The TUI was founded at a conference in Turin, Italy on June 2, 1949 as the Trade Union International of the Metal and Engineering Industries.
[3][4] The highest organ of the TUI was the International Trade Conference held every four years which elected an administrative committee and a secretariat.
[5] It also had specialized commissions on steel, shipbuilding, the automobile industry, mechanical and electro-electronic constr4uction as well as a Standing Committee on Peace and Disarmament.
[11] At the TUIs founding conference in 1949 there 62 delegates representing 16 countries and seven and half million workers.
States represented included the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Italy, France and the Netherlands.