International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) British Section

Scope and Content

Advisory committee minutes and related papers, 1913-1976; honorary secretary's correspondence, 1961-1976; central IMF printed minutes and reports, 1947-1966; accounts, 1905-1942; circulars to members of the advisory committee and general secretaries of affiliated unions, 1949-1975; 'International Metal Workers' Review', 1912-1920; 'Bulletin of the International Metalworkers' Federation', 1929-1951; Central IMF research reports, 1914, 1959-1963.

Administrative / Biographical History

In August 1893, thirty members of metalworkers' unions from eight countries met in Zurich to set up an international bureau with a view to promoting international cooperation between metalworkers' unions around the world. In 1904, a congress in Amsterdam created an International Metalworkers' Federation to represent the interests of metalworkers in every country. The unions which affiliated to the British section included the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, the Amalgamated Engineering Union and the National Union of Blastfurnacemen, Ore Miners, Coke Workers and Kindred Trades.

Access Information

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Acquisition Information

These records were deposited by the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) in May 2003 and by Community, the successor union to the ISTC, in August 2005 and August 2007.

Other Finding Aids

Related Material

Records relating to the IMF in the archive of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation.