The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) was established in 1973 to provide a trade union counterbalance to the economic forces of European integration. Following the changes in Central and Eastern Europe, a large number of new trade unions have joined its ranks. 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... Economics (in Greek Οικονομικά) derives from the Greek word Eco(οίκω=house) and nemo(νέμω=distribute) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources through measurable variables. ... European integration is the process of political and economic (and in some cases social and cultural) integration of European states into a tighter bloc. ... Historical lands and provinces in Central Europe Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. ... Eastern Europe is, by convention, that part of Europe from the Ural and Caucasus mountains in the East to an arbitrarily chosen boundary in the West. ...

At present, the ETUC has in its membership 76 National Trade Union Confederations from a total of 34 European countries, as well as 11 European industry federations, making a total of 60 million members. Other trade union structures such as Eurocadres (the Council of European Professional and Managerial Staff) and EFREP/FERPA (European Federation of Retired and Elderly Persons) operate under the auspices of the ETUC. In addition, the ETUC coordinates the activities of the 39 ITUCs (Interregional Trade Union Councils), which organise trade union cooperation at a cross-border level. World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... A country, a land, or a state, is a geographical area that connotes an independent political entity, with its own government, administration, laws, often a constitution, police, military, tax rules, and population, who are one anothers countrymen. ... An industry is generally any grouping of businesses that share a common method of generating profits, such as the movie industry, the automobile industry, or the cattle industry. It is also used specifically to refer to an area of economic production focused on manufacturing which involves large amounts of upfront... A federation (from the Latin fœdus, covenant) is a state comprised of a number of self-governing regions (often themselves referred to as states) united by a central (federal) government. ...

The ETUC is recognised by the European Union, by the Council of Europe and by the European Free Trade Association as the only representative cross-sectoral trade union organisation at European level. The European Union or EU is an intergovernmental organisation of European countries, which currently has 25 member states. ... The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg The Council of Europe is an international organisation of 46 member states in the European region. ... The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was established on May 3, 1960 as an alternative for European states that were not allowed or did not wish to join the European Community (now the European Union). ...