Portal:Organized Labour
Introduction
- 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 and Slavic 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...)
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Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. As striking became a more common practice, governments were often pushed to act (either by private business or by union workers). When government intervention occurred, it was rarely neutral or amicable. Early strikes were often deemed unlawful conspiracies or anti-competitive cartel action and many were subject to massive legal repression by state police, federal military power, and federal courts. Many Western nations legalized striking under certain conditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. Occasionally, strikes destabilize the rule of a particular political party or ruler; in such cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance. Notable examples are the 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard and the 1981 Warning Strike led by Lech Wałęsa. These strikes were significant in the long campaign of civil resistance for political change in Poland, and were an important mobilizing effort that contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of communist party rule in Eastern Europe. Another example is the general strike in Weimar Germany that followed the March 1920 Kapp Putsch. It was called by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and received such broad support that it resulted in the collapse of the putsch. (Full article...)
November in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- November 01 - Malbone Street Wreck occurs on the first day of the BLE strike in 1918 in the U.S.; the first congress of the International Trade Union Confederation is held; the International Harvester strike of 1979–80 began
- November 02 - Brian Behan died
- November 03 - Nathan Feinsinger died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Marquez v. Screen Actors Guild Inc.; Dennis McDermott was born
- November 04 - Tomasz Arciszewski was born; James Green was born
- November 05 - Eugene V. Debs was born; Nimrod Workman was born; Agustín Tosco died; the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike began
- November 06 - Lloyd McBride died
- November 08 - Ed Boyce was born; the 1892 New Orleans general strike began
- November 09 - Congress of Industrial Organizations founded in the U.S.; Philip Murray died; Danny Greene was born; the Chicago Federation of Labor is founded
- November 11 - Centralia massacre occurs in the U.S.
- November 12 - Bituminous coal strike of 1974 begins in the U.S.; the Democratic Confederation of San Marino Workers is formed
- November 13 - The UK firefighter dispute 2002–03 begins; Karen Silkwood died; the International Typographical Union begins publishing the Green Bay News-Chronicle during a strike
- November 14 - The High Court of Australia issues its ruling in New South Wales v Commonwealth, upholding the validity of WorkChoices; Daniel J. Tobin died; the 2007 German national rail strike began
- November 15 - Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions founded in the U.S.; Raymond McKay was born
- November 16 - Jean Maitron died; the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers is founded; Georges Marchais died
- November 17 - Harold J. Gibbons died
- November 18 - Chris Watson died
- November 19 - William J. McCarthy died; Joe Hill is executed; the National Writers Union is formed
- November 20 - Giles Hart was born; Richard Cordtz died
- November 21 - William Green died; the Columbine Mine massacre occurred in 1927 in the U.S.
- November 22 - David McDonald was born; Philip Murray is elected president of the CIO
- November 23 - Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. died
- November 24 - Charles Millard died
- November 25 - George Mock died; the 2006 Progressive Enterprises dispute begins in New Zealand; Ted Saskin becomes executive director of the NHLPA in 2005
- November 26 - The National Confederation of the Trade-Union Organizations of Ukraine is formed; Nimrod Workman died; Eliot V. Elliott died
- November 27 - Donald Richberg died
- November 28 - The U.S. Supreme Court decides Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America; André Morell died; William McFetridge was born
- November 29 - John P. Frey died
- November 30 - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones died; the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea is formed
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... 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 Jennifer Bates led thousands of Amazon warehouse workers to petition a vote for a union in Bessemer, Alabama?
- ... that John Sterling, Anthony Harrison and Chuck Compton were all signed by the Green Bay Packers as replacement players because of a players' strike during the 1987 NFL season?
- ... that after being arrested for organizing a general strike in 1920, S. Girinis was sent to the Soviet Union following a Soviet-Lithuanian exchange of political prisoners?
- ... that the opening day of a California TV station was affected by a strike when workers refused to cross a two-man picket line?
- ... that the murder of Luisa Lallana sparked a general strike in Rosario, Argentina?
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"We're the only industrial nation in the world where if you strike the employer can replace you with scabs—permanently. That's not a right to strike. That's a right to commit suicide."
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— Tony Mazzocchi |
Did you know
- ...that Norwegian-born merchant seaman Harry Lundeberg became a labor leader in the United States?
- ...that during the Bisbee Deportation, Phelps Dodge Corporation executives seized control of the town's telegraph and telephones to prevent news of the kidnappings from being reported?
- ... that although formally banned, the Iranian communist Central Council of United Trade Unions was able to revive its activities under the rule of Mohammad Mosaddegh in the early 1950s?
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