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 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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Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation worldwide, although these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training, and some forms of work undertaken by Amish children, as well as by Indigenous children in the Americas.
Child labour has existed to varying extents throughout history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families worked in Western nations and their colonies alike. These children mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories, mining, and services such as news boys – some worked night shifts lasting 12 hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell.
, in the world's poorest countries, around one in five children are engaged in child labour, the highest number of whom live in sub-saharan Africa, where more than one in four children are so engaged. This represents a decline in child labour over the preceding half decade. In 2017, four African nations (Mali, Benin, Chad and Guinea-Bissau) witnessed over 50 per cent of children aged 5–14 working. Worldwide agriculture is the largest employer of child labour. The vast majority of child labour is found in rural settings and informal urban economies; children are predominantly employed by their parents, rather than factories. Poverty and lack of schools are considered the primary cause of child labour. UNICEF notes that "boys and girls are equally likely to be involved in child labour", but in different roles, girls being substantially more likely to perform unpaid household labour. (Full article...)June in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- June 01 - Matthew Woll died; the United Farm Workers conducted its first strike in 1966 in Texas; the Cananea strike began in 1906 in Mexico
- June 02 - During the 1952 steel strike, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer; the Child Labor Amendment was adopted by the U.S. Congress; Charles Moyer died
- June 03 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Hammer v. Dagenhart, outlawing child labor laws; Victor G. Reuther died; Emmanuel Christopher Loblack died
- June 04 - The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers affiliated with the CIO; Lou Cunningham was born
- June 05 - Teamsters for a Democratic Union was formed; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hague v. CIO; the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act became law
- June 06 - Don Farrell was born; CUPE 3902 was founded; N. M. Perera was born; Thomas Jackson died
- June 07 - The Steel Workers Organizing Committee was founded; the Matignon Agreements ended a general strike in 1936 in France; John Willcock died
- June 08 - Robert Lee Hill was born; Emil Rieve was born; Percy Wells was born
- June 09 - R. J. Thomas was born
- June 10 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co.; Frank Hayes died
- June 11 - John L. Lewis died; the Federación Sindical de Trabajadores Mineros de Bolivia was founded; José Bové was born
- June 12 - The 1981 Major League Baseball strike began in the U.S. and Canada; Philip Vera Cruz died
- June 13 - Israel Kugler was born; Tony Mazzocchi was born
- June 14 - 1911 Liverpool general transport strike began in the U.K.; government troops triggered the 2006 Oaxaca protests in Mexico
- June 15 - The Metal Trades Department, AFL–CIO was founded
- June 16 - Dave Beck was born
- June 18 - Battle of Ballantyne Pier occurred in Canada in 1935; the Battle of Orgreave occurred in 1984 in the U.K.
- June 19 - Nelson Cruikshank died; John W. Brown died; Tanong Po-arn disappeared
- June 20 - The American Railway Union was founded; Jim Bacon died; Evelyn Dubrow died; Alphonse Verville died
- June 21 - Nelson Cruikshank was born; the Herrin massacre occurred in 1922 in the U.S.; the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Congress of Industrial Organizations; the "Molly Maguires" were hanged in the U.S.; Frank Drozak died
- June 22 - Riots occurred during the Grunwick dispute in 1976 in the U.K.; Paul Hall died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Burlington Northern Railway v. White; the Sheffield Trades and Labour Council was founded; John Marius Trana was born
- June 23 - The Taft–Hartley Act became law in the U.S.
- June 24 - Terence V. Powderly died, Agnes Nestor was born
- June 25 - Winnipeg general strike of 1919 ended; the Smith–Connally Act became law in the U.S.
- June 26 - Timothy D. Murphy died; the Alliance of Concerned Teachers was formed; John W. Brown died; Emma Miller was born
- June 27 - The 1949 Australian coal strike began; the Industrial Workers of the World was founded; the Bureau of Labor Statistics was formed in the U.S.
- June 28 - President Grover Cleveland signed legislation establishing Labor Day in the U.S.; Alfred Miodowicz was born; Vere Bird died
- June 29 - The National Labor Relations Board was created; a lockout triggered the Homestead Strike; the merger of the blacksmiths and boilermakers formed the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; Edward J. Carlough died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Communications Workers of America v. Beck
- June 30 - Former labor union official Tomiichi Murayama became Prime Minister of Japan
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that during the Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003, all but one of Venezuelan chocolatier María Fernanda Di Giacobbe's ten businesses went bankrupt?
- ... 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 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 the 1913 Studebaker strike is regarded as the first major labor strike in the automotive industry?
- ... that up to 129,000 Canadian federal workers went on strike?
- ... that when journalist and trade unionist Nisn Pups was released from jail, the Communist Party of Lithuania instructed him to change his name?
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Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."
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— Mary Harris Jones. |
Did you know
- ...that the West End Street Railway fired Cyrus S. Ching in 1901 after he was nearly electrocuted on the job, only to appoint him manager two months later?
- ...that the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers lost 8,000 of its 15,000 members when Jamaica restructured local government services in 1984?
- ...that South African trade union legislation uses the term "conscientious objector" to refer to workers who do not want to join unions on the basis of personal beliefs?
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