Trade Union’s Flags (Portugal)

Last modified: 2015-02-14 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: trade union | law | stal | hands | seram | sntct |
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• Overview
• CGTP-IN
• UGT
• STAL
• SFJ
• SNTCT
• SERAM

Overview

There are two major trade union confederations in Portugal:

• CGTP-IN, Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses - Intersindical Nacional (General Confederation of Portuguese Workers - National “Intersindical”)
• UGT, União Geral de Trabalhadores; General Workers Union

STAL
Local Administration Workers’ Union / Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Administração Local

The first page of the Público newspaper of 21 June 21, showed a bit of a demonstration of 15 thousand workers, assembled by the CGTP trade union confederation. There several flags are seen, but the only one that is recognizable is that of STAL.
STAL, or Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Administração Local (Union of the Workers of Local Administration), is a trade union close to the Communist Party, that joins together the emplyees of local autarchies (municipalities, communes, civilian governments, associations of municipalities, municipal corporations, etc.), which is a rather large workforce. It is also one of the most combative Portuguese trade unions, and it’s flag is a common sighting in demonstrations caused by labour conflict, usually as plastic and relatively small hand-waved flags.
The flag is interesting, vexillologically-speaking: it’s basically the logo with a white border all around, but the logo is horizontally divided, the top 4/5ths red and the bottom fifth black, with a symbol over all. The symbol consists of a drop-shaped element with some further elements inside, designed to symbolize a spike, plus two hand-shaped elements, which hold the sigla of the union in some strange irregular font.
Everything in the symbol stands for something, very in the spirit of the time it was created: 1975. According to the union’s website the drop stands for the sweat of labour, the spike stands for the bread conquered by work, the red background stands for the path towards a socialist, classless society, emerging from the blackness of our fascist past.
The spike is yellow in the symbol and in all references to it one can find in the website. However, in the flags I’ve seen, it is always black, probably as a way to increase contrast and make it visible.
Jorge Candeias, 31 Aug 2003

SFJ
/ Sindicato dos Funcionários Judiciais

The first page of the Público newspaper of 30 September 2005 came with a photo taken the day before during a demonstration organized in Lisbon by the Sindicato dos Funcionários Judiciais (SFJ - Union of Judiciary Workers). The photo displayed proeminently a white flag, with proportions probably about 5:6, charged with a symbol that looks like a merger of scales and a sword. Some letters are above the symbol, and some hand writings are below it. These aren't part of the flag, and another photo (black and white) found inside the same issue of the newspaper confirms this.
The union's website isfeaturing the symbol quite clearly. It is very dark blue with some yellow stuff in the blade and handle of the sword and a red oval inside a yellow one where the handle becomes blade. I'm not entirely sure about the colour of the union's initials above the symbol, but it seems to me that there's a difference in shade between them and the symbol, so I made the letters black.
Jorge Candeias, 18 Feb 2006

SNTCT
National Trade Union of the Mail and Telecomunications Workers / Sindicato Nacional dos Trabalhadores dos Correios e Telecomunicações

On a demonstration of trade unions connected with the portuguese trade union confederation CGTP a purplish flag with a white sigla "sntct" was presented, which corresponds to the Sindicato Nacional dos Trabalhadores dos Correios e Telecomunicações (i.e., National Trade Union of the Mail and Telecomunications Workers). This however doesn't seem to be the official flag of this union, since it has a very different symbol, and quite complex too. It can be seen in its (obsolete) webpage.
Source: photo from probably a Pública magazine
Jorge Candeias, 15 June 2005

SERAM
Trade Union of Nurses in the Autonomous Region of Madeira / Sindicato dos Enfermeiros da RAM

The union was established on 12 August 1959 in Funchal. If I understood right, it is a mere Madeirian affair. Nurse might be male or female as well. As my Portuguese isn't sufficient: further information, only in Portuguese, is available at this webpage: www.seram.pt
Flag:
It is a white flag with logo of the union in the middle having nearly total height of the flag.
Logo:
It is a white oval cotized black. Between the lines is a black inscription "SINDICATO DOS ENFERMEIROS DA RAM"(above) and "MADEIRA"(below). In the oval shifted to the top is a red cross. It is superimposed by a blue disc fimbriated yellow and superimposing a thin, yellow Greek cross. On the blue disc is a quina (white shield with black inescutcheons). Beneath the quina is yellow object, looking like Aladin's magic lantern.
Beneath the red cross is a black inscription "12 MAJO"(1st line) "DIA MUNDIAL"(2nd line) "DO ENFERMEIRO" (12 May world's nurses day)
Source: I spotted this flag in front of the bureau of SERAM in Funchal/Rua d. Sta. Maria on 23 February 2012
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 13 Mar 2012