The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), was set up in 1949 and has 236 affiliated organisations in 154 countries and territories on all five continents, with a membership of 155 million, 40% of who are women.

It has three major regional organisations, APRO for Asia and the Pacific, AFRO for Africa, and ORIT for the Americas. It also maintains close links with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) (which includes all ICFTU European affiliates) and Global Union Federations, which link together national unions from a particular trade or industry at international level.