Portal:Organized Labour

Introduction

The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considered an instance of class conflict.

In trade unions, workers campaign for higher wages, better working conditions and fair treatment from their employers, and through the implementation of labour laws, from their governments. They do this through collective bargaining, sectoral bargaining, and when needed, strike action. In some countries, co-determination gives representatives of workers seats on the board of directors of their employers.

Political parties representing the interests of workers campaign for labour rights, social security and the welfare state. They are usually called a labour party (in English-speaking countries), a social democratic party (in Germanic countries), a socialist party (in Romance countries), or sometimes a workers' party.
Though historically less prominent, the cooperative movement campaigns to replace capitalist ownership of the economy with worker cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, and other types of cooperative ownership. This is related to the concept of economic democracy.

The labour movement developed as a response to capitalism and the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, at about the same time as socialism. The early goals of the movement were the right to unionise, the right to vote, democracy and the 40-hour week. As these were achieved in many of the advanced economies of western Europe and north America in the early decades of the 20th century, the labour movement expanded to issues of welfare and social insurance, wealth distribution and income distribution, public services like health care and education, social housing and common ownership. (Full article...)

Selected article

2013 International Workers’ Day demonstration in Austria

International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, or the first Monday in May.

Traditionally, 1 May is the date of the European spring festival of May Day. In 1889, the Marxist International Socialist Congress met in Paris and established the Second International as a successor to the earlier International Workingmen's Association. They adopted a resolution for a "great international demonstration" in support of working-class demands for the eight-hour day. The 1 May date was chosen by the American Federation of Labor to commemorate a general strike in the United States, which had begun on 1 May 1886 and culminated in the Haymarket affair four days later. The demonstration subsequently became a yearly event. The 1904 Sixth Conference of the Second International, called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the eight-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace".

The 1st of May, or first Monday in May, is a national public holiday in many countries, in most cases as "International Workers' Day" or a similar name. Some countries celebrate a Labour Day on other dates significant to them, such as the United States and Canada, which celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September. In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated 1 May to "Saint Joseph the Worker". Saint Joseph is the patron saint of workers and craftsmen, among others. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

International Labour Organization
1912 Lawrence textile strike
Spartacist uprising
Labour movement
Eight-hour day
Labor rights
Solidarity Forever
Strike action
Child labour
Industrial unionism
One Big Union (concept)
Business unionism
Labour Party (UK)
Company union
Industrial unionism
Jimmy Hoffa
University and College Union
Anti-union violence
Cesar Chavez
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Collective bargaining
United Auto Workers
United Kingdom labour law
United Farm Workers
Project Labor Agreement
Labour economics
National Labor Relations Act of 1935
Miners' Federation of Great Britain
All-China Federation of Trade Unions
Congress of South African Trade Unions
Credit union
Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York
General Confederation of Labour (France)
IG Metall
AFL–CIO
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Solidarity (Polish trade union)
United Steelworkers
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
United Food and Commercial Workers
National Education Association
Service Employees International Union
Italian Labour Union
Seattle General Strike
American Federation of Labor
1985–1987 Watsonville Cannery strike

April in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

April 01 - Burston Strike School began in 1914 the U.K.; the 1972 Major League Baseball strike began in the U.S. and Canada; the 1980 New York City transit strike began; the U.S. Supreme Court decided NLRB v. Truck Drivers Local 449; the Federation of Unions of South Africa was founded; the Allied Pilots Association was founded; the Loray Mill strike began in the U.S. in 1929; Sol Chick Chaikin died
April 02 - Weldon Mathis was born; Eugene Hanley was born; the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike ended in 1995
April 03 - Percy Wells died
April 04 - The On-to-Ottawa Trek began in Canada in 1935; William Quesse was born; the 2006 Minor League Baseball umpire strike began in the U.S.
April 06 - Rose Schneiderman was born; the 1905 Chicago Teamsters' strike began as the Teamsters engaged in a sympathy strike; B. T. Ranadive died
April 07 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Lochner v. New York; Basawon Singh (Sinha) died
April 08 - The 1998 Australian waterfront dispute began
April 09 - John H. Dent died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Adkins v. Children's Hospital and Bunting v. Oregon; Chris Watson was born; President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in anticipation of the 1952 steel strike; Natascha Engel was born; Thomas Jackson was born
April 10 - Harold J. Gibbons was born; Dolores Huerta was born; Joseph Diescho was born; George Lippard was born; Edward J. Carlough was born; Lee Batchelor was born; Anna Walentynowicz died
April 11 - The 1980 New York City transit strike ended
April 12 - Tom Addison was born; the U.S. Supreme Court decided NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.; the Auto-Lite strike began in 1934 in the U.S.; the Union Label Department, AFL–CIO was founded; the Memphis sanitation strike ended; the Queensland Council of Unions was founded; the Sons of Vulcan was founded
April 13 - Henk Sneevliet died; the Laborers' International Union of North America was founded
April 14 - Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca was born; Marvin Miller was born; Ernest Bevin died
April 15 - A. Philip Randolph was born; Pablo Manlapit died; the American Federation of Teachers was founded; "Black Friday" occurred in 1921 in the U.K.; Aleksei Gastev died; the Trade Unions Forum was founded; Margaretta Scott was born
April 16 - Joseph Havelock Wilson died
April 17 - Manwel Dimech died
April 18 - Joseph Labadie was born; R. J. Thomas died
April 20 - Gro Harlem Brundtland was born; The Ludlow Massacre occurred in 1914 in the U.S.; the International Harvester strike of 1979–80 ended
April 21 - The Bituminous coal miners' strike of 1894 began in the U.S.; the First Employment Contract is repealed in France in 2006
April 22 - Frederick Nicholas Zihlman died
April 23 - Russell Crowell was born; the Canadian Labour Congress was formed; Cesar Chavez died; the Hock Lee bus riots occurred in 1955 in Singapore; Edward Lamb was born
April 25 - Arnold Miller was born
April 26 - United Trade Union Centre (Lanin Sarani) was founded
April 28 - Workers' Memorial Day; Roy Lee Williams died; Bob White was born; Greg Combet was born; Jerry Horan died; Joseph Glimco died
April 29 - The Coeur d'Alene miners' dispute of 1899 occurred in the U.S.

Jan•Feb•Mar•Apr•May•Jun•Jul•Aug•Sep•Oct•Nov•Dec

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls was one of the leaders in the first successful effort to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in the United States?
... that the 2016 Jim Beam strike was the first labor strike in the company's history?
... that in the 1951 court case Kuzych v White, on appeal from the British Columbia Court of Appeal, five law lords of the British Judicial Committee ruled in favour of a Communist-led trade union?
... that after Kellogg's announced plans to replace striking workers in 2021, members of r/antiwork organized to submit fake applications to the company's hiring system?
... that Surinamese trade unionist Louis Doedel was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital by the governor-general for 43 years?
... that in 1977, Appalachian folk singer Phyllis Boyens performed at a Christmas benefit concert to support Kentucky coal miners who had been on strike for 17 months?

Related Portals

Selected image

Image 1Members of the United Steelworkers in Ohio phone bank other union members to educate them about critical issues in the 2008 election in the U.S.
Image 2William Green, president of the AFL–CIO from 1924 to 1952.
Image 3Barges set ablaze by steelworkers during the Homestead strike in 1892.
Image 4AFL–CIO unions protest outside Verizon headquarters in Philadelphia using a giant inflatable rat.
Image 5United Mine Workers of America poster circa 1902.
Image 6Union elections with an illegal firing, 1951 to 2007.
Image 7Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, and his wife, circa 1908.
Image 8The Place de la Sorbonne in Paris is closed by police during the 2006 labour protests in France.
Image 9Public and Commercial Services Union members on strike in Manchester 2006.
Image 10Mounted police chase demonstrators through Vancouver's East End during the Battle of Ballantyne Pier in 1935.
Image 11Union members march in Argentina on Human Rights Day in December 2005. The signs read "Worker rights are human rights..
Image 12Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) notice of subway closure during the 2005 New York City transit strike.
Image 13Striking workers march moments before the Swedish military opened fire, killing five workers during the Ådalen shootings.
Image 14Australian industrial relations legislation national day of protest, 2005.
Image 15Shields used by striking workers at the Carnegie Steel Works during the Homestead Strike in 1892.
Image 16Memorial marker for the Bay View Tragedy.
Image 17National Federation of Federal Employees officials sign a collective bargaining agreement with the U.S. 8th Army in October 2002.
Image 18Richard Trumka.
Image 19Crowd gathered outside old City Hall during the Winnipeg general strike, June 21, 1919.
Image 20Samuel Gompers.
Image 21Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago, Illinois, during the Pullman Strike in 1894.
Image 22Knights of Labor Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly.
Image 23Illustration from the Brisbane Worker newspaper condemning the brutality of the Queensland Police on Black Friday during the 1912 Brisbane General Strike.
Image 24During World War II, a female aircraft worker checks electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California.
Image 25Political cartoon about the Coal Strike of 1902 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Image 26Picket signs at the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.
Image 27Detail of monument to the Reesor Siding Strike of 1963.
Image 28Wilma B. Liebman, chair, NLRB.
Image 29Big Bill Haywood, a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Image 30Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
Image 31The Western Federation of Miners' famous flyer entitled "Is Colorado in America?".
Image 32George Meany, former leader of the AFL–CIO.
Image 33A. Philip Randolph.
Image 34Lewis Hine's 1920 image "Power house mechanic working on steam pump," which shows a working class young American man with wrench in hand, hunched over, surrounded by the machinery that defines his work.
Image 35Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.
Image 36Exaggerated 19th century engraving showing flames and smoke following the Haymarket riot.
Image 37Rally in Dhaka, organized by Jatiyo Nari Shramik Trade Union Kendra (National Women Workers Trade Union Centre), an organization affiliated with the Bangladesh Trade Union Kendra.
Image 38Camp put up by striking Pepsi-Cola workers, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2008.
Image 39John L. Lewis (right, President of the United Mine Workers, confers with Thomas Kennedy (left), UMW Secretary-Treasurer of the UMW, and a UMW official at the War Labor Board in 1943 about a coal miners' strike.
Image 40Strike leaders at the Paterson silk strike of 1913. From left, Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood.
Image 41J. Warren Madden, the first Chair of the National Labor Relations Board.
Image 42An AFL–CIO protest of Rite Aid, with Rev. Mark Reisinger (Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania), Bill George, and Richard Bloomingdale.
Image 43Registered nurses on strike in 2006 outside Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
Image 44Protesters barricade the street on June 22 during the 2006 Oaxaca protests.
Image 45The front page of the Union Record on the Seattle General Strike of 1919.
Image 46Armed vigilantes deport striking copper miners during the Bisbee Deportation in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12, 1917.
Image 47Former headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 900 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C., in 200.
Image 48Striking I.W.W. members confront Massachusetts National Guard troops in Boston, during the Lawrence textile strike in 1912.
Image 49May Day Rally in Mumbai, India, 2004.
Image 50Joe Hill.
Image 51American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Albert Shanker.
Image 52Strike sign used by the German Train Drivers' Union in the German national rail strike of 2007.
Image 53Striking teamsters armed with pipes battle police in the streets during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.
Image 54Cripple Creek, Colo., under martial law, during the 1894 strike.
Image 55Empty Gare du Nord train station during the November 2007 strikes in France.
Image 56The Ludlow massacre monument located in Ludlow, Colorado, United States.
Image 57Breaker boys, child laborers, working in a U.S. coal mine in 1911.
Image 58Union members picketing recent NLRB rulings outside the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters in November 2007.

Selected Quote

The miners are out of work... Their problem is much more than a mining problem—it concerns the standards of living not only for themselves but in other parts of the world."

— Eleanor Roosevelt.

Did you know

...that the supply of natural gas and electricity in New Orleans, ceased as a result of the 1892 New Orleans general strike, plunging the city into darkness for four nights?
...that in 1962 doctors went on strike in Saskatchewan for 23 days in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the introduction of universal health insurance?
...that Pierre Monatte was one of the few French trade-unionists and members of the French Left to oppose the Union sacrée national bloc during World War I?

Topics

Labour Timeline
List of trade unions
List of federations of trade unions
List of strikes
Labor Unions: International comparisons
International Trade Union Confederation
World Federation of Trade Unions
International Workers' Association
Industrial Workers of the World

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