Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level.
Some labour councils restrict their membership to organisations which are affiliated with a particular national trade union federation, such as many state-level labour councils in the United States, which are chartered from the AFL–CIO national confederation.
Labour Councils were formed to meet a need to co-ordinate trade union activity in a geographical region.
The Craft Incorporations or Guilds comprised the trades Rank of Burgesses under the leadership of the deacon convener, who was given a council.
[1]The trade union activity of the late nineteenth century in particular spurred the establishment of Labour Councils and Trades Councils acrossing North America, Australia and Britain.