The International Federation of Plantation and Agricultural Workers (IFPAAW) was a global union federation bringing together unions representing land workers.
History The federation was created on December 2, 1959, when the Plantation Workers International Federation (PWIF) merged with the International Landworkers' Federation (ILF). 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 at 1 January 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:
Union Country Affiliated membership All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union British West Indies Federation 7,000 Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America United States 4,500 Barbados Workers' Union British West Indies Federation 6,000 British Guiana Trades Union Council British Guiana Unknown Cameroons Development Corporation Workers' Union British Cameroons 14,000 Ceylon Workers' Congress Ceylon 140,000 Danish Gardeners' Union Denmark 5,302 Danish General and Special Workers' Union Denmark 25,000 Eastern Region Development Corporation Workers' Union Nigeria 2,700 Federation of Peasants and Rural Workers of Peru Peru 1,000,000 General Union Belgium 4,000 Grenada Manual and Mental Workers' Union British West Indies Federation 10,000 Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry Union West Germany 85,000 Italian Federation of Agricultural Employees and Labourers Italy 325,000 Italian Union of Land Workers Italy 448,669 National Agrarian Federation Costa Rica 1,500 National Federation of Agricultural Technicians and Employees Italy 4,000 National Federation of Agricultural Workers France 2,000 National Federation of Farmers Colombia 12,000 National Federation of Sharecroppers and Smallholders Italy 100,000 National Federation of Sugar Workers Peru 25,000 National Union of Agricultural Workers United Kingdom 125,000 National Union of Hired Agricultural Workers Israel 200,000 National Union of Plantation Workers Malaysia 140,000 National Workers Union British West Indies Federation 8,000 General Dutch Industrial Union of Agriculture Netherlands 39,962 Norwegian Union of Forestry and Land Workers Norway 8,000 Plantation Workers' Federation of Vietnam South Vietnam 26,000 Plantation Workers' Union Mauritius 5,000 Rural Workers' Union Finland 6,620 St Lucia Workers' Co-operative Union British West Indies Federation 958 Swedish Agricultural Workers' Union Sweden 29,925 Tanganyika Sisal and Plantation Workers' Union Tanganyika 81,339 Tela Railroad Company Workers' Union Honduras Unknown Transport and General Workers' Union United Kingdom 6,000 Union of Agricultural and Forestry Workers Austria 68,636 Union of Commerce, Transport and Food Switzerland 1,010
Leadership General Secretaries 1960: Tom Bavin 1976: Stanley Correa 1982: José Vargas 1988: Börje Svensson
Presidents 1960: Harold Collison 1976: Tom Bavin 1982: Börje Svensson 1988: P. P. Narayanan 1992: Post vacant
References