Lucinda Damasus asks that “principles” of the UGT be preserved

A outgoing president of the UGT, Lucinda Damaso, today recalled the role of Mário Soares and Francisco Sá Carneiro for the creation of a “plural, free and independent” trade union center and asked that these “principles and values” be preserved.

In the opening intervention of the 15th Congress of the General Workers Union (UGT), Lucinda Damaso praised that the trade union centre “was formed by two great men who, in a difficult period” of democracy who “understand that only a plural, free and independent central could be the guarantor of this same democracy”.

Referring to former prime ministers Mário Soares and Francisco Sá Carneiro, the outgoing president recalled the “principles and values” left and argued that the UGT has the “obligation to preserve these values”.

“Preserving these values (...) is honoring your memory”, he maintained.

The Social-Democrat and former vice president of the PSD, who has been president of the UGT since 2013 and is leaving, also said that the UGT “has an obligation to prepare for the future” and, despite stressing that there are “often some differences”, highlighted that among the members of the central there are also “many convergences”.

“ I'm sure, and it's something I take with me, is that the UGT will always, always, always be true to its principles and values, continuing to honor the memory of those who created it: Mario Soares and Sá Carneiro. These are our main leaders, those who still want them to be, in fact, those who lead us”, he said.

Created on October 28, 1978, in a Constitutive Assembly in which its statutes and the declaration of provisional principles were approved, the UGT would formally become a trade union central in January of the following year.

The creation of the country’s second trade union center resulted from a movement that emerged in 1976, the “Open Letter Movement”, which criticized the performance of the Interunion.

In January 1979, the first congress of the UGT was held in Porto, where Socialist Torres Couto was elected Secretary General and Social Democrat Miguel Pacheco was chosen as President.