The International Federation of Building Workers (IFBW) was a global union federation bringing together unions representing masons.
History The German Central Union of Masons gradually built up international contacts in the late 19th-century. In 1903, it called a conference in Berlin, to formalise these relationships by establishing an international trade federation.
The federation was established as the Building Workers' International, and was based in Hamburg from its foundation. By 1925, most of its member unions had merged with the carpenters' unions in their country, and so it agreed to absorb the Carpenters' International. This gave it 26 affiliates, with a total of 756,059 members.
On 1 April 1934, the federation merged with the International Federation of Wood Workers, to form the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers.
Affiliates The following unions were affiliated as of 1922:
Union Country Membership Central Association of Construction Workers Austria 87,154 General Union of Building, Furnishing and Other Industries Belgium 42,065 Czechoslovakia 42,413 Denmark 5,074 Finland 1,331 National Federation of Construction Workers France 6,353 German Construction Workers' Union Germany 588,271 Hungary 23,249 Italy 60,000 Luxembourg 1,105 General Dutch Construction Union Netherlands 9,061 Norwegian Union of Building Workers Norway 2,278 Poland 9,975 Romania 2,390 Sweden 3,999 Swiss Construction Workers' Union Switzerland 3,825 National Federation of Building Trades Operatives United Kingdom 253,000 General Workers' Union of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 608
General Secretaries 1903: Theodor Bömelburg 1913: Fritz Paeplow 1919: Georg Käppler 1933: Jaap van Achterbergh
Presidents 1919: Fritz Paeplow 1927: 1933: Nikolaus Bernhard
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