The Miners' International Federation (MIF), sometimes known as the International Federation of Miners, was a global union federation of trade unions.
History
Wirtz (1962) documented that the Miners International Federation (MIF) 'had its origin in a series of four international workers' congresses which met between 1883 and 1889 in Paris and London.'[1] The MIF was subsequently established in 1890 at a four-day event that was held in Jolimont, Belgium, which was attended by 111 representatives of miners' organizations from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The subsequent congresses which were held annually until 1900 were representative of the five countries that had sent delegates to the first congress.[2]
The MIF 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.[3]
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.[3]
