The unions

Peron linked his destruction of a separate labour party with a similar attack on the trade unions. They had helped him greatly in his rise to the presidency but he had no wish to see them develop as an independent socialist force. He wanted them to regard him as their essential leader with total control of their organization, the General Confederation of Labour (GLF). To that end, he closed down the existing unions and replaced them with syndicates. He stressed that he did this not to weaken trade unionism but to strengthen it. He claimed that since he understood the workers, he would now be the instrument through which their hopes would be realized. It was a logical aspect of his populism and was a critical move in his assumption of power.

To hide the repressive nature of his policy, Peron emphasized the benefits that would follow from the syndicates which operated under the banner of the CGT:

•  greater freedom for workers to negotiate

•  state protection of workers against employers

•  higher wages

•  improved working conditions.

Cipriano Reyes and Luis Gay, heads respectively of the Meat-packers Union and of the Telephone Workers Union, had been enthusiastic Peron supporters but they protested against his dictatorial authority over the unions. Peron reacted angrily. He had both men arrested in 1947 and tortured on false charges of spying for the USA and issuing death threats against the President and his wife. Some union leaders in the CGT resigned in protest, but the majority chose to conform. The result was as Peron had intended: deprived of leaders willing to speak out, the CGT became a subservient department of state carrying out Peron's demands.