The Commonwealth Trade Union Group (abbreviated CTUG) is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based international alliance of

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

countries. It was previously known as the Commonwealth Trade Union Council (abbreviated CTUC). As of 2007, the combined membership of CTUG affiliates reached 30 million. The decision to set up the CTUC was taken at the Commonwealth Trade Union Conference, held in June 1979. In November 1979 a number of trade unions of the Commonwealth agreed to a set of proposals issued by a special working party launched at the June 1979 conference. The official founding of CTUC took place in March 1980, with

Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated. History Formation The CLC was ...

president

Dennis McDermott Dennis McDermott (November 3, 1922 – February 13, 2003) was a Canadian trade unionist who served as Canadian Director of the United Auto Workers from 1968 to 1978 and president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1978 to 1986. Born in Portsmo ...

as the CTUC chairman and Carl Wright as the director of the organization.Australian National University.
Commonwealth Trade Union Council
' The stated goal of the CTUC was to guarantee that 'trade union views are taken into account by Commonwealth government and institutions'. As of 1982 the CTUC Steering Committee included McDermott (Chairman), Gopeshwar(India), W. Richardson (Australia), F. F. Walcott (Barbados), Wright, N. K. Bhatt (India), J. Harker (Canada), L. Osunde (Nigeria), E. Mashasi (Tanzania), K. Mehta (India) and R. L. Thaker (India).

Shirley Carr Shirley Geraldine Edwina Carr (May 1929 – June 24, 2010) was a Canadian union leader who was the first woman president of Canada's largest labour organization, the Canadian Labour Congress. Union activism Carr first became active in the ...

also served as chair of CTUC. CTUC took part in founding the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in 1987. In 1988 Patrick Quinn became director of CTUC, in 1994 Arthur Johnstone was named new director of CTUC. CTUC was reconstructed as CTUG on 31 December 2004. The group works in cooperation with the International Trade Union Confederation.International Trade Union Confederation.
CTUG Fact Sheet
' CTUG is accredited at the Commonwealth Foundation (through ITUC).

References

{{reflist Trade unions established in 1980 Trade unions in the United Kingdom