Our Story
Who We Are
STPT is a union that defends workers since 1920 and focuses all its knowledge, expertise and skills only on PT Group workers.
A little history…
Professional associations in Portuguese telecommunications are almost as old as the electric telegraph itself, which has been in public use in Portugal since 1857. Even before the formal establishment of associations, several newspapers served as unifying bodies for the profession, focusing on technical and professional topics. The Revista Telegráfica appeared in 1866 and the Gazeta dos Telégrafos in 1878. In the postal sector, a Postmen's Association was created in November 1867. In 1833, two periodicals, O Correio Eléctrico (Évora) and Correios e Telégrafos (Coimbra), established themselves as organs of the telegraph-postal corporation, and the following year, another Correios e Telégrafos was launched in Lisbon as a body for the telegraph-postal profession.
After the establishment of the Republic, although workers in this sector fought very important battles, in their union organization, despite several attempts at unification, the division into two class associations prevailed: that of Minor Employees and that of Major Personnel [1].
After the military coup by Gomes da Costa and, above all, with the institutionalization of Salazarist corporatism, CTT workers [2] were deprived of the right to union association.
At the Telephone Company
From spontaneous movements to membership in the Metalworkers Union
In these services, operated since 1882 in Lisbon and Porto, the first 28 years left no trace of any associative organization. The first collective labor struggle at the APT [3] occurred immediately after the establishment of the Republic: a two-day strike at the end of November 1910 led to the achievement of wage increases and reduced working hours.
In the subsequent period, the internal repercussions of the Great War and the galloping increase in the cost of living became unbearable and caused labor struggles in all sectors.
In January 1918, during the early stages of Sidónio Pais' regime, a five-day strike at the APT achieved some economic recovery for its workers, who, for the first time, approved the idea of organizing into a professional association. However, in practice, and for some time, it was the Single Metalworkers' Union that a large portion of the company's employees joined, influenced by their more radical colleagues, the machine mechanics.
Thus, at the beginning of 1920 (from January 14 to March 22), under the guidance of the Metalworkers' Union, the biggest strike of all time at the APT took place – in Lisbon and Porto.
From the founding of the Association to the end of the Republic
In the aftermath of the 1920 strike, the trend in favor of an autonomous association was rekindled and, on May 6 of the same year, in one of the rooms of the North station [the Central Station on Rua Andrade Corvo], the first General Assembly of the Single Class Association of Employees of The Anglo Portuguese Telephone Co. Ltda. was held. [4]
The government, however, does not approve that it simultaneously covers Lisbon and Porto, the only reason being that two organizations [5] must be created which, in fact, will generally work in good harmony.
In the final period of the Republic, in November 1924, APT workers went on strike against layoffs, social repression, and the harsh economic situation they faced. This struggle ended in defeat, symptomatic of the characteristics of the times that were approaching with May 28 (1926).
From the National Dictatorship to the New Corporate State
The Association (Lisbon), bled dry by the dismissal of its main leaders, its coffers emptied by the obligations of necessary solidarity, went through the years of the National Dictatorship that had been established (May 28, 1926) with great difficulty.
Even so, in response to the wave of layoffs at the APT in 1931, the Association was still revived, even managing to establish itself, for the first time, in its own headquarters, at the end of 1932. These were its last months of life, until the application of corporate laws that obliged class associations to transform themselves into National Unions or disappear [6].
In the final meetings of this Association, which, like its peers, had to make a choice in the face of that ultimatum, the majority of members (December 1933) approved the proposal to transform itself into a recreational association, an attempt to simultaneously escape the corporate constraint and safeguard the class's associative structure. The civil governor's refusal, however, led a minority, in the third meeting (March 1934), to approve the new regime. From then on, the majority of APT workers and a large number of workers from other companies were covered by the National Unions – of Telephone Operators of the Porto District, and Related Trades of the Lisbon District [7].
Trade union activity under the Estado Novo
First phase: 1934 – 1945
Until 1974, given that CTT workers could not join unions, there was only a third union in Telecommunications, in addition to those just mentioned: the National Union of Radiotelegraphists, Telegraphists and Related Trades [8], a professional sector that, at the time of the Republic, had been organized into the League of Portuguese Radiotelegraphists.
The Telephone Operators' Unions are experiencing a first phase dominated by two major concerns of APT workers: the need for a Pension Fund, already expressed in the latest trade associations, and the right of telephone operators to marry, without this – as was the Company's norm – implying dismissal.
The second of these demands was achieved in October 1940, with the decisive support of the Portuguese League of Social Prophylaxis, in Porto, which in this sense triggered a movement of public opinion throughout the country.
In November 1942, during the first major strike outbreak during the Salazar regime, workers at the APT in Lisbon also went on strike, which led to a military requisition decree and the police occupation of the facilities, with several workers being trampled.
The reasons for this struggle are salary improvements and integration into new Staff Structures, problems that had been dragging on for a long time and had already led, in November 1941, to the resignation of the union's leadership and since then an Administrative Committee had been in place, appointed with great difficulty.
In the wake of this process, the government ended up satisfying another demand that was known to be present, although not explicitly formulated, in the 1942 strike: the creation of the Telephone Company Personnel Pension Fund, which took place on November 27, 1943.
Second phase: 1945 – 1974
Trade union activity from the post-war period until the end of the Estado Novo was, in essence, dominated by the problem of collective bargaining, in its financial aspects, but also, with increasing acuity, in those related to disciplinary regulation, and admissions and competitions, in a professional sector increasingly confronted with technological innovations.
The first ACT of the APT [9], signed on April 9, 1945, was followed by those of December 1952 and March 1963. This last process was concluded at the cost of several massive protest demonstrations, notably the invasion of the courtyard of the Andrade Corvo buildings, in January 1963.
In January 1968, due to the termination of the contract with the English company, the company where the Telephone Operators' unions had the majority of members became TLP – Telefones de Lisboa e Porto [10].
April 25th and trade unionism in telecommunications
The union split at CTT
On June 17, 1974, following the first major assembly on May 5 (where a Pro-Union Committee was elected), CTT workers launched a strike that would have one of the greatest political impacts in the initial phase of the new regime.
During this process, however, differences emerged that would prevent the establishment of a single union structure within the company, giving rise to the creation of a second union, not based on hierarchical groups, as had been the case with trade associations during the Republic, but this time limited to one of CTT's two main areas of activity. Thus, on September 29, 1975, the governing bodies of the Postal and Telecommunications Workers' Union (the current SNTCT) were elected, and on December 16, a similar process was formalized for the CTT Telecommunications Sector Workers' Union (SINTEL).
The split would have had underlying political reasons, as was the influence of the trade unionists from the precursor organizations of the UDP [11] in the Pro-Union Committee, and of the trade unionists from the PCP [12] in the Company's Telecommunications.
It is worth noting, however, that the National Union of Radiotelegraphists, after April 25th, became the Union of Telecommunications Workers (1975) until adopting (1984) the current name of STT, with an expansion of scope to Audiovisual Communications.
The democratic and reformist trade union lines
On 28-29 October 1978, giving shape to a confederal alternative to the CGTP-IN [13], the constituent assembly of the UGT [14] was held in Lisbon, within which, in 1981, SINDETEL originated, later called SINDETELCO – National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers.
A final union – with a scope parallel to that of Sindetelco – joined the existing organizations in the sector in 1989: SICOMP – Communications Union of Portugal, as a result of a split in the TSDs [15] in relation to the majority linked to the PS [16], dominant in the UGT union.
Trade union organization between TLP and Portugal Telecom
In the TLP, the corporate union of Telephone Operators of the Porto District officially changed its statutes in 1975, constituting the STN – Union of Telephone Operators of the North.
In Lisbon, there was a first statutory change in 1975, followed by another in 1978 [17] and, ten years later, the extension of scope to the entire area of TLP operation, under the name of the Lisbon and Porto Telephone Workers' Union (STTLP) [18].
Some troubled processes, however, marked union life in the TLP:
A first strike in 1975 sparked fierce political controversies and included episodes such as the military occupation of the exchanges. The management of the Lisbon Telephone Operators acted, for some time, as the spokesperson for the MRPP union line [19].
Already under the management linked to the CGTP, elected in 1977, a new strike broke out in February 1979, which was harshly repressed with civil requisition, and several suspensions and dismissals.
The leadership elected in 1981, initially linked to the PCTP, broke with that party shortly afterwards and became a champion of independence in the face of the trade unions, distancing itself equally from the CT [20] and other unions in the sector.
In 1992, the STTLP was led by a leadership that, politically, included trade unionists from the PS, PCP, UDP and independents. The majority union of the TLPs began to have normal relations with the two centrals and with all the unions and other ORTs [21].
However, the disagreements that arose during the mandate of that coalition, particularly regarding the strategy regarding the creation of Portugal Telecom [22] led to the presentation of separate candidacies in the 1995 elections. The list representing the majority of the outgoing management won [23].
Conclusion: the STPT in the History of Telecommunications Trade Unions
The STPT is one of the oldest trade union organizations present in the Portugal Telecom Group, given the organic continuity and moral identification maintained with the mass of its members, throughout three very different phases from a political-social point of view: the demo-liberal Republic of 1910, the corporate Estado Novo of Salazar and Caetano, and the post-25th April parliamentary Democracy.
On the other hand, throughout three political regimes, and even, it should be noted, during two turbulent transitions – 1926-1933 and 1974-1976 – the trade union organizations whose legacy the STPT is the custodian of, managed, despite the divergences manifested within them, to safeguard the structural unity and functional conditions so that, in general, the expressed will of the members prevailed, translated into the existence of democratically elected management bodies, albeit representative of very diverse tendencies.
This socio-professional tradition resulted in a legacy of union democracy, with negative moments, it is true, but which, despite everything, never led to a split, whether under the pretext of political-party tendencies, professional hierarchies or corporate sectorizations.
NOTES:
[1] They published, respectively, O Eco Telégrafo-Postal, since 1914 and O Telégrafo-Postal, since 1920.
[2] Post, Telegraph and Telephone.
The Anglo-Portuguese Telephone Co., Ltd. which, in 1887, succeeded the initial concessionaire, The Edison Gower-Bell Telephone Co. of Europe, Ltd..
[4] See Book of Minutes of the General Assembly (1920-1923), Minutes No. 1, 6 MAY 1920 [STPT Archive].
[5] Permits of August 28, 1992 (Lisbon) and November 6, 1923 (Porto).
[6] Decree-Law No. 23050 of September 23, 1933.
[7] Permits, respectively, of April 16 and May 18, 1934.
[8] Permit of January 10, 1934, covering the district of Lisbon, extended to the national level on July 27. On April 14, 1956, it became the National Union of Telecommunications and Broadcasting Professionals.
[9] Collective Labor Agreement. Previously, the Labor Regime was in force, a government determination of September 14, 1935, with amendments in 1939 and 1941.
[10] See DL nº 48007, of October 26, 1967 (Official Gazette, l s., nº 250, of October 26, 1967).
[11] Popular Democratic Union, formed on December 16, 1974 by the merger of four organizations: ORPC(M-L), CR(M-L), CAR(M-L) and URML.
[12] Portuguese Communist Party.
[13] General Confederation of Portuguese Workers – National Intersindical, recognized by DL No. 215-A/75, of April 30, as the [sole] general confederation of Portuguese trade unions, had lost this status with the revocation of that diploma by DL No. 773/76, of October 27.
[14] General Workers' Union.
[15] Social Democratic Workers (formerly TESIRESD-Social Democratic Reformist Trade Union Tendency).
[16] Socialist Party.
[17] Published, respectively, in the Official Gazette of the Union, 3rd s., No. 200, 2nd suppl., of August 30, 1975, and in the Labor and Employment Bulletin, 1st s., No. 28, of July 29, 1978.
[18] Publ. in BTE, 3rd s., No. 14, of July 30, 1988.
[19] Reorganizational Movement of the Proletariat Party; in December 1976, it became PCTP (Communist Party of Portuguese Workers).
[20] Workers’ Committee [of the TLP].
[21] Organizations representing workers.
[22] Company created by DL No. 122/94, of May 14, through the merger of Telecom Portugal (former CTT Telecommunications), Telefones de Lisboa e Porto (TLP) and Teledifusora de Portugal (TDP).
[23] Elections held on 27-28 April 1995, with the following result (valid votes):
General Cons. Manager Cpos. List
A (supported by PS and UDP) 1445 1422
B (supported by the PCP) 1165 1194
C (main directors 1981-91) 340 335
[24] With 1408 Yes votes, 79 No votes and 23 blank or void votes.
[Text and notes by J. C. Valente]
WORKERS UNION OF THE AlTICE GROUP IN PORTUGAL
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