The International Union of Woodworkers (IUW) was a global union federation bringing together unions representing wood carvers, carpenters and joiners.
History In 1891, the Belgian union of woodworkers organised the First International Wood Workers' Congress, in Brussels. The conference established an international information service, and this organised a further congress in Zurich in 1893, then a conference of woodworkers was organised in London in 1896, alongside the International Labour Congress. However, the information service then ceased to operate, and new international links were not established until 1899. In 1904, this led to the establishment of the International Union of Woodworkers at a conference in Amsterdam.
The federation was based in Stuttgart until 1909, then in Berlin, and from 1920 in Amsterdam. By 1925, it had 44 affiliates in 25 countries, with a total of 1,000,876 members. That year, the small Carpenters' International merged into it.
On 1 April 1934, the federation merged with the Building Workers' International, to form the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers.
Affiliates The following unions were affiliated in 1929:
Union Country Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers United Kingdom Danish Union of Joiners Denmark General Dutch Union of Furniture Makers, Wallpapers and Related Workers Netherlands General Union of Building, Furnishing and Other Industries Belgium General Workers' Union of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia German Wood Workers' Union Germany Magyarországi Famunkazok Szövetsége Hungary National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association United Kingdom Norwegian Sawmill, Site and Planing Workers' Union Norway Norwegian Union of Building Workers Norway Norwegian Union of Furniture Makers Norway Swedish Building Wood Workers' Union Sweden Swedish Forest Workers' Union Sweden Swedish Sawmill Industry Workers' Union Sweden Swedish Wood Industry Workers' Union Sweden Swiss Construction and Woodworkers' Union Switzerland Unie Drevodelniku Czechoslovakia Union of Austrian Woodworkers Austria Union of Woodworkers and Turners Czechoslovakia United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners United States/Canada Wood Workers' Union Finland Zwiazwk robotnikow przemyslu drzewnego w Polsce Poland
General Secretaries 1904: Theodor Leipart 1920: Kees Woudenberg 1929: Fritz Tarnow 1933: Willem Hauwaert
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