Miners' International Federation

Miners' International Federation
Founded 1890
Date dissolved 1995
Merged into International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions
Members 4.2 million (1994)
Affiliation ICFTU
Office location Russell Square, London (1890–1984)
Belgium (1985–1995)
Country International

The Miners' International Federation (MIF), sometimes known as the International Federation of Miners, was a global union federation of trade unions.

The federation was established in 1890 at a meeting in Brussels by unions from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It was initially one of the largest union federations, with membership reaching 1.2 million in 1913, and this grew slightly to 1.5 million in 1931.[1]

From the 1950s, the MIF began to campaign for common international minimum working conditions. However, with reductions in the number of miners in its heartland of Western Europe, its overall membership began to fall, and was below one million by 1976. [1]

The union was based in London for many years, with the British National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as its largest affiliate. In 1983, Arthur Scargill, leader of the NUM, proposed dissolving the federation and forming a new one with the World Federation of Trade Unions-affiliated Trade Unions International of Miners. This was opposed by a majority of members, but the NUM nevertheless withdrew, leaving the federation to relocate its headquarters to Brussels and struggle with a shortage of funds.[2]

The MIF began recruiting unions in other parts of the world, and by 1994 consisted of 58 unions with 4.2 million members. In 1995, it merged with the International Federation of Chemical and General Workers' Unions to form the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions.[1]

Secretaries

1890: Thomas Ashton
1921: Frank Hodges
1929: Achille Delattre
1936: Ebby Edwards
1947: Will Lawther
1954: Dennis Edwards
1957: Ernest Jones
1960:
1970s: Peter Tait
1980s: Jan Olyslaegers

References

  1. 1 2 3 James C. Docherty and Sjaak van der Velden, Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor, pp.183
  2. ↑ Ronald Payne and Gary Busch, "Scargill goes international", The Spectator, 30 November 1985
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