Marcelo Abdala re-elected in PIT-CNT with only 418 votes

On May 24, the Frente Amplio trade union center held its Congress with more than 1,000 "delegates" to elect the new authorities. That is, the next union bureaucrats.

All on union leave

As always, it was a democratic farce, where the supposed delegates are nothing more than unionists who have been receiving a monthly salary for years but do not work, since they enjoy union leave.

They are not real workers, but rather supposed representatives of wage earners who receive a salary every month but never show up at their workplace.

Although Uruguay has always had union bureaucrats who enjoy union leave, the situation worsened starting in 2006 when Tabaré Vázquez's government passed Law 17.940 on Union Jurisdiction, which made paid union leave easier, especially in the private sector.

Abdala reelected

Born in 1966, in addition to being an eternal union bureaucrat, he is an activist of the Communist Party, a political organization founded in 1920 that has always supported the most sinister dictatorships that violate human rights.

From the former Soviet Union to Cuba, the communist dictatorships of Eastern Europe, and more recently Venezuela.

Even in Uruguay in 1973, the Communist Party initially supported the institutional breakdown. Abdala was reelected as president of PIT-CNT during the XV Ordinary National Congress.

The election was held among several factions. List 1 or Unitary List, led by Abdala, received 418 votes, surpassing the Articulación list (136 votes) and the candidacy of unionist Sergio Sommaruga from private education, who received 127 votes.

He won with 418 votes

As is clearly evident, with just 418 votes, the Communist Party, through Marcelo Abdala, took control of the trade union center and, essentially, of its resources.

In a country with a wage-earning population of more than 2 million people, the communist union leader won with 418 votes.

Million-dollar income

PIT-CNT is not a poor organization. On the contrary, it receives several million dollars every month from the union dues paid by its members, both from the public and private sectors.

Like it or not, it has hundreds of thousands of members, and they all pay a fee every month. Ultimately, what the Communist Party achieved is access to the trade union center's funds, with all that this implies.

The SUNCA fraud

La Derecha Diario has already reported on the scandal and fraud that occurred in SUNCA, the construction union, where more than a million dollars were looted.

It is no coincidence that SUNCA has been led for decades by unionists from the Communist Party. The current senator of the Party, Oscar Andrade, was the undisputed leader of SUNCA for many years.

This is "union democracy" in Uruguay. With just 418 votes, an individual takes over a trade union center that brings in several million dollars every month.

With only 418 votes, he will once again be president of the Frente Amplio trade union center.

A true outrage against all Uruguayan workers and the most basic democratic practices.

Opaque finances

PIT-CNT's finances are a real mystery. Except for a handful of union bureaucrats, no one knows exactly the numbers managed by the trade union center.

In fact, PIT-CNT doesn't have legal status. That is, from a legal standpoint, it doesn't exist as an organization.

Everything is murky, opaque, dark. The numbers are not well known, it is not clear how much is collected per month, and it is also unknown how the millions that come in every month are spent.