The World Confederation of Labour (WCL) was an international labour organization founded in 1920 and based in Europe. Fascist 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.
The WCL was founded in The Hague in 1920 under the name of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions (IFCTU) as a confederation of trade unions associated with the Christian Democratic parties of Europe.[2] 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.[3]
The first statutes 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.[2]Jos 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 authoritarian 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.[2]
When the World Federation of Trade Unions (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".[2]
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.[2] However, according to the International Institute of Social History, member unions of the ICFTU were opposed to affiliating with the Christian organization.[3]
WCL reformation
In the late 1950s, the IFCTU found itself working more frequently with Muslim 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.[2]
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."[2]
Globalization and ITUC merger
As globalization 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 Organization and joined the International Council of the World Social Forum.[2]
The WCL had nine areas of labour activity where it focused work.
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.[8]
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.[9]
Child labour
The WCL worked in support of the Global March Against Child Labour[10] 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.[11]
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.[12]
Economics and society
Pursuant to the rise of globalization and interest in taking a larger view of macroeconomic 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.[13]
Informal economy
Workers in a society's informal economy — 60 to 90% of the active work population of Africa, according to the ILO[14] — 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.[15]
Training
The WCL worked to provide capacity building among its various member organizations, training local unionists in areas of recruitment, dues systems, and communications.[16]
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.
The federation had numerous affiliated trade secretariats, which changed over time. They were smaller than those affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), and some unions affiliated to the WCL chose instead to affiliate to an ICFTU secretariat.[18]
1 2 3 Coldrick, Percy; Jones, Philip (1979). The International Directory of the Trade Union Movement. New York: Facts on File. pp.128–154. ISBN0871963744.
↑ Labour Year Book. London: Labour Publications Department. 1932. p.411.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) to form the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade unions established in 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the International Federation of Trade Unions as a single structure for trade unions world-wide, following the World Trade Union Conference in London, United Kingdom.
Education International (EI) is a global union federation (GUF) of teachers' trade unions consisting of 383 member organizations in 178 countries and territories that represents over 32 million education teachers and education support personnel from pre-school through university. It is one of the world's largest sectoral global union federations.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership of 19.7 million transport workers in all industrial transport sectors: civil aviation, dockers, inland navigation, seafarers, road transport, railways, fisheries, urban transport and tourism. The ITF represents the interests of transport workers' unions in bodies that take decisions affecting jobs, employment conditions or safety in the transport industry.
The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) was a global union federation. In 2005 it had 217 member organizations in 110 countries, representing a combined membership of over 10 million workers.
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A company or "yellow" union is a worker organization which is dominated or unduly influenced by an employer and is therefore not an independent trade union. Company unions are contrary to international labour law. They were outlawed in the United States by the 1935 National Labor Relations Act §8(a)(2), due to their use as agents for interference with independent unions. However, company unions persist in many countries.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is the world's largest trade union federation.
The Bourse du Travail, a French form of the labour council, were working class organizations that encouraged mutual aid, education, and self-organization amongst their members in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The ICFTU African Regional Organisation (AFRO) was a regional organisation of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), representing trade unions from countries in Africa.
The ICFTU Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation (APRO) was a regional organisation of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), representing trade unions from countries in Asia and Oceania.
The ICFTU Inter American Regional Organisation of Workers was the regional organization of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) for the Americas.
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The World Organization of Workers (WOW) is an international trade union federation.
The World Federation of Agriculture and Food Workers was an International Trade Federation affiliated to the World Confederation of Labour (WCL).
The World Federation of Building and Woodworkers' Unions was an International Trade Federation affiliated to the World Confederation of Labour (WCL).
The World Confederation of Teachers (WCT) was a global union federation bringing together unions representing teachers.
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