The high point of militancy of Panamanian organized labor in this period was reached in 1925.

In 1924, a number of young leaders of the Federacion Obrera, who were organized in the Grupo Comunista, had broken away to establish the Sindica to General de Trabajadores (SGT). It organized several new unions, but more importantly, established the Liga de Inquilinos (Tenants' League). That organization conducted an extensive campaign to lower rents in the cities of Panama. This culminated in a general rent strike in Panama City, which was marked by considerable violence. The government of Panama thereupon asked that United States Army units from the Canal Zone intervene, which they did, establishing martial law and breaking the strike. Twenty-two people were said to have been killed and many others wounded in the process of this movement. This incident provoked severe repression of the labor movement on the part of the Panamanian government. The SGT disappeared.

A History of Organized Labor in Panama and Central America By Robert Jackson Alexander, Eldon M. Parker