The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) was a global union federation of metalworkers' trade unions, founded in Zürich, Switzerland in August 1893. the IMF had more than 200 member organisations in 100 countries, representing a combined membership of 25 million workers.
History 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". 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.
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.
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.
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 The following unions were affiliated in 2009:
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 15,000Figure is for 2007. 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 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 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
Leadership General Secretaries 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 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
External links
Catalogue of the IMF British Section archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick