Organization
The ICFTU had three regional organisations, APRO for Asia and the Pacific, AFRO for Africa, and ORIT for the Americas. The ICFTU also maintained close links with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) (which includes all ICFTU European affiliates) and Global Union Federations, which link together national unions from a particular trade or industry at international level.
Central to the ICFTU's work was the struggle to defend workers' rights. The ICFTU lobbied for the ratification of the so-called "core labour standards" -- eight key conventions of the International Labour Organization concerning freedom of association, the abolition of child labour and forced labour and the elimination of discrimination in the workplace.
The ICFTU has staff which are devoted entirely to the monitoring and defence of workers rights, and they issue—almost on a daily basis—alerts and calls to action. The ICFTU published its "Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights" every June, the publication of which was usually accompanied by extensive press coverage of the violations of trade union rights around the world. The report often focused on the numbers of people killed for being members of unions.
In its constitution, the organization pledged itself to "champion the cause of human freedom, promote equality of opportunity for all people, seek to eliminate everywhere in the world any form of discrimination or subjugation based on race, religion, sex or origin, oppose and combat totalitarianism and aggression in any form".
That constitution listed no fewer than seventeen aims of the organization and it has been argued that the ICFTU from its very beginning set itself goals that would be impossible to achieve—particularly with a small staff and budget. For example, the organization's constitution required it "to carry out a programme of trade union and workers’ education" as well as to give "assistance to those suffering from the consequences of natural and industrial disasters".
In 2004 Australian union leader Sharan Burrow was elected as the first female president of the ICFTU.
Read more about this topic: International Confederation Of Free Trade Unions
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