Bulgaria: unions call for national protest

Across national boundaries, union organizations reach out and collaborate on issues that affect the working people in multiple countries. This international solidarity of working people is vitally important as corporations have spread their reach globally and jobs and whole industries are transplanted with the click of a mouse.

The AFL-CIO is affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)—the worldwide union network. Based in Brussels, Belgium, the ITUC represents 175 million workers in 151 countries and territories and has 308 national affiliates. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka serves on the General Council and Executive Bureau of the ITUC. He also serves as the president of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson is the president of the ITUC's Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA).

International Labor Organizations

• ITUC—International Trade Union Confederation
• ITUC-AFRICA—African Regional Organization
• ITUC-AP—Asia Pacific Regional Organization
• ITUC-TUCA—Trade Union Confederation of the Americas
• TUAC—Trade Union Advisory Committee (to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD])
• ETUC—European Trade Union Confederation
• Global Unions
• ILO—International Labor Organization
• PERC—Pan-European Regional Council
• U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association

Global Union Federations

Ten Global Union Federations (GUFs) are the international representatives of unions organizing in specific industry sectors or occupational groups. Most AFL-CIO unions belong to the GUF for their sector.

• EI—Education International
• BWI—Building and Wood Workers International
• ICEM—International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions
• IFJ—International Federation of Journalists
• IMF—International Metalworkers' Federation
• ITGLWF—International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation
• ITF—International Transport Workers' Federation
• IUF—International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations
• PSI—Public Services International
• UNI—Union Network International

National Centers

Locate ITUC affiliates by country.

Trade Union Development Cooperation

Labor unions are a fundamental institution for democracy and economic development. The following organizations support stronger unions in developing countries through training, research and advocacy programs.

International Labor Support Organizations

• Amnesty International 
• Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking
• Asia Monitor Resource Center
• Bureau of Workers' Activities/ILO
• Clean Clothes Campaign
• China Labor Bulletin
• Human Rights First
• Human Rights for Workers
• Human Rights Watch
• International Labor Rights Fund
• International Center for Trade Union Rights
• Jobs with Justice
• Labor Research Service
• Labour Start
• Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights
• STITCH
• U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project
• United Students Against Sweatshops
• Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing
• Worker Rights Consortium

International Labor Research

• Asia Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims
• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Center for Economic and Policy Research
• Economic Policy Institute
• European Industrial Relations Observatory Online
• European Trade Union Institute
• Focus on Globalization (Taiwan)
• Global Policy Network
• Global Union Research Network
• International Federation of Workers' Education Associations
• Institute for Policy Studies
• Inter Trade Union Department of Statistics and Socio economic Studies-DIEESE (Brazil)
• Korean International Labor Foundation
• Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe
• Laogai Research Foundation
• Migrant Forum in Asia
• National Labour and Economic Development Institute (South Africa)
• Pakistan Institute for Labor Education and Research
• Public Services International Research Unit
• Research Institute for the Advancement of Living Standards (Japan)
• Social Observatory (Brazil)