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 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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September in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- September 01 - Walter Reuther was born; William Z. Foster died; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers was formed; Working America was founded
- September 02 - Federal troops intervened in the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 in the U.S.; Franz Leopold Neumann died; the Rock Springs massacre occurred in 1885 in the U.S.
- September 04 - The Textile workers strike of 1934 began in the U.S.; former unionist Francisco Largo Caballero became prime minister of Spain; Thomas R. Donahue was born
- September 05 - Victor Gotbaum was born; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn died
- September 06 - Johan Nygaardsvold was born
- September 07 - Southampton Dock strike of 1890 began in the U.K.; Ela Bhatt was born; Cornelius Shea was born
- September 08 - The Delano grape strike began in 1965 in the U.S.; Kenneth Yablonski died; Ben Gold was born
- September 09 - John Mitchell died; the Hanapepe massacre occurred in 1924 in the Hawaii
- September 10 - Lattimer massacre occurred in the U.S.
- September 11 - Russell Crowell died
- September 12 - Tom Mooney was born; George L. Berry was born
- September 13 - Amado V. Hernández was born; Carlos Bulosan died; George Hardy died
- September 14 - Albert Shanker was born; the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act became law in the U.S.; the U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 ended in the U.S.; Leon J. Davis died; the German Trade Union of the Police was founded in 1950; James Duncan died
- September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny occurred in 1931 in the U.K.; the Free Workers' Union of Germany was founded in 1919
- September 16 - The 2004–05 NHL lockout began in the U.S. and Canada; the Farm Labor Organizing Committee signed a first contract with the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in the U.S.
- September 17 - Miguel Contreras was born; David Dubinsky died; the National Federation of Federal Employees was formed
- September 18 - Sandra Feldman died; James Scullin was born; Teamsters for a Democratic Union was founded; Thomas E. Scanlon was born; Mary Lee died
- September 19 - Joe Glazer died; the National Football League Players Association struck in 1982 in the U.S.
- September 20 - Lewis B. Schwellenbach was born; Sam Church was born; Nathan Feinsinger was born; the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union was founded
- September 21 - John White died; Arlene Holt Baker became the first African-American officer of the AFL–CIO in 2007
- September 22 - Steel strike of 1919 began in the U.S.; the Winter of Discontent began in the U.K. as workers struck Ford
- September 23 - The Sydney Twelve were arrested in 1916 in Australia
- September 24 - The Workers Trade Union Law is passed in Bahrain
- September 25 - The Atomic Trades and Labor Council was founded; the Health Professionals and Allied Employees conducted its first strike in 1979 in the U.S.
- September 26 - The Temple University Graduate Students Association was founded
- September 27 - The Santa Barbara News-Press unionization effort began in the U.S.; the Change to Win Federation was formed
- September 28 - Alice Mahon was born
- September 29 - The Liverpool dockers' strike began in 1995 in the UK.
- September 30 - Ignatius Wolfington died; the first legal version of Solidarity was formed in 1985 in Poland
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By virtually all measures (National Labor Relations Act) is derelict if not dead.
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— Wilma B. Liebman, National Labor Relations Board member, May 2007. |
Did you know
- ...that the Farm Labor Organizing Committee's 2004 collective bargaining agreement with the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. marked the first time an American labor union represented guest workers?
- ...that during a copper miners' strike in Michigan in 1913, labor leader Charles Moyer was shot in the back by unknown assailants and then expelled by Calumet city police while still bleeding?
- ...that the National Labor Board established the doctrine of representational exclusivity in American labor relations, a rule still used today?
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