World Federation of Trade Unions

Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations. After a number of Western trade unions left it in 1949, as a result of disputes over support for the Marshall Plan, to form the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the WFTU was made up primarily of unions affiliated with or allegedly sympathetic to communist parties. In the context of the Cold War, the WFTU was often portrayed in the West as a Soviet front organization.[3] A number of those unions, including those from Yugoslavia and China, left later when their governments had ideological differences with the Soviet Union.

In 1952, the WFTU organised a speaking tour of the Caribbean for communist activists Billy Strachan and Ferdinand Smith.[4]

The WFTU declined as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and socialist governments in Eastern Europe, in particular in Europe, with many of its former constituent unions joining the ICFTU. That fall seems to have come to an end since the congress in Havana in 2005 where a new leadership was elected with Georges Mavrikos, a Greek union activist from PAME, leading member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), at its head.

In January 2006 it moved headquarters from Prague, Czech Republic to Athens, Greece and reinvigorated its activity by putting focus on organizing regional federations of unions in the Third World, by organizing campaigns against imperialism, racism, poverty, environmental degradation and exploitation of workers under capitalism and in defense of full employment, social security, health protection, and trade union rights. The WFTU devotes much of its energy to organizing conferences, issuing statements and producing educational materials and courses for trade union leaders.

In recent years, the WFTU has successfully managed to recruit several trade unions of importance in Europe, amongst which the Rail Maritime Trade Union in Great Britain, the Unione Sindicale di Base in Italy. In France, the CGT National Federation of Agri-Food and Forestry has maintained its affiliation with the WFTU. The CGT National Federation of Chemical Industries sent delegates to the last congress in Athens in 2011. In 2013, two local CGT railway workers branches have taken steps to become affiliates with the WFTU.

The different offices of the WFTU across the different continents organize regular exchanges and militant visits of trade union activists from an affiliate to another in order to further discussions, foster internationalist ties, establish an international activity of its affiliates around shared objectives and campaigns, against common adversaries.

In Africa, unions of major importance such as COSATU in South Africa have affiliated with the WFTU.

As part of its efforts to advance its international agenda, the WFTU develops working partnerships with national and industrial trade unions worldwide as well as with a number of international and regional trade union organizations including the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU), the Permanent Congress of Trade Union Unity of Latin America (CPUSTAL), and the General Confederation of Trade Unions of CIS countries.

The WFTU holds consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, the ILO, UNESCO, FAO, and other UN agencies. It maintains permanent missions in New York, Geneva, and Rome.

WFTU poster urging solidarity with the Bolivian Workers' Center

Example of National affiliates of the WFTU include:[5]

• General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea ( North Korea)
• All-Workers Militant Front ( Greece)
• Unione Sindacale di Base ( Italy)
• Bangladesh Trade Union Centre ( Bangladesh)
• Vietnam General Confederation of Labour ( Vietnam)
• Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey ( Turkey)
• National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers ( United Kingdom)
• Congress of South African Trade Unions ( South Africa)
• Bolivian Workers' Center ( Bolivia)
• Workers' Central Union of Cuba ( Cuba)
• General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW) ( Palestine)
• Confederación General de Trabajadores del Perú ( Peru)
• General Federation of Trade Unions ( Syria)
• All India Trade Union Congress ( India)
• Centre of Indian Trade Unions ( India)
• All India Central Council of Trade Unions ( India)
• Intersindical-CSC ( Spain)
• Coordinadora Obrera Sindical ( Spain)
• Coordinadora Sindical de Clase ( Spain)
• Frente Sindical Obrero de Canarias ( Spain)
• Confederation Intersindical Galega ( Spain)
• Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak ( Spain)
• Workers' House ( Iran)
• Unidade Classista ( Brazil)
• Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras do Brasil ( Brazil)[6]
• United Trade Unions of Serbia "Sloga" ( Serbia)
• All-China Federation of Trade Unions ( China)
• Labor United Educational League (LUEL) ( USA) [7]
• Union of Trade Unions of Monaco ( Monaco)
• National Federation of Agri-Food and Forestry and National Federation of Chemical Industries from General Confederation of Labour ( France)
• Union of Trade Unions of Russia ( Russia)
• Congress of Indonesia Unions Alliance (Konfederasi KASBI). ( Indonesia)

During the late 1940s, the WFTU unsuccessfully tried to reach an agreement with already existing international trade secretariats. When the Union split in 1949 they were left without an organization at the level of specific industries, leading to the creation of the Trade Union International (TUI) system.

The TUI system has gone through a number of transformations in its over 60 years of existence. The following Trade Unions Internationals are constituted within the WFTU:[8]

• World Federation of Teachers Unions – known by its French acronym FISE, this is the earliest affiliated union, founded in 1946. It maintained a degree of independence from the WFTU not exercised by the other TUIs.[9]
• In 1949, the 2nd World Congress decided to create a series of sectoral unions, after their negotiations with already existing international trade secretariats failed. At first these were known as Trade Departments or International Federations, but they adopted the appellation "Trade Union Internationals" by the mid-1950s. The original TUIs formed in 1949 and 1950 were:[10][11][12]
• The WFTU functioned during the Cold War largely as a unitary organization, bringing together unions from the Communist bloc and Western unions.
  • Trade Union International of Agricultural and Forestry Workers (also known as the TUI of Agricultural, Forestry and Plantation Workers)
  • Trade Unions International of Building, Wood, Building Materials and Industries
  • International Union of Trade Unions of Postal, Telephone and Telegraph Workers (also known as the TUI of Postal, Telegraph, Telephone and Radio Workers)
  • Trade Union International of Chemical and Allied Workers
  • Trade Unions International of Miners
  • Trade Union International of Food, Tobacco, Hotel and Allied Industries Workers (also known as the TUI of Food, Tobacco and Catering Workers or the TUI of Food, Tobacco and Beverage Industries, and Hotel, Cafe and Restaurant Workers)
  • Trade Union International of Metal and Engineering Workers (also known as the TUI of Workers in the Metal Industry)
  • Trade Union International of Textile and Clothing Workers
  • Trade Union International of Leather, Shoe, Fur and Leather Products
  • Trade Unions International of Seamen and Dockers
  • Trade Unions International of Land and Air Transport Workers

Over time, some of these original eleven would expand their bases, change their names or merge:

• In 1953, the TUIs of Seamen and Dockers and Land and Air Transport Workers merged to form the Trade Unions International of Transport, Port and Fishery Workers. By 1985, this union had adopted its present name, Trade Unions International of Transport Workers.[13]
• In 1954 the TUI of Chemical and Allied Workers expanded its sectoral base and became the Trade Unions International of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers.[14]
• In 1955 the International Union of Trade Unions of Postal, Telephone and Telegraph Workers expanded its scope to all public employees and became the Trade Unions International of Public and Allied Employees.[15]
• In 1958 the TUIs of Leather, Shoe, Fur and Leather Products and of Textile and Clothing Workers merged to form the Trade Union International of Textile, Leather and Fur Workers Unions.[16]
• In 1983 the TUI of Miners expanded its scope and became the Trade Unions International of Miners and Energy Workers. In 1986 it became the Trade Unions International of Energy Workers before ceasing activities.[17]

Other than the initial eleven, two new TUIs were formed during the course of the Cold War:

• Trade Union International of Workers in Commerce formed in 1959[18]
• Standing Committee of Trade Unions in the Graphic Industry formed in 1961, allied with, but not formally affiliated to the WFTU.[19]

After the dissolution of the Eastern bloc, the Trade Unions International of Energy Workers and the Trade Union International of Metal and Engineering Workers temporarily suspended operations. In 1998 a conference was held in Havana which merged these two organizations and the Trade Union International of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers in a new group, Trade Union International of Energy, Metal, Chemical, Oil and Allied Industries. This organization was reorganized again as the Trade Unions International of Energy Workers in 2007. This left the metal workers an opportunity create a new TUI the next year, Trade Union International of Workers in the Mining, the Metallurgy and the Metal Industries.[17][20]

In 1997 the Trade Union International of Agroalimentary, Food, Commerce, Textile & Allied Industries was formed by the merger of the Trade Union International of Agricultural, Forestry and Plantation Workers, Trade Union International of Food, Tobacco, Hotel and Allied Industries Workers, Trade Union International of Workers in Commerce, Trade Union International of Textile, Leather and Fur Workers Unions.[20]

The Trade Union International of Workers in Tourism and Hotels[21] was founded in 2009, the Trade Union International of Banks, Insurance and Financial Unions Employees[22] in 2011 and the Trade Union International of Pensioners and Retired Persons in 2014.[23] In 2020, a new Trade Union International of Textile-Garment-Leather was founded.[24]

1945: Louis Saillant

1969: Pierre Gensous

1978: Enrique Pastorino

1982: Ibrahim Zakaria

1990: Alexander Zharikov

2005: George Mavrikos

2022: Pambis Kyritsis

1945: Walter Citrine

1946: Arthur Deakin

1949: Giuseppe Di Vittorio

1959: Agostino Novella

1961: Renato Bitossi

1969: Enrique Pastorino

1975: Sándor Gáspár

1989: Indrajit Gupta

1990: Ibrahim Zakaria

1994: Antonio Neto

2000: K. L. Mahendra

2005: Shaban Assouz

2016: Mzwandile Makwayiba

• Fabio BERTINI, Gilliatt e la piovra. Il sindacalismo internazionale dalle origini ad oggi (1776–2006), Roma, Aracne, 2011