International Metalworkers' Federation

The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) was a global union federation of metalworkers' trade unions, founded in Zürich, Switzerland in August 1893. As of 2009, the IMF had more than 200 member organisations in 100 countries, representing a combined membership of 25 million workers.[1]

IMF
International Metalworkers' Federation
Merged intoIndustriALL Global Union
FoundedAugust 1893
Dissolved2012
HeadquartersGeneva, Switzerland
Location
  • International
Members
25 million (2009)
Key people
Jyrki Raina, General Secretary
Berthold Huber, President
AffiliationsInternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions
Websitewww.imfmetal.org

History

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The federation was founded as the International Metallurgists' Bureau of Information. In 1904, the International Secretariat of Foundry Workers merged into the federation, which renamed itself as the "International Metalworkers' Federation".[2] From 1921, its constitution called for not only international co-operation to improve wages and conditions, but also for workers to take over the means of production.[3]

Membership of the federation reached 1.9 million in 1930, but fell to only 190,000 in 1938, hit by the international depression. By 1947, membership had reached a new high of 2.7 million, and the federation took a leading role in opposing the World Federation of Trade Unions, instead becoming a founding constituent of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.[3]

The organization held a congress every four years, consisting of delegates from the member organisations. The congress established the broad lines of the IMF's policies and actions and elected the President and General Secretary of the IMF. Some member unions wished for the federation to hold sectoral conferences, and the IMF's refusal to do so led six unions to found the International Federation of Foundry Workers in 1949, but this was dissolved in 1954.[4][5]

The international headquarters of IMF was based in Geneva, Switzerland. There were regional offices in Johannesburg, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Santiago, Mexico City, and a project office in Russia.

In June 2012, the IMF merged into the new global federation IndustriALL Global Union.

Affiliates

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The following unions were affiliated in 2009:[6]

Union Abbreviation Country Affiliated membership (2008)
All Russia Defence Industry Workers' Union ARDIWU Russia 25,000
Atlas Copco Employees' Federation India
Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union AMWU Australia 80,000
Australian Workers' Union AWU Australia
Automobile and Agricultural Machinery Workers' Union of Ukraine AAMWU Ukraine 15,000[a]
Autonomous Metalworkers' Union of Serbia AMUS Serbia
Bangladesh Metalworkers' Federation BMF Bangladesh
Bangladesh Metalworkers' League BML Bangladesh
Christian Union of Belgian Metalworkers CCMB Belgium 110,000
CO-Industry CO-industri Denmark 184,797
Committee of Metal Industry Unions CMIU Hong Kong 5,011
Cyprus Industrial Workers' Federation OVIEK-SEK Cyprus 4,000
Electrical Industries Workers' Union Malaysia
Engineering Workers' Union of Russia EWU Russia 21,969
Federation of Hungarian Metal Workers' Unions VASAS Hungary 27,472
Federation of Indonesia Metal Workers' Unions FSPMI Indonesia 125,376
Federation of Metal ELA-STV Spain 31,633
Federation of Metal, Construction and Related Trades MCA-UGT Spain
Federation of Metallurgy CFE-CGC France 28,472
Federation of Metal-Mechanical Workers FLM Italy 260,000
Federation of Mineral and Metallurgical Workers' Commissions FM/CC.OO. Spain 85,000
FO Metals FO Metaux France
General Federation of Mines and Metallurgy FGMM France 80,000
IF Metall IF Metall Sweden 254,648
IG Metall IG Metall Germany 1,497,637
Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union ICU Ghana 2,698
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers IAM-Canada Canada 37,275[a]
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers IAM United States
Japan Council of Metalworkers' Trade Unions IMF-JC Japan 2,008,651
Jathika Sewaka Sangamaya Metalworkers' Federation JSSMF Sri Lanka 5,600
Kovinska Union in the Slovenian Electrical Industry SKEI Slovenia 35,409
Metalicy Metalicy Bulgaria 8,000
Metal Industries Employees' Union Malaysia
Metal-Textile-Food Union GMTN Austria 180,000
Metalworkers' Federation FTM France 40,000
Metal Workers' Federation in the Czech Republic OSKOVO Czechia 124,009
Metalworkers' Federation in the Slovak Republic OZKOVO Slovakia 43,215
Metal Workers' Trade Union of Croatia Croatia 22,064
Metalworkers' Union Metalli Finland 165,000
Miners' and Metallurgical Workers' Union of Russia MMWU Russia 730,165
National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers' Union of Canada CAW-Canada Canada
National Federation of Metalworkers CNM/CUT Brazil
National Federation of Mining and Metallurgical Workers FENATRAMIM Dominican Republic
National Federation of Mining and Metallurgical Workers of Honduras FETRAMIMH Honduras 950
National Federation of Workers in Metal, Energy and Chemical Industries in Angola FSIMEQ Angola 7,911
National Federation of Workers in Metal and Mechanical Industries FENASIMECAM Cameroon 2,000
National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa NUMSA South Africa
National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic SITIMM Mexico
National Union of Transport, Equipment and Allied Industries' Workers Malaysia
Nepal Factory Labour Congress NFLC Nepal 7,250
Panhellenic Metalworkers' Federation PMF Greece 12,451
Philips & BC Components Employees' Union India
Radio, Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Workers' Trade Union of Ukraine REMEWU Ukraine 5,111[a]
Sandvik Asia Employees' Union India
SKF Bearing India Employees' Union India
Steel, Metal and Engineering Workers' Federation of India India
Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers Sweden 22,000
Trade Union of Aircraft Builders of Ukraine TUAB Ukraine 63,491
Trade Union of Industry, Energy and Mining of Macedonia SIER North Macedonia
Trade Union of Metalworkers TUM Bosnia-Herzegovina 12,747
Trade Union of Workers of the Radio & Electronics Industry, Automobile Machinery, Metalworking Industry and Other Branches of the National Economy REPAM Belarus 1,612
Unia Unia Switzerland 57,000
Unionen Unionen Sweden 121,000
Union of Metallurgical and Related Workers SIMA Portugal
Union of Salaried Employees TU Finland 22,828
Union of the Belgian Metal Industry CMB Belgium 55,000
United Auto Workers UAW United States
United Federation of Trade Unions Fellesforbundet Norway 45,787
United Steelworkers USW Canada
United Steelworkers USW United States
Notes
  1. ^ a b c Figure is for 2007.

Leadership

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General Secretaries

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1893: Hermann Vogelsanger
1896: Charles Hobson
1904: Alexander Schlicke
1920: Konrad Ilg
1954: Adolphe Graedel
1971: Ivar Noren
1974: Herman Rebhan
1989: Marcello Malentacchi
2009: Jyrki Raina

Presidents

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1960: Otto Brenner
1972: Hans Rasmussen
1974: Eugen Loderer
1984: Hans Mayr
1987: Franz Steinkühler
1993: Klaus Zwickel
2003: Jürgen Peters
2009: Berthold Huber

References

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  1. ^ "For a strong international labour movement". Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  2. ^ Rütters, Peter (2001). International Trade Union Organisations (PDF). Bonn: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. p. 18. ISBN 3-89892-045-3. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b Docherty, James C.; van der Velden, Sjaak. Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor. p. 146.
  4. ^ Fryth, H. J.; Collins, Henry (1950). The Foundry Workers. Manchester: Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers.
  5. ^ Mitchell, James P. (1959). The International Metalworkers Federation. Washington DC: US Department of Labor. pp. 15–19.
  6. ^ Reports of Affiliates. London: International Metalworkers' Federation. 2009.
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