Vertical Trade Unions

the overall name of the 26 Spanish associations of trade unions organized on the corporate principle. Each trade union includes entrepreneurs, engineering-technical workers, and workers of the given branch of production. These unions are part of the National Confederation of Syndicates (founded in 1940). The activity of the vertical trade unions is directed by the trade union bureaucracy, which is closely connected with the government. The entrepreneur is the highest representative of the vertical trade union at the enterprise. Since the beginning of the 1960’s the system of vertical trade unions has been undermined by the rise of workers’ commissions, which oppose the Franco regime and during sharp labor conflicts replace the official organs of the corporate trade unions.