Manuel Carvalho da Silva

Manuel Carvalho da Silva ( born November 2, 1948 in Viatodos, county Barcelos ) is a Portuguese trade unionists and sociologist.

Life

He comes from a family of small farmers. After an apprenticeship as an electrician in Braga ( completion in 1965 ), he worked as an electrician. After his military service, he had to serve from 1970 to 1972 in the Portuguese Colonial War in Cabinda, he continued working as an electrician. Since November 1973, he was at the northern Portuguese company Electromecânica Portuguesa - The group employs, and remained there until March 2011 hired. With the Carnation Revolution and the end of the Estado Novo regime in 1974 he became active in unions and was until 2011 representatives of the employees of Preh.

In 1976 he was president of the Sindicato dos Trabalhadores meeting the Indústrias Elétricas do Norte, a trade union of electronics industry in northern Portugal. After his election to the board of the Federation of Trade Unions Confederação Geral de Trabalhadores Portugueses - Intersindical Nacional ( CGTP -IN) 1977 1986, he was their coordinator, from 1999 the title was changed to general secretary. Until January 2012 Silva was general secretary of the largest trade union federation in Portugal. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation.

After graduating in sociology at ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa in 2000, with a thesis on problems in their daily work the Grundig farms in Braga and the Ave Valley, he received his doctorate at ISCTE 2007. Various sociological books and works on trade union issues appeared from him.