About

At its World Congress in Buenos Aires, on 9 December 2005, the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW) and the World Federation of Building and Wood Workers (WFBW) created a new global union federation, the Building and Wood Workers' International - BWI.

The BWI is the Global Union Federation grouping free and democratic unions with members in the Building, Building Materials, Wood, Forestry and Allied sectors.

The BWI groups together around 351 trade unions representing around 12 million members in 117 countries. The Headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. Regional Offices and Project Offices are located in Panama, Malaysia, South Africa, India, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Brazil.

Our mission is to promote the development of trade unions in our sectors throughout the world and to promote and enforce workers rights in the context of sustainable development.

The BWI works closely with the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers (EFBWW), the Nordic Federation of Building and Wood Workers (NFBWW), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Global Union Federations (GUFs). The BWI has a Special Consultative Status to the Economic and Social Committee of the United Nations and is engaged with international organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the international employers' organizations, such as the Confederation of International Contractors' Associations (CICA) and the regional and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO).

The President of the International is Per Olof Sjöo from GS in Sweden. Deputy Presidents are Dietmar Schäfers from IG Bau Germany, Gail Cartmail from UNITE UK, Dave Noonan from CFMEU Australia, Pierre Cuppens from ACV-BIE Belgium, Phyo Sandar Soe from Myanmar, Saul Mendez from SUNTRACS Panama and the General Secretary is Ambet Yuson from the Philippines.

The last congress of the BWI was held in Madrid Spain in October 2022. BWI next congress will be held in Brazil in 2026.