ITUC and O4P announce global organising partnership

As workers confront a billionaire coup against democracy, in which a wealthy few are collaborating with far-right political forces and multinational corporations to seize power at global scale, the ITUC is fighting for an alternative, for democracy that delivers for workers.

The most responsive democracies are those where workers are well-organised. The ILO estimates that some 251 million workers globally have organised themselves into trade unions. While freedom of association and the right to organise a union are guaranteed under international law, the 2025 ITUC Global Rights Index found that 74% of countries impeded the registration of trade unions. In 75% of countries, workers were denied the right to establish or join a trade union.

With threats against workers and their unions rising, the ITUC and O4P are taking the historic step of making mass, multilingual organising trainings available online to ITUC’s 340 affiliates in 169 countries. Unions can learn more by joining the launch webinar on 18 June here.

“Unions are the strongest tool ordinary people have to organise themselves, defend their democratic rights, improve their livelihoods, and build a better world,” said ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle. “To succeed, we need to remove every obstacle and provide every opportunity for workers to organise. With Organising for Power, we are throwing open the doors and inviting working people everywhere to find their place and build their collective power in the labour movement.”

“We couldn’t be prouder to be collaborating with the ITUC on this major new initiative,” added O4P General Coordinator Ethan Earle. “Authoritarians and oligarchs appear dead set on burning down this planet in search of endless profit, and only ordinary people, organised at the worksites of the world where actual value is created, are capable of stopping them. As the world’s largest megaphone for the voices of workers, ITUC will be central in this effort, and we’re ready to stand by their side, and by the side of the hundreds of millions of workers they represent, to help prepare us for our struggles and our victories to come.”

The next round of training sessions will take place on 18 and 20 November, and 2 and 4 December 2025.

O4P is an independent skills-based training programme. Since starting in 2019, it has trained more than 45,000 workers in 120 countries and 20+ languages. Organising trainings are conducted online, in multiple languages, and require groups of ten to get started.

Are you an ITUC affiliate, a trade unionist or a group of workers who want to learn the fundamentals of organising? Complete this interest form and the ITUC or O4P will follow up with you on next steps.