The International Federation of Glassworkers was a global union federation bringing together trade unions representing workers in the glass industry.
History The first international trade secretariat of glassworkers was established in 1892 at a conference in Fourmies, Nord. Named the International Glass Workers' Union, its headquarters were at Castleford in England, and it was led by Alfred Greenwood. It organised a second conference, in London, in 1894, but thereafter achieved little, and dissolved in 1900."Greenwood, Alfred," Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.IX, pp.97–102
In 1908, a conference of glassworkers was held in Paris, to found a new secretariat. This was located in Berlin until 1920, then moved to Paris. One of the smaller international trade secretariats, by 1925 it had 11 affiliates, with a total of 93,000 members. By 1935, it was moribund, and its remaining members joined the International Federation of Industrial Organisations and General Workers' Unions, which held its first glass industry sectional conference in Amsterdam in 1938.
Affiliates As of 1922, the following unions were affiliated:
Union Country Affiliated membership Austria 3,798 National Federation of Glass Workers Belgium 5,466 Czechoslovakia 30,000 Danish Glass Workers' Union Denmark 495 Glass Federation France 4,000 Central Union of Glassworkers Germany 77,948 Dutch Union of Glass and Pottery Workers Netherlands 2,266 Sweden 1,000 National Flint Glass Makers' Society of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom 10,000
General Secretaries 1908: Emil Girbig 1921: Charles Delzant
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