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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The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 60 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million active and retired workers. The AFL-CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism, typically in support of progressive and pro-labor policies.

The AFL-CIO was formed in 1955 when the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged after a long estrangement. Union membership in the US peaked in 1979, when the AFL-CIO's affiliated unions had nearly twenty million members. From 1955 until 2005, the AFL-CIO's member unions represented nearly all unionized workers in the United States. Several large unions split away from AFL-CIO and formed the rival Change to Win Federation in 2005, although a number of those unions have since re-affiliated, and many locals of Change to Win are either part of or work with their local central labor councils. The largest unions currently in the AFL-CIO are the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) with approximately 1.7 million members, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), with approximately 1.4 million members, and United Food and Commercial Workers with 1.2 million members. (Full article...)

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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

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that a number of bus drivers who participated in a strike were unaware that it was illegally held?
... 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?
... that on February 3, 1986, African Independence Party leaders Adama Touré and Adama Touré were released from detention?
... that "The Strike" (1954), about an American officer's turmoil in ordering an air strike on his own men, was rated as Rod Serling's best script he had written to date?
... that the 2016 Jim Beam strike was the first labor strike in the company's history?
... that the murder of Luisa Lallana sparked a general strike in Rosario, Argentina?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

"I would rather sit with the rural poor, the desperate children of urban blight, the victims of racism, and working people seeking a better life than with those whose religion is the status quo, whose goal is profit and whose hearts are cold."

— Douglas Fraser

Did you know

...that the Dutch National Labor Secretariat once lost many members because each union received one vote but had to pay dues for each member, severely disadvantaging larger unions?
...that lobbying by the International Seamen's Union led to the abolition of the practice of imprisoning seamen who deserted their ship in the United States in 1915?
... that American lawyer Lloyd K. Garrison was chairman of the "first" National Labor Relations Board, the National War Labor Board, and the New York City Board of Education?

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