DİSK was founded by Kemal Türkler, Riza Kuas, İbrahim Güzelce, Kemal Nebioğlu and Mehmet Alpdündar representing Türkiye Maden-İş, Lastik-İş, Basin-İş, Türkiye Gida-İş and Türk Maden-İş, respectively.
The first general assembly meeting of DİSK took place in Istanbul on 15 June 1967.