The Liberian Federation of Trade Unions (abbreviated LFTU) was a trade union centre in Liberia.
In 1977 the Liberian president William R. Tolbert Jr. had urged the different trade union centres to unite into a single body.[1] Thus the Liberian Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU) was founded, uniting the Labor Congress of Liberia and the Congress of Industrial Organizations of Liberia.[1] [2] Nevertheless the United Workers Congress of Liberia and the United Mine Workers Union refused to join LFTU.[1]
The LFTU president was A. Benedict Tolbert, son of president Tolbert.[3] [4] Amos Gray served as the secretary general of LFTU.[5]
LFTU was a member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. LFTU was given ICFTU membership at the 70th Executive Board meeting of ICFTU, held in Hamburg in May 1978.[6] ICFTU was represented at the inauguration ceremony of LFTU on October 12, 1977.[6] ICFTU sponsored a number of organizational trainings for LFTU.[6]
As of January 1979 ICFTU estimated the LFTU membership at 10,000.[7]
In August 1979 LFTU and UWC signed an agreement to work towards a merger and draft a joint constitution.[8] The two centres were due to merge before the end of 1979, but merger talks were delayed after the death of mother and niece of the LFTU secretary-general Gray.[9] In 1980 LFTU and UWC merged, forming the Liberian Federation of Labor Unions (LFLU).[2] The ICFTU membership of LFTU was passed on to LFLU.[7]