The Free Federation of Workers was a union federation

National trade union center

A national trade union center is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a single country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. When there is more than one national center, it is often because of ideological differences—in some...

 in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

. It was founded in 1899 and initially led by Santiago Iglesias Pantín

Santiago Iglesias

Santiago Iglesias Pantín , a supporter of statehood for Puerto Rico, was the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the U.S...

. Its political arm became the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (Puerto Rico)

The Socialist Party was a political party in Puerto Rico.It was founded as the Labor Party in 1900 by Santiago Iglesias Pantín, an early leader of the Puerto Rican labor movement who was influenced by the Socialist Labor Party of America. It was formally refounded as the PS on March 21, 1915, in...

, founded in 1915.

It affiliated with the American Federation of Labor

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

 in October 1901, and it grew increasingly close to the AFL's conservative approach to unionism. This led to the creation of the rival General Confederation of Workers

General Confederation of Workers (Puerto Rico)

The General Confederation of Workers was a union federation in Puerto Rico.The CGT was formed in March 1940 at a congress held in San Juan. The congress was attended by delegates from 42 unions, and it had an initial membership of 72,000. The small Puerto Rican Communist Party played a leading...

 (CGT) in the 1930s. The FLT and CGT later merged and formed the basis of the Puerto Rico Federation of Labor.