Shah, a member of the Constituent Assembly from Bombay, and the founding general secretary was Mrinal Kanti Bose, a former AITUC president from Bengal.

At the time of its foundation, Bose claimed that the organisation consisted of 236 unions with a combined membership of 347,428.

[3] Initially, UTUC profiled itself as an independent trade union centre, organising members of different leftwing factions.

In 1953 the Deputy Labour Minister of India, Abid Ali, estimated the UTUC membership at 384,962.

[4] Thakur Mukand Singh Vaidh of Deoband Village, Jadoda Jutt, Uttar Pradesh served as a president of UTUC UP until April 1981.