The World Union of Liberal Trade Union Organizations known by its French acronym UMOS-BESL (Union Mondiale des Organisations Syndicales sur le base economique et social liberal) is a trade union federation of liberally inclined unions.Coldrick, A. Percy and Jones, Philip. The international directory of the trade union movement New York : Facts on File, p.233
History The federation was founded in Zürich in 1950.Coldrick and Jones p.233
Aims The stated aims of the group were "to improve the moral and material status of manual and intellectual workers in public and private enterprises on the basis of a free and democratic state in which the liberty and dignity of man is guaranteed, the rights of minorities recognized and all groups collaborate in a liberal economy and opposition to dictatorship and class struggle."Coldrick and Jones p.233
Organization UMOS-BESL had an annual congress which set policy and planned activities. The executive committee was made up of one delegate from each member union.Coldrick and Jones p.233 In 1978 the headquarters was at Bandenerstrasse 41 CH-8004, Zurich c/o Josef Weber, the current general secretary.Coldrick and Jones p.234
Membership In 1975 the union claimed half a million members. It had seven affiliate unions, all of them in Europe, though it had formally had an affiliate in ZaireColdrick and Jones p.233
The seven European members were:Coldrick and Jones p.234
- Arbeitsgemeinschaft parteifreier Gewerkschafter - General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium - Deutscher Arbeitnehmer Verband - Confederazione Italiana dei Liberi Sindacati - Sveriges Arbeter Liberales - National Association of Free Swiss Employees - Association of Liberal Trade Unionists
See also World Federation of Trade Unions International Confederation of Free Trade Unions World Confederation of Labour
References