Trade Union International of Building, Wood, Building Materials and Allied Industries

The Trade Unions International of Building, Wood, Building Materials and Industries, also known as the Trade Unions International of Construction, Wood, Building Materials and Industries, or by its French acronym UITBB (Union internationale des syndicats des travailleurs du bâtiment, du bois et des matériaux de construction) is a Trade Union International affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions.

History

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The UITBB was founded at a conference in Milan in 14–16 July 1949.[1][2][3]

Organization

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The highest organization is the Conference which meets every 4 years. Between conferences, the union is run by an administrative committee. The committee elections the president, vice-presidents, secretary general and secretaries, who constitute the executive bureau. The secretariat is made up of the secretary general and secretaries who ran the day-to-day activities of the organization.[4]

The organisation's headquarters was in Helsinki from at least 1955. Its address that year was reported to be Kainsaniamenk 5 A 14.[5] In 1957 it was reported to be headquartered at 28B Fredrikinkatu, Box 281.[6] By 1978 it was listed at Fredrikinkatu F28B13 Box10281, 00101 Helskini.[7] From 1985, the address was only listed as Post-office box 281 Helskini.[8][9][10] The headquarters have since moved to Nicosia in Cyprus.[11]

Membership

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In 1978 the UITBB claimed 15 million members in 52 affiliated unions in 42 countries.[12] In 1985 this had grown to 17 million members in 72 unions in 57 countries.[13] By 2003, this had fallen to 2 million workers in 50 countries,[14] growing again by 2020 to 2.5 million workers in 60 countries.[11]

Member organizations as of 1978 included:[15]

Publications

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The union published Information Bulletin quarterly in English, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Swedish and Finnish.[16] According to one source it also published a "brief information circulars" five or six times a year.[17] Another sources says it published "new briefs on a fortnightly basis.[18]

Leadership

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General Secretaries

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1949: Yrjö Murto
1952: Aarne Saarinen
1955: Erkki Salomaa
1960: Veikko Porkkala
1983: Mauri Perä
1992: Jose Dinis
2010s: Michalis Papanikolaou

Presidents

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Joseph Kobel
1957: Walter Tille
1960: Lothar Lindner
1990: Robert Brun
2020: Daniel Diverio

See also

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References

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  1. ^ About us
  2. ^ Coldrick, A. Percy and Jones, Philip. The international directory of the trade union movement New York : Facts on File, [1978] p.175
  3. ^ The World Federation of Trade Unions, 1945-1985. Prague; Published by the WTFU in cooperation with PRACE Czechoslovak Trade Unions 1989 p.151
  4. ^ Coldrick and Jones p.175
  5. ^ Directory of World Federation of Trade Unions Washington Office of International Labor Affairs, June 1955 p.48
  6. ^ Facts about international Communist front organisations p. 31
  7. ^ Coldrick and Jones p.176
  8. ^ The World Federation of Trade Unions, 1945-1985 p.151
  9. ^ Europa World Year Book London; Taylor & Francis, 2003 p.322
  10. ^ Contact
  11. ^ a b The Europa Directory of International Organizations. Routledge. 2020. ISBN 100032639X.
  12. ^ Coldrick and Jones p.176
  13. ^ The World Federation of Trade Unions, 1945-1985 p.151
  14. ^ Europa World Year Book London; Taylor & Francis, 2003 p.322
  15. ^ Coldrick and Jones p.177
  16. ^ Coldrick and Jones p.176
  17. ^ Coldrick and Jones p.176
  18. ^ The World Federation of Trade Unions, 1945-1985 p.152
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