World Confederation of Labour
Encyclopedia
The World Confederation of Labour (WCL) 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
. In 2006 it became part of the International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC), ending its existence as an independent organization.
in 1920 under the name of the "International Federation of Christian Trade Unions" (IFCTU) as a confederation of trade union
s associated with the Christian Democratic
parties of Europe
. Originally catering to Roman Catholic
constituencies, the IFCTU was designed to provide an alternative to the secular trade unions in Europe at the time, basing its foundation on the Rerum Novarum
and the Quadragesimo Anno
.
The first statute
s adopted by the group proclaimed its intention to struggle not only for workers' labour rights, but also values like human dignity, democracy, and international solidarity. Petrus Serrarens became the first secretary-general of the IFCTU; Joseph Scherrer was its first president.
governments in Europe, which the IFCTU opposed. In response, German
officials of the 1930s sent the group's leaders to Nazi concentration camps
, and Benito Mussolini
banned its Italian
affiliate.
During World War II
, German forces occupying The Netherlands destroyed the organization's secretariat, and it became inactive until 1945. The federation had difficulty renewing ties with most of its affiliates in Eastern Europe
after the end of the war.
(WFTU) was founded in September 1945, it invited the IFCTU to join. Delegates to an October congress in Brussels
voted to reject the invitation, on the grounds that the WFTU's global unity was "too artificial".
The matter of affiliation with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU) is in dispute. The website of the WCL reports that it "preferred to remain independent," particularly in order to criticize both capitalist and communist abuses. However, according to the International Institute of Social History
, member unions of the ICFTU were opposed to affiliating with the Christian organization.
and Buddhist
workers in Asia and Africa. In 1959, the IFCTU convened a seminar in Saigon to determine the possibilities for points of unity among world religions in matters of social behaviour.
In 1968, delegates to the organization's 16th congress in Luxembourg
voted to transform it into the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). Breaking with the federation's strictly Christian ideology of the past, the newly adopted Declaration of Principles stated it would henceforth be guided by "either a spiritual concept based on the conviction that man and universe are created by God, or other concepts that lead together with it to a common effort to build a human community united in freedom, dignity, justice and brotherhood."
became more of a threat to union membership throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the WCL increased its efforts to carry out a similar global unification of labour leadership. Its 1993 congress in Mauritius
attempted to lay out a concrete strategy for responding to business attacks on organized labour around the world. The WCL soon obtained consultative status within the International Labour Organisation and joined the International Council of the World Social Forum
.
The WCL was formally dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU) to form the International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC).
and advocated for ILO Convention 182
, which addressed serious forms of child labour. The organization also assisted with the First World Congress of Child Workers.
policy, the WCL set up a socio-economic programme to address issues of such a scope. In addition to advocacy around matters at the World Trade Organization
, the federation sought to reform the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund
.
— 60 to 90% of the active work population of Africa, according to the ILO — function outside of regulatory and government oversight. The WCL worked to help train local advocates and provide relief to workers in need, including a recycling program for informal economy workers in Brazil.
among its various member organizations, training local unionists in areas of recruitment, dues systems, and communications.
, the ISF launched a solidarity campaign to assist workers and organizers in the region. The foundation worked in partnership with a variety of other groups, including the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
, the Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond
, and the National Trade Union Confederation (Romania)
.
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
governments of the 1930s repressed the federation and imprisoned many of its leaders, limiting operations until the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 2006 it became part of the International Trade Union Confederation
International Trade Union Confederation
The International Trade Union Confederation is the world's largest trade union federation. It was formed on November 1, 2006 out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour...
(ITUC), ending its existence as an independent organization.
Founding
The WCL was founded at The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
in 1920 under the name of the "International Federation of Christian Trade Unions" (IFCTU) as a confederation of 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...
s associated with the Christian Democratic
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
parties of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Originally catering to Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
constituencies, the IFCTU was designed to provide an alternative to the secular trade unions in Europe at the time, basing its foundation on the Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”...
and the Quadragesimo Anno
Quadragesimo Anno
Quadragesimo Anno is an encyclical written by Pope Pius XI, issued 15 May 1931, 40 years after Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum. Unlike Leo XIII, who addressed the condition of workers, Pius XI discusses the ethical implications of the social and economic order...
.
The first statute
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
s adopted by the group proclaimed its intention to struggle not only for workers' labour rights, but also values like human dignity, democracy, and international solidarity. Petrus Serrarens became the first secretary-general of the IFCTU; Joseph Scherrer was its first president.
Rise of fascism and World War II
In the late 1920s, global economic tumult compounded the growth of authoritarianAuthoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
governments in Europe, which the IFCTU opposed. In response, German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
officials of the 1930s sent the group's leaders to Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
, and Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
banned its Italian
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
affiliate.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, German forces occupying The Netherlands destroyed the organization's secretariat, and it became inactive until 1945. The federation had difficulty renewing ties with most of its affiliates in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
after the end of the war.
Cold War era
When the World Federation of Trade UnionsWorld Federation of Trade Unions
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International 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...
(WFTU) was founded in September 1945, it invited the IFCTU to join. Delegates to an October congress in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
voted to reject the invitation, on the grounds that the WFTU's global unity was "too artificial".
The matter of affiliation with 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) is in dispute. The website of the WCL reports that it "preferred to remain independent," particularly in order to criticize both capitalist and communist abuses. However, according to the International Institute of Social History
International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History is a historical research institute in Amsterdam. It was founded in 1935 by Nicolaas Posthumus. The IISG is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences....
, member unions of the ICFTU were opposed to affiliating with the Christian organization.
WCL reformation
In the late 1950s, the IFCTU found itself working more frequently with MuslimIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
workers in Asia and Africa. In 1959, the IFCTU convened a seminar in Saigon to determine the possibilities for points of unity among world religions in matters of social behaviour.
In 1968, delegates to the organization's 16th congress in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
voted to transform it into the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). Breaking with the federation's strictly Christian ideology of the past, the newly adopted Declaration of Principles stated it would henceforth be guided by "either a spiritual concept based on the conviction that man and universe are created by God, or other concepts that lead together with it to a common effort to build a human community united in freedom, dignity, justice and brotherhood."
Globalization and ITUC merger
As globalizationGlobalization
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...
became more of a threat to union membership throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the WCL increased its efforts to carry out a similar global unification of labour leadership. Its 1993 congress in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
attempted to lay out a concrete strategy for responding to business attacks on organized labour around the world. The WCL soon obtained consultative status within the International Labour Organisation and joined the International Council of the World Social Forum
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization...
.
The WCL was formally dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with 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) to form the International Trade Union Confederation
International Trade Union Confederation
The International Trade Union Confederation is the world's largest trade union federation. It was formed on November 1, 2006 out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour...
(ITUC).
Human rights and international labour standards
The WCL worked to enforce respect for international law, especially as codified by the ILO. The organization also sought to introduce labour standards into international trade policies.Women workers
The World Women's Committee of the WCL convened "representatives from the continents" annually to advocate for women workers and address problems specific to female labourers.Child labour
The WCL worked in support of the Global March Against Child LabourChild labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
and advocated for ILO Convention 182
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999
The Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, known in short as the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, was adopted by the International Labour Organization in 1999 as ILO Convention No 182. It is one of 8 ILO fundamental...
, which addressed serious forms of child labour. The organization also assisted with the First World Congress of Child Workers.
Migrant workers
The rights of migrants — as humans and as workers — was a particular focus of the WCL's work, especially given its increased presence in a globalized economy.Economics and society
Pursuant to the rise of globalization and interest in taking a larger view of macroeconomicMacroeconomics
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of the whole economy. This includes a national, regional, or global economy...
policy, the WCL set up a socio-economic programme to address issues of such a scope. In addition to advocacy around matters at 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...
, the federation sought to reform the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
.
Informal economy
Workers in a society's informal economyInformal economy
The informal sector or informal economy as defined by governments, scholars, banks, etc. is the part of an economy that is not taxed, monitored by any form of government, or included in any gross national product , unlike the formal economy....
— 60 to 90% of the active work population of Africa, according to the ILO — function outside of regulatory and government oversight. The WCL worked to help train local advocates and provide relief to workers in need, including a recycling program for informal economy workers in Brazil.
Training
The WCL worked to provide capacity buildingCapacity building
Capacity building also referred to as capacity development is a conceptual approach to development that focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations from realizing their developmental goals while enhancing...
among its various member organizations, training local unionists in areas of recruitment, dues systems, and communications.
Trade action
The information clearinghouse of the WCL, Trade Action served to promote training; facilitate exchange of knowledge and advice; and support members' participation at meetings of international institutions. It also produced a newsletter, The World of Trade Action.International solidarity foundation
The WCL created the International Solidarity Foundation (ISF) to promote cross-country worker unity and provide emergency assistance (from a Solidarity Fund, established in 1958) to organizations in need. After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
, the ISF launched a solidarity campaign to assist workers and organizers in the region. The foundation worked in partnership with a variety of other groups, including the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
-External links:* Official site....
, the Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond
Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond
The Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.-History:...
, and the National Trade Union Confederation (Romania)
National Trade Union Confederation (Romania)
-External links:* official site....
.