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 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...)

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December in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

December 01 - W. A. Boyle was born; the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union was dissolved
December 02 - The Professional Footballers' Association was founded
December 03 - Tom Mooney died
December 04 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations were dissolved; George L. Berry died; the 2007 South Africa miners' strike occurred
December 05 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL–CIO
December 06 - Santa Marta massacre occurred in Colombia in 1928; the Bituminous coal strike of 1977–78 began in the U.S.; the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was founded
December 07 - The International Union of Operating Engineers was founded; the Fiji Teachers Union was founded; Vere Bird was born
December 08 - Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions disbanded to from the American Federation of Labor; Anil Moonesinghe died; Bernice Fisher was born
December 09 - Thomas Hepburn died; the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers was dissolved; Bob Hawke was born; Selig Perlman was born; Pablo Iglesias died
December 10 - Jean Maitron is born; the American Federation of Teachers won its first collective bargaining election
December 11 - The Union of Democratic Mineworkers was founded
December 12 - Ron Carey died; Michael Ratchford died; Anthony Provenzano died; Charles Ballam died; Tommy Lewis was born
December 13 - Samuel Gompers died; Bernard Kleiman died; William Spence died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Wheeler
December 15 - George Hardy was born; George W. Taylor died; Chico Mendes was born; Mark Hewitson was born; Clinton Jencks died
December 16 - The Rothbury riot occurred in 1929 in Australia
December 17 - Clarence Gillis died; Mustafa al-Hallaj died
December 18 - The Transport and General Workers' Union and Amicus voted to merge into a new union, Unite, in 2006; the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers was formed; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd.; Douglas Fraser was born; Randi Weingarten was born
December 19 - Frank Keys Foster was born; the Ford Strike of 1945 in Canada ended; B. T. Ranadive was born
December 20 - The 2005 New York City transit strike began; two of the Sydney Twelve were executed in Australia in 1916; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General); the Occupational Safety and Health Act became law in the U.S. in 1970; Richard Cordtz was born
December 21 - William Usery Jr. was born
December 22 - Chico Mendes died; the 2005 New York City transit strike ended
December 23 - 1929 Australian timber workers' strike began; Gunnar Sträng was born; Derek Simpson was born; Ella Vogelaar was born
December 24 - Ed Boyce died; the Electrical Trades Union of Australia was formed; Italian Hall Disaster in 1913
December 25 - Ed Hochuli was born; Bartholomew Ulufa'alu was born; Philip Vera Cruz was born
December 26 - A series of general strikes began in 1996 in South Korea; Dave Beck died
December 27 - Cyrus S. Ching died; Free Workers' Union of Germany was founded; William Konyha died; John La Rose was born; Makhan Singh was born
December 28 - Agnes Nestor died
December 29 - Flint sit-down strike began in 1936; the Indian Labour Organization was founded; Ted Theodore was born
December 30 - Bill Tytla died
December 31 - The International Typographical Union was dissolved; Joseph Yablonski was murdered on the orders of United Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle; John Garden 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 on February 3, 1986, African Independence Party leaders Adama Touré and Adama Touré were released from detention?
... that up to 129,000 Canadian federal workers went on strike?
... that the murder of Luisa Lallana sparked a general strike in Rosario, Argentina?
... 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 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?

Related Portals

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

Selected Quote

Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and bruised itself. We have been enjoined by the courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, traduced by the press, frowned upon in public opinion, and deceived by politicians. But notwithstanding all this and all these, labor is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun."

— Eugene V. Debs.

Did you know

...that in 1954, the Federal Communications Commission sought to force union attorney Edward Lamb to surrender his broadcasting license on the grounds that he associated with communists?
...that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that an employer lockout during a whipsaw strike is not an unfair labor practice under the National Labor Relations Act?
... that only six of the U.S. Supreme Court's nine justices participated in a 1950 anti-communist oath case?

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