International Trade Union Confederation

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

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

federation. It was formed on November 1, 2006 out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions , and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour to form the...

(ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labour

World Confederation of Labour

The World Confederation of Labour was an international labour organization founded in 1920 and based in Europe. Totalitarian governments of the 1930s repressed the federation and imprisoned many of its leaders, limiting operations until the end of World War II...

(WCL). The Founding Congress of the ITUC was held in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

and was preceded by the dissolution congresses of both the ICFTU and the WCL.

The ITUC represents 175 million workers through its 311 affiliated organisations within 155 countries and territories. Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow is the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation and a former President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions...

is the current General Secretary.

Inaugural Congress

The founding congress of the ITUC was held on 1-3 November 2006 in Vienna, Austria.

The first day of the congress saw the formal creation of the ITUC followed by an address by Juan Somavia

Juan Somavía

Juan Somavía is the current Director-General of the International Labour Organization .He was elected to serve as the ninth Director-General of the ILO by the Governing Body on 23 March 1998.-Term as Director-General:...

, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...

(ILO).

Day two included Pascal Lamy

Pascal Lamy

Pascal Lamy is the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, a French political advisor, a businessman, and a former European Commissioner for Trade...

, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization

World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...

(WTO) responding to panel discussions on the impact of globalization

Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

, 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 organization. Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow is the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation and a former President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions...

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

"The Council will enable us to mobilize global membership around political and strategic initiatives and actions in order to confront global forces that work against the interests of working people and families," − Guy Ryder.

Second Congress

The second congress of the ITUC was held on 21-25 June 2010 in Vancouver, Canada.

On 25 June 2010, at the conclusion of the congress, Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow is the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation and a former President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions...

(then ITUC President) was elected General Secretary, succeeding Guy Ryder (who had been elected as Deputy Director General of the International Labour Organisation). In anticipation of her election, Burrow had resigned from her position as President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions

Australian Council of Trade Unions

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions.-History:The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australian Council of Trade Unions"...

effective 1 July 2010.

Speaking to the Congress after her election, Burrow paid tribute to her predecessor and emphasised the continuing role of organised labour in the world's emergence from the Global Financial Crisis. 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% 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." − Sharan Burrow.

Organization

The Pan-European Regional Council

Pan-European Regional Council

The Pan-European Regional Council is a European trade union organization within the International Trade Union Confederation . It includes 87 national trade union centres with a total membership of over 85 million...

(PERC), a European trade union organization within the ITUC was formed March 19, 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

European Trade Union Confederation

The European Trade Union Confederation is a trade union organization which was established in 1973 to represent workers and their national affiliates at the European level....

(ETUC), and John Monks

John Monks

John Stephen Monks, Baron Monks is a member of the House of Lords and was the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress in the UK from 1993 until 2003, when he became the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation .-Early life:He attended Ducie Technical High School John...

is currently the general secretary of both organizations.

Inaugural Congress

Second Congress

Organization

See also