Nicolás Redondo Urbieta, historic union leader, dies

Euskaraz irakurri: Nicolas Redondo Urbieta buruzagi sindikal historikoa hil da

The former general secretary of the UGT, Nicolas Redondo Urbietahas died in Madrid at the age of 95, as reported by the union tonight.

In the statement, the UGT regrets his death and recalls his “intense fight for the rights of working people, the improvement of employment and equality in Spanish society.” The union will open the burning chapel at the UGT headquarters in Madrid at 2:00 p.m.

Nicolás Redondo was born in Barakaldo (Bizkaia) in 1927. Motherless, Redondo received political and class consciousness from his father. Nicolás Redondo Blanco was a worker at Altos Hornos, a member of the Socialist Party and a member of the UGT; He was tried and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to 30 years in prison, of which he served 6 in the Puerto de Santa María prison (Cádiz).

At just 10 years old, Redondo Urbieta was evacuated with other Basque children on the ship Havana and taken to Bordeaux (France), where he was picked up by a mining family of Spanish origin, with whom he lived until 1940 when he returned to the Basque Country at the end of the Civil War. Two years later, he began working at the Navy de Sestao and soon after, in 1945, he joined the UGT and the PSOE.

Redondo was, according to the UGT, “an essential figure of unionism in Spain, during the Franco dictatorship, the transition and in democracy.” During the dictatorship, he was arrested and imprisoned 14 times for his political and union activities.

On April 18, 1976, he was elected general secretary UGTa position he held until 1994, when he handed over the baton to Cándido Méndez.

As general secretary of the UGT, he signed several agreements with the employers’ association and with the successive governments of the democracy. The most important have been the Moncloa pacts (October 1977), the National Employment Agreement (June 9, 1981) or the Economic and Social Agreement (October 9, 1984).

Father of the former leader of the PSE-EE, Nicolás Redondo Terreros, Redondo Urbieta was one of the leading figures of Basque socialism at that time and was key to the XXVI Congress of the PSOE, held in Suresnes (France), in 1974, which promoted a young Felipe González to the General Secretariat. He was also a PSOE deputy for Bizkaia in 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1986, in 1987 he resigned from his seat after voting against the 1988 budget.

The Redondo UGT’s relations with the government of Felipe González deteriorated in the 1980s. In 1986 it had clearly demonstrated its position against Spain’s entry into NATO. The opposition of the UGT to the economic policy of the socialist government reached its peak with the general strike of December 14, 1988, convened by UGT and Workers Commissions. From then on, the gap opened in 1987 between the UGT and PSOE widened.

In 1994, Nicolás Redondo left the UGT Secretariat and withdrew from public life.

Known the death, there have been successive messages of condolence and remembrance around the historic union leader.

burning chapel

The burning chapel for Redondo will be installed from 2:00 p.m. in the assembly hall of the building located at number 25 Avenida de América. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will attend this afternoon around 5:40 p.m.

Redondo’s burial will be tomorrow, January 5, at the Almudena Civil Cemetery, and is scheduled for around 12:30 p.m. The funeral procession will leave around 12:00 pm from the UGT headquarters to the cemetery.