The predecessor organization to Committee for Support of International Trade Union Rights (CISTUR) was the Trade Union Committee for a Transfer Amendment. Civil rights activist and labor attorney Aubrey Grossman joined with Northern California union officials to support the Transfer Amendment, a Congressional amendment that proposed transferring budget funds from the military to social needs programs. Their success in getting local unions and central labor bodies to support a Trade Union Transfer Resolution motivated Grossman to broaden his horizons. One of his goals was to get organized labor to pass a Trade Union Freedom and Human Rights Resolution asking the U.S. to deny military and economic aid to countries that denied workers the right to organize. One way to achieve passage of the resolution was to promote international trade union solidarity.

Grossman and a small group of trade unionists dedicated to promoting the importance of this idea of international labor solidarity to local unions in Northern California organized the Committee for Support of International Trade Union Rights (CISTUR) in San Francisco in the summer of 1982. The group’s first official meeting was February 1983. Frank Souza, of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM, District 190), was the Organizer; Charles Lamb, of Hotel Union, Local 2, was elected Chair; and Grossman was elected Executive Secretary. CISTUR’s statement of principle declared that the organization stood for the rights of all working men and women, worldwide, to organize freely. CISTUR embodied the old union slogan, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” The members’ goal was to fill a need they felt was not being met by existing local or national labor bodies, such as the AFL-CIO: to educate trade unionists in the U.S. about the need for international trade union solidarity; to organize them to respond to appeals for support from their brothers and sisters in developing countries where the policies and practices of the U.S. government and U.S.-based multinational corporations dictated the government’s trade union policies and suppressed local labor movements; and to make it clear that international trade union solidarity preserved the rights of workers in the U.S. by showing how the exploitation of foreign workers was directly related to plant closings and the loss of jobs at home. Indeed, CISTUR consistently criticized the foreign policy stance of the AFL-CIO; CISTUR was, in turn, roundly criticized by the national organization.

CISTUR provided what it considered an “indispensable” service: it served as a clearinghouse of background information on labor struggles worldwide, compiling facts from the publications of international labor organizations, as well as the trade union and popular press. CISTUR then distributed monthly news and action bulletins, with the intent of educating their members about the conditions and struggles of labor in other nations. These timely dispatches concentrated on particular countries, issues or cases. They used CISTUR’s expertise to propose and coordinate solidarity actions – such as boycotts, educational forums and petitions – through which union members in Northern California could support trade unionists in other countries. CISTUR’s ultimate goal was to create solidarity activists, or Solidarity Committees, in every local labor organization. The membership of CISTUR viewed its mission as unique, claiming it was the only labor committee in the U.S. that attempted to meet the needs of all trade unionists, worldwide. According to the first issue of the organization’s News-Action Bulletin, “For most countries in need of solidarity there is no labor committee at all, except CISTUR.”

CISTUR had three different membership levels: affiliate unions and union bodies were Affiliate Members; individuals appointed by affiliate organizations as CISTUR representatives, and individual trade unionists were Regular Members, or Delegates; and individuals who paid membership fees were Supporting Members. Affiliate Members were represented at regular membership meetings; Delegates and Regular Members could participate in Regular Membership Meetings; and Supporting Members received CISTUR action and information mailings, as determined by the Executive Committee and Regular Membership. Dues for affiliated unions and other union bodies were $10 per month; dues for supporting members were $10 per year. Regular Membership Meetings were held monthly and served as the governing body of CISTUR. The Executive Committee – elected officers and members appointed by the Committee – were authorized to make decisions and take necessary actions between membership meetings. According to CISTUR’s Constitution, every September, an Annual Convention was held in place of the Regular Membership Meeting to determine organizational priorities and policies and elect officers.

CISTUR supported protests led by other labor organizations and generated their own campaigns. Major CISTUR actions included protesting attacks on trade unions in the Philippines, South Korea, and Central and Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Drawing connections between the exploitation of labor in developing countries by anti-union dictators who were supported by the U.S. government, CISTUR also campaigned against U.S. military intervention. The organization protested the invasions of Panama and Grenada and the Persian Gulf War. Many key CISTUR campaigns centered on South Africa, where the organization struggled against Apartheid and fought for boycotts, divestment, and the freedom of trade unionists and political prisoners, like Oskar Mpetha and Nelson Mandela. Indeed, CISTUR’s Constitution, noted that, “If CISTUR shall disband, any assets left over after payment of debts…will be donated to the Black Unions of South Africa.” In the 1990s, CISTUR educated trade unionists about NAFTA and mobilized opposition to the treaty.

By 1995, when Grossman’s tenure as Executive Secretary ended, CISTUR claimed 85 affiliates. It published a solidarity newsletter every two months, or when dictated by international labor crises. Though the records only document the organization through Grossman’s tenure, evidence indicates that CISTUR was active as late as 1998. Director Karen Talbott, a long-time labor and peace and justice activist, spoke at a plenary session at the Open World Conference of Workers: In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights, held in San Francisco in November 1997. That same month, she publicly declared support for trade union rights struggles in South Korea and asked how CISTUR could build solidarity in their struggle. She offered to “spread the word to our members which includes over 80 local unions and Central Labor Councils.” The following year, as a representative of CISTUR, she signed a petition in support of workers in Tijuana, Mexico.