In 1949, early in the Cold War, alleging Communist domination of the WFTU's central institutions, a large number of non-communist national trade union federations (including the U.S. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), the British TUC, the French FO, the Italian CISL and the Spanish UGT) seceded and created the rival ICFTU at a conference in London attended by representatives of nearly 48 million members in 53 countries.

That constitution listed no fewer than seventeen aims of the organisation and it has been argued that the ICFTU from its very beginning set itself goals that would be impossible to achieve—particularly with a small staff and budget.

For example, the organisation's constitution required it "to carry out a programme of trade union and workers' education" as well as to give "assistance to those suffering from the consequences of natural and industrial disasters".

ICFTU published an annual report which documents violations by governments, industries, and military and police forces against both workers and related trade unions.

The report continues on to detail violations such as the lack of the right to organise unions in the public service in Lesotho; the police use of stun guns, rubber bullets and tear gas at workers' strikes and protests in South Africa; and the death of a Djibouti drivers' union member during a demonstration by striking minibus and lorry drivers.

In South Korea, Kim Tae-hwan from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions was run over and killed while on the picket line.

[3] In Iraq, during the first two months of 2005 Hadi Salih, international secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) was brutally tortured and killed.

[3] The report also details the difficulties faced by migrant workers in many countries, such as Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where they are a major portion of the labour force, but have few rights.

[3] Qatar is singled out as a source of good news, with the country adopting a new labour code which, although still below international standards, allowed for the establishment of free trade unions.