The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) was a

global union federation A global union federation (GUF) is an international List of federations of trade unions, federation of national trade unions organizing in specific industry sectors or occupational groups. Historically, such federations in the social democratic t ...

. In 2005 it had 217 member organizations in 110 countries, representing a combined membership of over 10 million workers.

History

The ITGLWF was founded in 1970 as a result of the merger of the International Textile and Garment Workers' Federation and the International Shoe and Leather Workers' Federation. These organizations were preceded by much older ones: the International Glove Workers' Union was founded in 1892, the International Secretariat of Shoemakers in 1893, and the International Secretariat of Leather Workers in 1896. The International Federation of Textile Workers' Associations originated in 1894 and the International Tailors' Secretariat in 1896. The organization held a congress every four years, consisting of delegates from the member organisations. The congress established the broad lines of the ITGLWF's policies and actions. The organisation's headquarters was located in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. There were four regional organisations within the ITGLWF: FITTVCC/ORI, the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

' regional organisation, based in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

; ITGLWF/ERO, the European regional organisation, based in Belgium; TWARO, the Asian regional organisation, based in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

; and ARCC, the African Regional Consultative Council, based in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The ITGLWF worked closely with the

International Trade Union Confederation The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC; ; ; ) is the world's largest trade union federation. History The federation was formed on 1 November 2006 out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) a ...

and the other global union federations. In 2007, the International Federation Textile-Clothing, a former affiliate of the

World Confederation of Labour 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 o ...

, merged into the ITGLWF. In June 2012 affiliates of ITGLWF joined the new global federation

IndustriALL Global Union IndustriALL Global Union is a global union federation, founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012. IndustriALL Global Union represents more than 50 million working people in more than 140 countries, working across the supply chains in mining, energy a ...

Affiliates

In 1979, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1970: Jack Greenhalgh :1971: Charles Ford :1988: Neil Kearney :2009: Patrick Itschert :2011: Klaus Priegnitz

Presidents

:1970:

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery Abolitionism, abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Nav ...

:1972:

Karl Buschmann Karl Buschmann (12 August 1914 – 16 February 1988) was a German trade union leader. Born in Brake, near Bielefeld, Buschmann left school at the age of fourteen and undertook an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, also joining a trade union. He ...

:1980: Harold Gibson :1984: Karl-Erik Persson :1988:

Berthold Keller Berthold Keller (8 February 1927 – 28 June 2012) was a German trade union leader. Born in Konstanz, Keller completed an apprenticeship as a tailor, and found work in a local clothing factory. In 1944, he was called up to the army, but was taken ...

:1992: David Lambert :1996: Peter Booth :2004: Manfred Schallmeyer :2009: Hisanobu Shimada

References

External links

International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation
official site {{Authority control IndustriALL Global Union Textile and clothing trade unions Trade unions disestablished in 2012 Trade unions established in 1970