European industry federations
European industry federations are constituent members of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). According to Article 1 of the Constitution of the ETUC: ‘The European Trade Union Confederation shall consist of National Trade Union Confederations and European Industry Federations.’ Article 5 stipulates: ‘The European industry federations are organisations of trade unions within one or more public or private economic sectors. They represent the interests of workers in their sectors at the European level, principally in negotiation.’
The European industry federations are represented in the ETUC’s Congress (Article 8), Executive Committee (Article 14) and Steering Committee (Article 21). There are 12 affiliated European industry federations, as follows:
| EAEA | European Arts and Entertainment Alliance |
| EUROCOP | European Confederation of Police |
| EFBWW/FETBB | European Federation of Building and Woodworkers/Fédération Européenne des Travailleurs du Bâtiment et du Bois |
| EFFAT | European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions/Fédération Européenne des Syndicats de l’Alimentation, de l’Agriculture et du Tourisme |
| EFJ/FEJ | European Federation of Journalists/Fédération Européenne des Journalistes |
| EMCEF | European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation/Fédération Européenne des Syndicats des Mines, de la Chimie et de l’Energie |
| EMF/FEM | European Metalworkers’ Federation/Fédération Européenne des Métallurgistes |
| EPSU | European Federation of Public Service Unions/Fédération Syndicale Européenne des Services Publics |
| ETF | European Transport Workers’ Federation/Fédération Européenne des Travailleurs des Transports |
| ETUCE/CSEE | European Trade Union Committee for Education/Comité Syndical Européen de l’Éducation |
| ETUF-TCL/FSE-THC | European Trade Union Federation - Textiles Clothing and Leather/Fédération Syndicale Européenne du Textile, de l’Habillement et du Cuir |
| UNI-EUROPA | Union Network International |
All of these European industry federations are consulted as social partners by the European Commission under article 154 of the TFEU.
The European Commission also considers as social partners some organisations that are not affiliated to the ETUC:
| CESI | European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions |
| ECA | European Cockpit Association |
| FIA | International Federation of Actors |
| IFM | International Federation of Musicians |
| FIF-Pro | International Federation of Professional Footballers’ Associations — Division Europe |
Two examples will illustrate the structure of European trade union representation. First, at a European level, the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW), established in 1958, represents labour in the construction industry, the building materials industry, the wood and furniture industry and the forestry industry. The EFBWW has some 75 affiliated member unions, as in some Member States more than one union is affiliated. The Federation represents a total of 2,350,000 members in 31 countries. However, the level of union membership within the industry varies greatly between countries. Secondly, the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) was created as a separate body in the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), founded in 1893, and was established in 1971. The EMF represents 75 metalworking unions from 34 countries with a combined total of 5.5 million members.
See also: cross-border trade union cooperation; European sectoral social dialogue; European social dialogue; European social partners; EU system of industrial relations; representativeness; sectoral coordination of collective bargaining; sectoral employer federations.