The International Federation of Building and Wood Workers was established in 1934 by merger of two independent trade secretariats, namely the Building Workers International and Woodworkers International. IFBWW is the International Trade Secretariat, recognised by the ICFTU and the ITS General Conference, organising workers in free and democratic unions in the Building. Wood and Forestry sectors. IFBWW promotes the principles of International Solidarity and is an active defender of human and trade union rights, fighting exploitation of workers in any part of the world. It conducts specific activities in the field of workers education, coordination of international solidarity actions, women’s programmes and research on specific concerns. It currently groups 12.9 million members in 260 trade unions in 110 countries.