International Federation of Building Workers

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.[1]

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.[1]

On 1 April 1934, the federation merged with the International Federation of Wood Workers, to form the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers.[2]

Affiliates

The following unions were affiliated as of 1922:[3]

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[1]
1913: Fritz Paeplow[1]
1919: Georg Käppler[1]
1933: Jaap van Achterbergh

Presidents

1919: Fritz Paeplow
1927:
1933: Nikolaus Bernhard

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Sassenbach, Johannes (1926). Twenty-five years of international trade unionism. Amsterdam: International Federation of Trade Unions. p. 97–98.
  2. ^ Repertoire des organisations internationales. Geneva: League of Nations. 1936. pp. 255–256.
  3. ^ The American Labor Yearbook. New York: Rand School of Social Science. 1924. pp. 255–257.