International Trade Unions History

The Trade Union Confederation of the Americas is analytically interesting because international trade unions have promoted the framework of a “just transition” to protect workers’ rights during the shift to sustainable energy and the response to climate change and because the confederation has undertaken something of a “Latin-Americanization” of the just-transition notion that is nurtured by the environmental/territorial turn of social struggles on the continent. The current convergence between unions and social movements (peasant, feminist, environmentalist) has contributed to an important renewal of the union movement in Latin American environmental matters.

Representing a diverse membership of 50 million workers from Canada to Argentina,
TUCA has since its inception in 2008 been successful to make trade unions a
progressive political force in the Americas. Starting with a call for internal reform,
putting democratisation and unity of the trade union movement first, it has built a
common language and positions on socio-political developments in the region.

On the 19th of November 1915 the labour activist and song writer Joe Hill was executed by firing squad at the Sugar House Prison, Salt Lake City, Utah. The musical legacy of Hill lives on through the still popular songs that he contributed to ‘the Little Red Song Book’ and in several well-known songs written about his life and inglorious death. The site of Sugar House Prison is now an attractive park but within its grounds even a diligent explorer will find no mention of Joe Hill or his Union, the radical, revolutionary and at one point extremely popular Industrial Workers of the World. This seems endemic of the American labour movement in general, which is poorly understood by the general public after decades of suppression and criticism, and which, with a small number of important exceptions, lacks formal recognition in terms of public monuments and artwork.

On the 12th of May 1916 the labour organiser, author and lecturer James Connolly was executed by firing squad at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland. As one of the 16 men singled out for execution following the Easter Uprising of 1916 Connolly is a household name in Ireland and amongst the diaspora. His life is commemorated in a large number of monuments, both for the 1916 martyrs collectively and a number of more individual monuments. However Connolly’s own beliefs as a radical socialist, and a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, have been subsumed into a broader narrative about Irish nationalism, many aspects of which Connolly would have been at odds with.

This paper argues that archaeologists working on topics relating to the late 19th and early 20th century need to ensure they have a proper understanding of radical politics when discussing the social dynamics in the lead up to the First World War. Modern narratives tend to down play the sheer exuberance and progressiveness of the socialist movement, painting it as a mere reformist affair that made a small contribution to the development of today’s wealthy western societies. Archaeological projects have the potential to shed much needed light on our radical forbears if those involved are prepared to engage with the abundant sources about the revolutionary politics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

L’attitude des syndicats socialistes néerlandais, belge et luxembourgeois à l’égard du Benelux, du Plan Marshall et de l’OECE 1946-1950, in Milieux économiques et intégration européenne en Europe Occidentale au XXe siècle, éd. E. BUSSIERE & M. DUMOULIN, Arras, 1998, p.327-358.

Thierry Grosbois s’est intéressé à l’attitude des syndicats néerlandais, belge et luxembourgeois, envers le Benelux et le Plan Marshall. La première approche aborde la question de la participation de représentants patronaux et syndicaux au sein du Benelux. En effet, la convention douanière Benelux de 1944 ne prévoyait pas d’instances représentatives du patronat et des syndicats. Face à ce vide juridique, une interprétation restrictive sera prônée par les administrations, en particulier à l’encontre des syndicats. Or, dès 1946, la FGTB réclame la participation de ses délégués aux réunions des commissions et conseils du Benelux, et elle obtient rapidement le soutien du NVV et de la CGTL. Il faut attendre la conférence ministérielle Benelux de La Haye des 10 au 13 mars 1949 pour constater la création d’un conseil consultatif des milieux économiques et sociaux intéressés au fonctionnement de l’union. Lors de la conférence de Knokke, en octobre 1952, la procédure de consultation sera renforcée. Le terme de cette évolution, le Traité d’union économique de 1958, prévoit l’établissement d’un Conseil consultatif économique et social, à vocation paritaire.

This paper simultaneously serves as a primer for new scholarship on the ITUC, while also analyzing what type of organization the ITUC.  This analysis is conducted by applying the Union of International Association (UIA) system of classification. The ITUC is found to be a general, semi-autonomous, occupation, and geographically fragmented NGO. A brief history of international trade unionism from the 20th century to now is also provided, alongside a summary of the different bodies of the ITUC and their mechanisms.

Representing a diverse membership of 50 million workers from Canada to Argentina, TUCA has since its inception in 2008 been successful to make trade unions a progressive political force in the Americas. Starting with a call for internal reform, putting democratisation and unity of the trade union movement first, it has built a common language and positions on socio-political developments in the region.