One body, Three Heads. CGT Córdoba, the Profile of its Leaders and their Collective Identity at the Time of its Formation (2004-2005)

Abstract

In 2004 the trade union space in Córdoba showed a division that resulted in the formation of the CGT Chacabuco and the CGT Córdoba. This paper examines the formation of the CGT Córdoba and investigates the meeting points that favored the organization's constitution. We examine the trajectories of its three leaders. The objective of the research is to understand the way in which a group of leaders interpreted and oriented the political union participation in Córdoba in the first decade of the 21st century. As a hypothesis, we argue that the unity and collective identity of the organization was based on two consensuses, one associated with the idea of autonomy from political power, and the other with a vision of the world in which the unions should regain a leading role in society. Here we work on local specificities, articulating the social history of labor with a procedure based on the biographical method. We reconstructed the profiles of the CGT Córdoba leaders based on testimonies of the actors involved and their expressions in the media. We also contrasted their interpretation of reality with the arguments of two documents produced by the CGT Córdoba in its first months of life.