There are unions and union leaders who monopolize the pages of right-wing newspapers. At this point, I wonder who is in charge of filtering so much negative information to the press and whether everything is being discovered now or if these things have been known, in some forums, for some time?
The truth is that unionism in Spain has hit rock bottom, being saved on rare occasions by sectoral actions that operate far from the corrupt elites.
In the Canary Islands, the union landscape, regarding the actions of the Spanish Central bodies, does not differ from the general panorama of the Spanish state. Their elites bathe in money from public funds, and corruption cases are continuously uncovered, which end up soaking many representative people from each of these organizations.
From 2011 to today, the delegations in the Canary Islands of CCOO and UGT have decreased their delegates in the archipelago by about 10 percent. Of course, I do not accept that "logic" they argue about the growth of unemployed workers, since the reflection in the Canarian Class unionism is totally inverse. In fact, the official figures from the Mediation, Arbitration, and Conciliation Service (SEMAC) affirm an increase of more than 25 percent of Intersindical Canaria in the number of union delegates, in these two years, enduring the same social crisis as the Spanish delegations of CCOO and UGT in the Canary Islands.
The current situation in the Canary Islands demands a broad commitment from our working class. And it is Intersindical Canaria who shows signs of being the reference that this archipelago Country needs. It is Intersindical Canaria who sets the pace in the streets, showing itself as a combative organization; who is visualized in solidarity campaigns; who first supports social movements; and who acts in an assembly-like manner, without waiting for the approval of Madrid, distributing command and responsibility among all affiliated people.
The figures reveal the reality scientifically. There are more and more of us in Intersindical Canaria. Perhaps because of a serious commitment to the workers of the archipelago, which is demonstrated daily, coupled with the exercise of unparalleled social responsibility among foreign organizations.
The truth is that unions are made by each of the people who compose them and that, in reality, not all unions are the same.
*Pedro González Cánovas, affiliated with Intersindical Canaria.
