The International Landworkers' Federation (ILF) was a global union federation bringing together trade unions representing agricultural and forestry workers.
History The federation was established in 1920 at a conference in Amsterdam, and set up its headquarters in Utrecht. In 1924, it relocated to Berlin, but returned to Utrecht in 1933. By 1925, it had 15 affiliates, with a total of 377,800 members, and by 1954 this had grown to more than 1,000,000 members, principally in Europe.
In 1960, the federation merged with the Plantation Workers International Federation, which mostly represented workers on plantations in poorer countries, forming the International Federation of Plantation and Agricultural Workers.
Affiliates In 1954, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:
Union Country Affiliated membership Agricultural Labourers' Union Israel 120,000 Danish Gardeners' Union Denmark 5,213 Danish General Workers' Union Denmark 35,000 General Dutch Industrial Union of Agriculture Netherlands 39,800 General Union of Workers in Building, Household and Related Occupations Belgium 2,000 Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry Union West Germany 115,000 Italian Federation of Agricultural Employees and Labourers Italy 325,000 Italian Union of Land Workers Italy 140,000 Likomba Plantation Workers' Union British Cameroons 3,000 National Agricultural Workers' Union United States 8,500 National Federation of Free Agricultural Technicians and Employees Italy 4,000 National Union of Agricultural Workers United Kingdom 135,000 Norwegian Union of Forestry and Land Workers Norway 8,000 Rural Workers' Union Finland 14,000 Swedish Agricultural Workers' Union Sweden 41,171 Transport and General Workers' Union United Kingdom 9,000 Union of Agricultural Workers France 2,000 Union of Commerce, Transport and Food Switzerland 1,300 Union of Employees in Governmental Enterprises Saarland 236 Union of Agricultural and Forestry Workers Austria 69,186
Leadership General Secretaries 1920: Piet Hiemstra 1924: Georg Schmidt 1933: Piet Hiemstra 1938: Oscar Levinsen 1942: Walter Kwasnik 1950: Adri de Ruijter
Presidents 1920: Walter Smith 1924: Joseph Forbes Duncan 1950: Edwin Gooch
References