Italian Confederation of Trades Unions

CISL

Italian Confederation of Trade Unions
Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori
Founded	1950
Headquarters	Rome, Italy
Location	Italy
Members	4,507,349 (2008)
Key people	Luigi Sbarra, secretary general
Affiliations	ITUC ETUC TUAC
Website	cisl.it

The Italian Confederation of Trades Unions (Italian: Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, pronounced [koɱfederatˈtsjoːne itaˈljaːna sindaˈkaːti lavoraˈtoːri]; CISL [tʃizl]) is a national trade union centre in Italy representing various Catholic-inspired groups linked with Christian Democracy party.

It was founded on 30 April 1950, when Catholics in the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) left after they clashed with the Italian Communist Party on the issue of a general strike provoked by the latter. Like the French Force Ouvrière (FO) union, it received financial support from Irving Brown, leader of the international relations of the US AFL–CIO and a CIA contractee.^[1]