With 50 million members, labor federation IndustriALL will take on giants

A newly formed global federation of industrial unions will be a force with the muscle to take on giant international corporations on behalf of workers, the president of the United Steelworkers (USW) said today.

The coalition, known as IndustriALL Global Union, is being formed by a group of 1,200 trade union representatives meeting this week in Copenhagen, Denmark. It joins together three former global labor groups: The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and International Textiles Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF).

“The creation of this massive coalition is a victory for working people across the globe,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “It sends a message to greedy multi-national corporations that we are not going to simply stand by and watch them trample the rights of workers, no matter where in the world it is happening ... more