Portal:Organized Labour

Introduction

Image created by Walter Crane to celebrate International Workers' Day (May Day, 1 May), 1889. The image depicts workers from the five populated continents (Africa, Asia, Americas, Australia and Europe) in unity underneath an angel representing freedom, fraternity and equality.

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 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, safe working conditions 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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The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands; in particular electricians, or inside wiremen, in the construction industry and lineworkers and other employees of public utilities. The union also represents some workers in the computer, telecommunications, and broadcasting industries, and other fields related to electrical work. (Full article...)

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January in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

January 01 - The 1966 New York City transit strike began; the United Transportation Union was founded; the Swedish Trade Union Confederation was founded; Union Network International was founded; the Workplace Relations Act 1996 entered into force in Australia
January 02 - The Sago Mine disaster occurred in the 2006 in the U.S.
January 03 - The 1929 Australian timber workers' strike began; Guy Ryder was born
January 04 - The St. John's University strike of 1966–67 began in the U.S.; the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union merged in 1999 with the United Paperworkers International Union to form the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union
January 05 - The 1891 Australian shearers' strike began; the 1919 Spartacist uprising began in Berlin
January 07 - Edward T. Hanley died; A. P. T. James died
January 08 - SEIU Local 1.on was founded
January 09 - Maurice Hutcheson died; Sol Chick Chaikin was born
January 11 - The 1912 Lawrence textile strike began in the U.S.; Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union merged with the United Steelworkers; Bogdan Borusewicz was born
January 12 - Cornelius Shea died
January 14 - The Reesor Siding strike of 1963 began in Canada; Joseph Glimco was born
January 15 - Michael Sommer was born; the song "Solidarity Forever" is written; the Steel strike of 1959 ends in the U.S.
January 16 - Dutta Samant was murdered; Leonard Woodcock died; Daniel John O'Donoghue died
January 17 - Pablo Manlapit was born
January 18 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Moyer v. Peabody in 1909; Mary Kenney O'Sullivan died; the 1912 Brisbane general strike began in Australia; the Dublin Lock-out ended in 1914; Paul Keating was born; the Great Bombay textile strike began
January 19 - Thomas Kennedy died; Morris Kight died; Bill Andersen died; Annie Buller died
January 20 - The Tunisian General Labour Union was founded; trade unions launched the 2005 civil unrest in Belize; Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch was born; Bruce Nissen was born
January 21 - Edward T. Hanley was born; Bill Andersen was born; J. H. Thomas died; Nicholas Pollard Sr. died
January 22 - The United Mine Workers was founded; Terence V. Powderly was born; Andrew Furuseth died; Chea Vichea was murdered; Gyula Peidl died; Ong Teng Cheong died
January 23 - David Sullivan died; Nikolaus Gross died
January 24 - The Wapping dispute began in 1986 in the U.K.; Emil Rieve died; the 1977 Massacre of Atocha occurred in Spain; Henri Krasucki died; Herbert Hill was born; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its reasoning in R.W.D.S.U., Local 558 v. Pepsi-Cola Canada Beverages (West) Ltd.; the Alliance for Labor Action was dissolved
January 25 - The Sheet Metal Workers' International Association was founded; Matthew Woll was born; Chummy Fleming died
January 26 - Bernard Kleiman was born
January 27 - Samuel Gompers was born; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB; Ben Tillett died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Adair v. United States; Frank Tudor was born
January 28 - Mike Quill died; Harry Lundeberg died; Mike Moore was born; James Scullin died
January 29 - The Timex strike began in 1993 in Scotland; Anna LoPizzo died; John M. Dunn died
January 30 - Edward Heitmann died
January 31 - The 1919 Battle of George Square occurred in Scotland; New Orleans fired all members of the United Teachers of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; Bob Semple died

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that 55,000 Berlin workers went on strike on 28 June 1916 to protest the arrest and trial of anti-war campaigner Karl Liebknecht?
... that the communist trade unionist Ditto Pölzl was a member of all three provisional state governments of Styria in 1945?
... that during the 1913 El Paso smelters' strike the Industrial Workers of the World and the Western Federation of Miners competed to organize the strikers with their respective labor unions?
... that the Russian airstrike on Kyiv TV Tower (video featured) killed Yevhenii Sakun, one of at least 14 civilian journalists killed in the line of duty during the Russo-Ukrainian War?
... 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 labor lawyer Dick Moss argued the 1975 case which resulted in the establishment of free agency in Major League Baseball?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor."

— A. Philip Randolph.

Did you know

...that Ralph Fasanella was pumping gas for money in 1972 when featured on the cover of New York Magazine as "...the best primitive painter since Grandma Moses"?
...that Richard Nixon credited Tony Mazzocchi with being the primary force behind enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970?
... that Cornell University labor law professor James A. Gross has worked as a labor relations mediator for the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball?

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