Full name | International Trade Union Confederation |
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Founded | 1 November 2006 |
Predecessor | ICFTU and WCL |
Members | 176 million in 162 countries (2015) |
Key people |
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Office location | Brussels, Belgium |
Country | International |
Website | ituc-csi |
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC; French: Confédération syndicale internationale (CSI); German: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund (IGB); Spanish: Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI)) is the world's largest trade union federation. It was formed on 1 November 2006, out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). The Founding Congress of the ITUC was held in Vienna and was preceded by the dissolution congresses of both the ICFTU and the WCL.
The ITUC represents 176 million workers through its 328 affiliated organisations within 162 countries and territories. Sharan Burrow is the current General Secretary.
The ITUC traces its origins back to the First International (also known as the International Workingmen's Association) and in 2014 commemorated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the International Working Men's Association at its own world congress held in Berlin. Also in 2014, the ITUC debuted the Global Rights Index, which ranks nations on 97 metrics pertaining to workers' rights, such as freedom from violent conditions and the right to strike and unionise.
The founding congress of the ITUC was held from 1 to 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, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Day two included Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) responding to panel discussions on the impact of globalisation, including the topics "Cohesion and chaos - the global institutions" and "Global unions - global companies". Technical difficulties limited Lamy's satellite video link participation.