Pacific Conference No.4 of the ICFTU/APRO held in Port Moresby in 1987 resolved that the ICFTU consider establishing a structure within the ICFTU that would provide a forum for the South Pacific and have an Oceanic identity. The conference also resolved that the ICFTU/APRO education program in the region should be expanded so that there was greater ability to plan and implement activities at the local level. As a result of those decisions the ICFTU/APRO education project was established in June 1988 with the appointment of a full-time educator. The project operated from a Brisbane office, located in the Queensland ACTU building. ICFTU/APRO Regional Conference No.14 held in Bangkok in 1988 endorsed the formation of specific structure for the South Pacific, including the appointment of a full-time executive officer to work alongside the project educator. It was resolved that an inaugural conference would be convened to formalise the establishment of the new body which replaced the Pacific Trade Union Forum and became known as the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU).
SPOCTU operated as the peak council of the trade union movement in the Pacific Islands, representing affiliated organisations in Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia. Conferences were held every two years and an intensive program of training workshops was undertaken, often in conjunction with the Pacific office of the Commonwealth Trade Union Council.

• Minutes of SPOCTU Conferences and Steering Committees meetings (ACTU copies), 1989-1999.
• ICFTU/APRO, Pacific Trade Union Forum and SPOCTU steering Committees, Conferences and Projects files, 1987-1998.
• Commonwealth Trade Union Council, Pacific Trade Union Education Liaison Committee: meetings, 1992-1996.
• SPOCTU Country files: Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Cook Islands, 1992-1998.
• SPOCTU Circulars to affiliates, 1990-1998.
See Finding aids for details.
See also Pacific Unionist, 1989-1998, at PMB Doc 553.