“Without a strike, the unions do not renew themselves.” In other words, they become obsolete if this confrontation dynamic is not carried out. According to the professor of economics at the UPV/EHU Jon Las Heras and economists Lluís Rodríguez, this is the logic with which the Basque trade unions "in contrapoder" have acted in recent years in promoting collective bargaining. And in a study published in the British Journal of Industrial Relations, it is concluded that without this key one cannot understand the progress of these unions, nor that Euskal Herria is “the leader of the European strike league”.

Economists have researched the strikes of recent decades in Araba, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia to explain the strategy and guidelines of the unions. They've also given some data, we've taken it from Berria to summarize: Between 1990 and 2017, there were an average of 366 strike days per 1,000 inhabitants. This figure is twice that of the Spanish State (188) and more than three times that of the French State (103). But the trend is the most significant. While in the rest of Europe there are fewer and fewer strikes, most major trade unions have opted for a concerted strategy, in Euskal Herria they have multiplied. Why? How do you understand it?

According to Las Heras and Rodríguez in Hego Euskal Herria, two very different groups of unions have been created, of different strategy. This has its origin in the relocation of ALS in 1990, mainly due to their reflections on the impact of labor conflicts in collective bargaining, as well as factors related to sovereignty and financing. Thus, a block of trade unions has been created in “counter-apoder”, in collaboration with ESK, Steilas and LAB, which has also significantly increased their membership, and with the social partners.

CCOO and UGT, for their part, are closely linked to state aid and should fit into the “reformism” bloc, as Las Heras explained in Euskadi Irratia. Faced with this reality would be the counterpart unions: “They delegitimize the neoliberal process and in the end they are looking for an autonomous strategy to channel syndicalism.”

Putting labour disputes at the heart of the trade union renewal strategy has meant a substantial change in strike models. These strikes, according to the study, seek not only the mobilization of workers, but an empowerment and “deeper organization” to address with more cohesion the serious deregulation of the labour market. Rather than short-term interests, the “active” training of the workforce mobilizes workers and unions to strike.

“This more syndicalist way of committing to collective bargaining is expressed, among other things, in significantly higher membership rates, in the signing of good collective agreements or in the ability to ‘shield’ collective agreements against the latest labor reforms,” explained in the research conclusions.

The wrestler 'Spill over'

To this end, one of the fundamental tools of organization has been the resistance fund, formed by the contribution of the participants, to help the militants or workers who need it. According to Las Heras and Rodríguez in the Basque Country, there are more and more experiences demonstrating the effectiveness of this tool: “ELA has organised longer and longer strikes,” they say – such as the struggle of the workers in the residences of Bizkaia – and it has also been a spill over or “overcoming” effect that has led other unions to set up resistance boxes.

ELA created the resistance fund in 1978, LAB started the so-called Fighting Fund in 2010, while ESK has a Solidarity Fund since 2005. They have invested in own resources and in others, as forums for social dialogue that can delegitimize their discourse. This financial autonomy allows these unions greater freedom to implement a strategy of confrontation. Las Heras has highlighted in her Twitter account a fact: 32 times more than traditional/conservative unions are called on to strike.

Researchers end their work with several questions: "If the resistance box reinforces inter-union struggles, can there be a 'spill over combative' that encourages other unions to simulate the ELA counter-apoder model? Will it create closer links within the trade union blocs, especially in the counterpart bloc? Perhaps create common funds for the strike? ". One of the clear issues is that "if there are no major changes in these strategies, the subordination of the adopted paths will probably increase the gulf between the two ways of understanding syndicalism in Euskal Herria".