Building and Wood Workers' International

• 1. Introduction

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  The Building and Wood Workers' International speaks for more than 12 million workers across 135 countries. That is a vast constituency, spread across industries as different as forestry in Burkina Faso and construction in South Korea. What draws them all under one roof? And how does an organisation born from a merger in 2005 carry enough weight to file a complaint against FIFA about migrant workers in Saudi Arabia? Those are the questions this documentary sets out to answer.

• 2. A Merger and a Mission

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  Two older bodies, the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers and the World Federation of Building and Wood Workers, came together in 2005 to create the BWI. The logic behind the merger was straightforward: pooling the membership, the resources, and the political reach of both predecessors into a single voice for workers in building, building materials, wood, forestry, and allied trades. The federation that resulted is explicitly committed to democratic and free trade unionism. That phrase matters. It signals a deliberate distance from state-controlled or company-sponsored labour organisations. The first general secretary appointed in 2005 was Anita Normark. In 2009 the role passed to Hör Ambet Yuson, marking the federation's first change of leadership.

• 3. Where the BWI Operates

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  Geneva, Switzerland, is the seat of the BWI's headquarters. From there, the federation reaches out through a network of regional and project offices planted across multiple continents. Panama and Malaysia host offices, as do South Africa, India, Australia, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Kenya, South Korea, Russia, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil. That list is not accidental. These are places where construction and forestry workforces are large, often informal, and frequently exposed to the kind of conditions international labour bodies exist to challenge. The BWI also holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Committee of the United Nations, giving it a formal channel into multilateral policy discussions.

• 4. Governing From the Ground Up

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  Every four years, the BWI convenes a World Congress made up of delegates from its 350 member organisations. The Congress sets the priorities and strategy the federation will pursue, and it elects the World Council. That council, which meets once a year, carries supreme authority over all policies and operations during the period between congresses. The World Council then appoints a World Board, which handles day-to-day administration and the practical implementation of policy. The World Board meets twice a year. This layered structure keeps decision-making grounded in the member organisations rather than concentrated in a permanent secretariat, a design that reflects the federation's democratic principles.

• 5. Taking On FIFA

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  In October 2024, the BWI filed a formal complaint against FIFA, describing what it called an epidemic of abuses against migrant employees in Saudi Arabia. The federation had a prior working relationship with FIFA, which made the complaint a pointed break from that collaboration. The BWI's move was part of a broader wave of pressure. A leading group of lawyers had separately claimed that FIFA failed to engage with them on human rights in Saudi Arabia. Around the same time, a hundred women footballers sent an open letter to FIFA raising the same concerns. The BWI's complaint positioned the federation at the centre of an international campaign linking labour rights, migration, and the governance of global sport.