The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC; ; ; ) is the world's largest

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

federation.

History

The federation was formed on 1 November 2006 out of the merger of the

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 whe ...

(ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). The Founding Congress of the ITUC was held in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and was preceded by the dissolution congresses of both the ICFTU and the WCL. The ITUC has three main regional organizations: the Asia-Pacific Regional Organization, the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, and the African Regional Organisation. The Trade Union Development Cooperation Network (TUDCN) is an initiative of the ITUC whose main objective is to bring the trade union perspective into international development policy debates and improve the coordination and effectiveness of trade union development cooperation activities. The ITUC represents 207 million workers through its 331 affiliated organizations within 163 countries and territories. Luc Triangle is the current acting General Secretary. The ITUC traces its origins back to the

First International The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist ...

(also known as the International Workingmen's Association) and in 2014 commemorated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the International Working Men's Association at its own world congress held in Berlin. Also in 2014, the ITUC debuted the Global Rights Index, which ranks nations on 97 metrics pertaining to

workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, ...

, such as freedom from violent conditions and the right to strike and unionize. According to the 2020 update of the Index, there has been a significant increase in violations of workers' rights around the world.

Inaugural congress 2006

The founding congress of the ITUC was held from 1 to 3 November 2006 in Vienna, Austria. The first day of the congress saw the formal creation of the ITUC followed by an address by Juan Somavía, the Director-General of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

(ILO). Day two included Pascal Lamy, the

Director-General of the World Trade Organization The director-general of the World Trade Organization is the officer of the World Trade Organization (WTO) responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative operations. Since the World Trade Organization's decisions are ...

(WTO) responding to panel discussions on the impact of

globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

, including the topics "Cohesion and chaos - the global institutions" and "Global unions - global companies". Technical difficulties limited Lamy's satellite video link participation. Leadership and officers were elected on the final day of the congress. Guy Ryder, the former general secretary of the ICFTU, was elected to the same position in the new organisation. Sharan Burrow was elected president. A Governing Council was established, with 70 elected members, and 8 additional seats reserved for youth and women's representatives. A council of Global Unions was also formed on the final day of the congress. It was established jointly with ten

global union federation A global union federation (GUF) is an international List of federations of trade unions, federation of national trade unions organizing in specific industry sectors or occupational groups. Historically, such federations in the social democratic t ...

s and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).

Second congress 2010

The second congress of the ITUC was held from 21 to 25 June 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. On 25 June 2010, at the conclusion of the congress, Sharan Burrow (then ITUC President) was elected General Secretary, succeeding Guy Ryder (who had been elected as Deputy Director General of the

). In anticipation of her election, Burrow had resigned from her position as President of the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...

effective 1 July 2010. Speaking to the Congress after her election, Burrow paid tribute to her predecessor and emphasized the continuing role of organized labour in the world's emergence from the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. She also made special mention of the significance of her election as the first female leader of the world's largest trade union (against a background of high workforce participation by women and a Congress 50 per cent of whose delegates were women):

I am a warrior for woman and we still have work to ensure the inclusion of women in the work place and in our unions. The struggles for women are multiple – too often within their families for independence, then in the workplace for rights and equal opportunity, in their unions for access and representation and then as union leaders. But the investment in and participation of women is not only a moral mandate it is an investment in democracy and a bulwark against fundamentalism and oppression. Organising woman is and must continue to be a priority for the ITUC.

Organisation

The Pan-European Regional Council (PERC), a European trade union organisation within the ITUC was formed 19 March 2007. It consists of 87 national trade union centres and a total membership of 87 million. It works closely with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The ITUC raises capital through charging dues to its member organisations.

Leadership

General Secretaries

:2006: Guy Ryder :2010: Sharan Burrow :2022: Luca Visentini :2023: Luc Triangle

Presidents

:2006: Sharan Burrow :2010: Michael Sommer :2014: João Antonio Felicio :2018: Ayuba Wabba :2022: Akiko Gono

Affiliated Organisations

As of 2024 the ITUC has 339 affiliated organisations.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Fabio Bertini (2011), ''Gilliatt e la piovra. Il sindacalismo internazionale dalle origini ad oggi (1776-2006)'', Roma, Aracne * Ed Mustill (2013), ''The Global Labour Movement: An Introduction'', a short guide to the global union federations, the ITUC, and other international bodies

External links

* *
ITUC Global Rights Index 2020
{{Authority control International organisations based in Belgium Trade unions established in 2006 2006 establishments in Austria International and regional union federations