Usually there are at least two national union confederations, one for academically educated and one for branches with lower education level.

In addition, there are two other Finnish union confederations for more educated workers, with combined membership of approximately one million.

And a union confederation began organizing a boycott of Spanish companies.

This time, one union confederation has said the Government plans should not be rejected out of hand.

Labour councils that supported community unions were affiliated with Sohyo: a left leaning union confederation.

In the post-war period, although the union confederations tried to limit organisation at plant level (as being potentially destructive of class consciousness), the councils became increasingly significant.

Leaders of the union confederation went into hiding as prosecutors armed with arrest warrants sought 14 of them for calling what they said was an illegal strike.

And so were many other major unions and union confederations.

It has succeeded in remaining one of the two major French union confederations, while the Communist Party has declined severely.

The CGT was the major union confederation representing some 2,500,000 workers and 90 per cent of the country's unions.