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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IBEW members holding cutouts of the IBEW logo at a rally

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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May in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

May 01 - In 1884 Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States. Two years later, in 1886, the general strike which eventually won the eight-hour workday in the United States, began. These events are today commemorated as May Day or Labor Day in most industrialized countries; Thomas Lewis died; the 1946 Pilbara strike occurred in Australia; International Woodworkers of America merged with the International Association of Machinists; Mike Watson was born; the Taksim Square massacre occurred in Turkey in 1977
May 02 - Nazi Germany outlawed free trade unions and established the German Labour Front; Bernice Fisher died
May 03 - The International Typographical Union was founded; the Bay View Tragedy occurred in 1886 in the U.S.
May 04 - Haymarket Riot occurred in 1886 in the U.S.
May 05 - John Sweeney was born; Jackie Presser stepped down as Teamsters president due to cancer; James Duncan was born
May 06 - Miguel Contreras died; Frank Fitzsimmons died; Ludvik Buland was born
May 07 - Miguel Contreras was born; Maurice Hutcheson was born; David Sullivan was born
May 08 - Jerome Wurf was born; the Hard Hat riot occurred in the U.S. in 1970
May 09 - Elias Motsoaledi died; 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike began in the U.S.
May 10 - Isaac Theophilus Akunna Wallace-Johnson died; Walter Philip Reuther died; the 2008 Skorpion Zinc Strike began in Namibia
May 11 - William Konyha was born; Pullman Strike began in 1894 in the U.S.
May 12 - Coal Strike of 1902 began in the U.S.; the American Maritime Officers was founded
May 13 - Henk Sneevliet was born
May 14 - Arthur Moore (labor leader) was born; the Ådalen shootings occurred in Sweden in 1931
May 15 - Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum; Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 began; George Mock stepped down as president of the Teamsters after eight days; the Ulster Workers' Council Strike began in 1974 in Northern Ireland; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Gompers v. Buck's Stove and Range Co.; Arthur Creech Jones was born
May 16 - The Minneapolis General Strike of 1934 began in the U.S.; the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions was founded; the U.S. Supreme Court decided NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co.; A. Philip Randolph died
May 17 - The first Starbucks Workers Union was organized; former trade union leader Francisco Largo Caballero was deposed as prime minister of Spain
May 18 - Bill Haywood died; the Atlanta transit strike of 1950 began in the U.S.
May 19 - James P. Hoffa was born; the Battle of Matewan began in 1920 in the U.S.
May 21 - Cyrus S. Ching was born
May 22 - Agustín Tosco was born; the Steel Workers Organizing Committee was disbanded in 1942; the United Steel Workers of America was founded in 1942
May 23 - The "Battle of Toledo" occurred during the Auto-Lite Strike in 1934 in the U.S.
May 24 - The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals was founded; Peter J. Brennan was born
May 25 - Philip Murray was born; the Remington Rand strike of 1936–1937 began in the U.S.; Basdeo Panday was born; Will H. Daly was born
May 26 - Actors' Equity Association was founded; the Ohio Federation of Teachers was founded
May 27 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided In re Debs
May 29 - The Disney animators' strike began in 1941 in the U.S.; the Cordobazo uprising began in 1969 in Argentina; the 2006 TTC wildcat strike began in Canada
May 30 - William Sidell was born; the Memorial Day massacre of 1937 occurred in the U.S.; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Association
May 31 - W. A. Boyle died

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the day after returning to Atlanta following his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. joined picketers who were on strike against Scripto?
... that the 56-foot-tall (17 m) monument to the theologian Samuel Rutherford near his parish church in Anwoth was badly damaged by a lightning strike five years after its construction?
... 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 members of the Trade Union Opposition Federation stormed the Copenhagen Stock Exchange?
... that the murder of Luisa Lallana sparked a general strike in Rosario, Argentina?
... that Russian pianist Pavel Kushnir died on a hunger strike after his arrest for anti-war videos posted on a YouTube channel with five subscribers?

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

Selected Quote

What is a labour victory? I maintain that it is a twofold thing. Workers must gain economic advantage, but they must also gain revolutionary spirit, in order to achieve a complete victory. For workers to gain a few cents more a day, a few minutes less a day, and go back to work with the same psychology, the same attitude toward society is to achieve a temporary gain and not a lasting victory."

— Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Did you know

...that Herbert Gutman co-founded the "new labor history" school of thought, which focuses on the effects that ordinary people have had on the history of labor?
...that two people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed during the 2008 Egyptian general strike?
...that despite the relatively low level of academic output by Professor Gary Chaison, he is widely cited in the American mass media?

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