Founded October 1945 during the International Trade Union Congress in Paris; the delegates, including representatives of the American Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the Soviet trade unions, agreed to set up a new world federation replacing the old International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and the Red International of Labour Unions (PROFINTERN, 1920-1934), as result of the desire for unity, peace and progress after the Second World War.

The development of the cold war and the increasing communist influence in the Executive Committee of the WFTU resulted from 1948 in the departure of the noncommunist organizations, in order to found their own organization in 1949, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

The World Federation of Trade Unions' headquarters were in Paris 1945 - 1951, Vienna 1951 - 1956, Prague 1956 - 2006, and in Athens since 2006.