trade unionism, international

Worldwide cooperation between unions. In 1973 a European Trade Union Confederation was established, with a membership of 29 million, and there is an International Labour Organization, established in 1919 and affiliated to the United Nations from 1945, which formulates standards for labour and social conditions. Other organizations are the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (1949) – which includes the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and the UK Trades Union Congress – and the World Federation of Trade Unions (1945).