International Union of Hatters

The International Union of Hatters was a global union federation of trade unions representing people involved in making hats.

History

The various unions of hatters across Europe had long collaborated on support for workers moving between countries, and in 1878 representatives of the unions in Denmark, Germany and Italy all met at an exhibition in Paris to discuss the possibility of forming an international organisation. No such federation was created, but further meetings were held in Paris in 1889, Zurich in 1893, and London in 1896.[1]

The International Federation of Hatters was established in 1900, initially based in Paris. Its headquarters moved to Altenburg in 1906, Monza in 1921, and back to Paris in the early 1930s.[1][2]

One of the smaller global union federations, by 1925, it had 13 affiliates with a total of 57,077 members.[1] By 1936, it had affiliates in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.[2] It appears to have dissolved at the start of World War II. After the war, the hatters' unions were admitted to the International Shoe and Leather Workers' Federation.[3]

Affiliates

The following unions were affiliated as of 1922:[4]

UnionCountryAffiliated membership
Union of Hat Workers of AustriaAustria5,167
Brazil ?
Bulgaria ?
Czechoslovakia2,134
Danish Hatters' and Furriers' UnionDenmark1,309
Hatters' FederationFrance4,200
German Hat Workers' UnionGermany29,143
Hungary390
Italian Federation of Hat WorkersItaly8,470
Norway9
Poland1,126
Swedish Hat and Fur Workers' UnionSweden449
Swiss Hat and Cap Makers' UnionSwitzerland152
Felt Hatters' and Trimmers' Unions of Great BritainUnited Kingdom3,900
Yugoslavia120

General Secretaries
1900: Joseph Espanet[1]
1906: Alfred Metzschke[1]
1921: Ettore Reina[1]
1929: Position abolished[2]

References
  1. Sassenbach, Johannes (1926). Twenty-five years of international trade unionism. Amsterdam: International Federation of Trade Unions. p. 103–104.
  2. Repertoire des organisations internationales. Geneva: League of Nations. 1936. p. 257.
  3. Rütters, Peter (2001). International Trade Union Organisations (PDF). Bonn: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. p. 18. ISBN 3898920453. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  4. The American Labor Yearbook. New York: Rand School of Social Science. 1924. p. 263.
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