This thesis examines the history and functioning of the International Union of Food Workers and affiliated associations (IUF), based in Geneva, from 1950 to 1990. The IUF is a formative case study that challenges assumptions about union activity, as during this period its membership grew, it expanded into countries in the Global South, and it conducted massive campaigns to help its affiliates gain bargaining rights. Taking the IUF as a starting point, this research aims to understand the transformations of IUF-affiliated workers in the era of transnational corporate expansion. I highlight the organizational changes, historical trajectory, and institutional history of the IUF during this formative period by analyzing its evolution toward lobbying for food aid policy, campaigns against multinational corporations, and social movement unionism. In addition, I reveal how the IUF used vast networks of allies across different programs and objectives to advance its interests. From a methodological perspective, throughout the many changes in labor history, global unions have been largely ignored. Recent work, including this study, seeks to fill this gap. While scholars debate the extent to which unionism ushered in a new era of social movement unionism, this study argues that global unions have been instrumental in shaping the labor movement's response to globalization.
