The Miners' International Federation (MIF), sometimes known as the International Federation of Miners, 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 ...

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

History

Wirtz (1962) documented that the Miners International Federation (MIF) 'had its origin in a series of four international workers' congresses which met between 1883 and 1889 in Paris and London.' The MIF was subsequently established in 1890 at a four-day event that was held in Jolimont,

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 ...

, which was attended by 111 representatives of miners' organizations from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The subsequent congresses which were held annually until 1900 were representative of the five countries that had sent delegates to the first congress.Wirtz, p.5. The MIF was initially one of the largest union federations, with membership reaching 1.2 million in 1913, and this grew slightly to 1.5 million in 1931.James C. Docherty and Sjaak van der Velden, ''Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor'', pp.183 From the 1950s, the MIF began to campaign for common international minimum working conditions. However, with reductions in the number of miners in its heartland of Western Europe, its overall membership began to fall, and was below one million by 1976. The union was based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for many years, with the British National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as its largest affiliate. In 1983,

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the 1984–1985 UK miners' strike, a major event in the history o ...

, leader of the NUM, proposed dissolving the federation and forming a new one with the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade union, trade unions established on October 3, 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the Int ...

-affiliated Trade Unions International of Miners. This was opposed by a majority of members, but the NUM nevertheless withdrew, leaving the federation to relocate its headquarters to

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 ...

and struggle with a shortage of funds.Ronald Payne and Gary Busch,
Scargill goes international
, ''

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'', 30 November 1985 The MIF began recruiting unions in other parts of the world, and by 1994 consisted of 58 unions with 4.2 million members. In 1995, it merged with the

International Federation of Chemical and General Workers' Unions The International Federation of Chemical, Energy and General Workers' Unions (ICEF) was a global union federation of trade unions. History The secretariat was founded in August 1907, as the International Federation of General Factory Workers, but ...

to form the

International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) was a global union federation of trade unions. As of November 2007, ICEM represented 467 industrial trade unions in 132 countries, claiming a membership of o ...

Affiliates

In 1960, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:

Leadership

Secretaries

:1890: Thomas Ashton :1921: Frank Hodges :1927: Achille Delattre :1934: Ebby Edwards :1947:

Will Lawther Sir William Lawther (20 May 1889 – 1 February 1976) was a politician and trade union leader in the United Kingdom. Born in Choppington, in Northumberland, Lawther was educated at Choppington Colliery School, then became a coal miner. He becam ...

:1957:

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

:1960: Ted Jones :1963: Dennis Edwards :1976: Peter Tait :1984: Jan Olyslaegers :1989: Peter Michalzik

Presidents

:1910s:

Robert Smillie Robert Smillie (17 March 1857 – 16 February 1940) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a leader of the coal miners, and played a central role in moving support from the miners away from the Liberal Party to the L ...

:1921:

Herbert Smith Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herb ...

:1929: Joseph Dejardin :1932: Fritz Husemann :1934: Pierre Vigne :1945: Achille Delattre :1954: Heinrich Imig :1956:

Nicolas Dethier Nicolas Dethier (29 September 1888 – 12 February 1976) was a Belgian trade unionist and politician. Born in Beyne-Heusay, Dethier left school at the age of twelve and became a coal miner. In 1906, he joined the Federation of Miners of Li ...

:1963:

Heinrich Gutermuth Heinrich Gutermuth (18 June 1898 – 28 June 1977) was a German trade union leader. Born in Ilbeshausen (near Grebenhain), Gutermuth completed an apprenticeship as a blacksmith, then served in World War I. After the war, he found work as a m ...

:1967:

Walter Arendt Walter Arendt (born 17 January 1925 in Heessen; died 7 March 2005 in Bornheim) was a German politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in governme ...

:1969: :1971: Adolf Schmidt :1984: Anders Stendalen

History

Affiliates

Leadership

Secretaries

Presidents

References

Further reading