International Federation of Plantation and Agricultural Workers


The International Federation of Plantation and Agricultural Workers was a global union federation bringing together unions representing land workers.

History

The federation was created in 1960, when the Plantation Workers International Federation merged with the International Landworkers' Federation. The ILF consisted of European unions representing agricultural workers, while the PWIF consisted of mostly workers on plantations in poorer countries, but also included some former affiliates of the defunct International Federation of Tobacco Workers.
By 1976, IFPAW claimed 3 million members, and maintained this level for the remainder of its existence. At some point, it changed its name slightly to the International Federation of Plantation, Agricultural and Allied Workers, while retaining the IFPAW abbreviation.
IFPAW pioneered collective bargaining at the international level in 1988, when it signed an agreement with Danone.
The federation merged into the International Union of Food and Allied Workers' Associations in 1994, which renamed itself as the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association.

Affiliates

In 1960, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:
UnionCountryAffiliated membership
All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers UnionBritish West Indies Federation7,000
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North AmericaUnited States4,500
Barbados Workers' UnionBritish West Indies Federation6,000
British Guiana Trades Union CouncilBritish GuianaUnknown
Cameroons Development Corporation Workers' UnionBritish Cameroons14,000
Ceylon Workers' CongressCeylon140,000
Danish Gardeners' UnionDenmark5,302
Danish General and Special Workers' UnionDenmark25,000
Eastern Region Development Corporation Workers' UnionNigeria2,700
Federation of Peasants and Rural Workers of PeruPeru1,000,000
General UnionBelgium4,000
Grenada Manual and Mental Workers' UnionBritish West Indies Federation10,000
Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry UnionWest Germany85,000
Italian Federation of Permanent Unskilled and Skilled Agricultural WorkersItaly325,000
National Agrarian FederationCosta Rica1,500
National Federation of Agricultural Technicians and EmployeesItaly4,000
National Federation of Agricultural WorkersFrance2,000
National Federation of FarmersColombia12,000
National Federation of Share-croppers, Share-tenants and Share-labourersItaly100,000
National Federation of Sugar WorkersPeru25,000
National Union of Agricultural WorkersUnited Kingdom125,000
National Union of Hired Agricultural WorkersIsrael200,000
National Union of LandworkersItaly448,669
National Union of Plantation WorkersMalaysia140,000
National Workers UnionBritish West Indies Federation8,000
Netherlands General Agricultural Workers' UnionNetherlands39,962
Norwegian Union of Forestry and Land WorkersNorway8,000
Plantation Workers' Federation of VietnamSouth Vietnam26,000
Plantation Workers' UnionMauritius5,000
Rural Workers' UnionFinland6,620
St Lucia Workers' Co-operative UnionBritish West Indies Federation958
Swedish Agricultural Workers' UnionSweden29,925
Swiss Commerce, Transport and Food Workers' UnionSwitzerland1,010
Tanganyika Sisal and Plantation Workers' UnionTanganyika81,339
Tela Railroad Company Workers' UnionHondurasUnknown
Transport and General Workers' UnionUnited Kingdom6,000
Union of Agricultural and Forestry WorkersAustria68,636

General Secretaries

Presidents