Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry and Mitch Weerth

International Trade Union Confederation

On Nov. 1, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) was founded in Vienna, an event utterly ignored by U.S. media.  With 168 million members, the ITUC results from the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICTFU) with several other international and national union groupings.  Among the latter are the Christian-oriented World Confederation of Labor (WCL) and France's left-leaning General Confederation of Labor (CGT).  One major union confederation, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), originally based in the former Soviet bloc and now quite reduced in size, has opted not to merge with the ITUC.

To be sure, the ITUC was formed in a top-down manner by labor bureaucrats without any serious discussion among rank-and-file workers.  It also takes at best a social democratic stance.  As a Brazilian labor leader stated, the ITUC "does not really stand up for workers, especially in developing countries, against capital."

Nonetheless, the ITUC is a step forward in that it proposes to unite labor on a global level against an increasingly globalized capitalism. In a nod to the anti-globalization movement, the ITUC's Emilio Gabaglio said it would strive to "make trade unionism the most important NGO on the planet."  ITUC President Sharon Burrow has called for a "global day of action" on the part of international labor.