redondo was elected deputy for Bilbao until he in 1987 he resigned.
However, the confrontation with his fellow party members began earlier. The first discrepancies arose in 1985 with the so-called Pension Reform Law. Nicolás Redondo did not agree with this regulation, which, in his opinion, reduced the perceptions of Spanish pensioners and voted against it in Parliament. This event led to the departure of José Luis Corcuera from the leadership of the union. Relations between Redondo and the man who was later Minister of the Interior never returned to repair.
True to his principles
He resigned as a Socialist deputy in 1987 because the Budgets did not include the social improvements he was asking for
In October 1987, the General Secretary of the UGT, together with the person in charge of Organization of the central, presented his resignation to President Felipe González as Socialist deputy. The reason for this decision was the General State Budget project for 1988. The UGT leader called for social improvements for which money was needed and accused the Socialist Executive of “distributing the cake badly” in times of economic prosperity.
The disagreements came to a head months later with the call for the first joint general strike between the UGT and Comisiones Obreras (CC OO). On December 14, 1988, the strike described by the Prime Minister himself, Felipe González, as a total success, took place. However, in a short period of time the PSOE once again achieved an absolute majority at the polls.
After the general strike of 14-D came May 28, 1992 and January 27, 1994. The first of these dates was a half-day strike and the second 24 hours. The interpretation of both mobilizations was different depending on the part that carried it out. In any case, everyone agreed that neither was similar to 14-D.
final errors
He had already announced his withdrawal precisely when the strike on January 27 was called. The announcement of the new strike prolonged the dilemma of the succession and of the candidate to lead the union after his departure. In the UGT there was a strong respect for its top manager, which did not prevent the majority of the delegates from considering at that time that Nicolás Redondo did not adequately plan his retirement, so that unnecessary blisters arose between them, with injuries that will take time. time to heal Finally, he was replaced by Cándido Méndez, who was in charge of the plant until he took over in 2016 from Pepe Álvarez, but that is another story.
shadows
He failed resoundingly in the attempt to promote a service provider unionism and was marked in part by the ‘PSV case’
The long period of Nicolás Redondo at the head of the UGT also had its shadows. Thus, he failed categorically in the attempt to promote a service-providing trade unionism and his then general secretary did not know how to react in time. The veteran leader later said that although he could not do much, it was a mistake to leave the development of the companies linked to the plant in the hands of incompetent people.
An example is the PSV conflict, one of the biggest scandals involving cooperative managers in Spain. The so-called Social Housing Promoter (PSV), sponsored by the UGT, suspended payments at the end of 1993 and shortly after began a long judicial ordeal for the 20,000 affected cooperative members. The union came to be declared subsidiary civil liability for an alleged fraud of more than 78 million euros, but the Supreme Court exempted it from payment in 2003. It was the real blur in the union life of Nicolás Redondo, so much so that it prevented him from taking into account his moment a true triumphal exit after years and years of dedication.