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 eight-hour day (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses of working time.

The modern movement originated in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life. At that time, the working day could range from 10 to 16 hours, the work week was typically six days, and child labour was common. In 1593, Spain became the first country to introduce the eight-hour work day by law for factory and fortification workers. In contemporary era, it was established for non-agricultural workers by Uruguay in 1915.^{[dead link]} (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

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that on February 3, 1986, African Independence Party leaders Adama Touré and Adama Touré were released from detention?
... that the execution of Burkinabé trade union leader Soumane Touré was prevented by the intervention of his childhood friend, then-president Thomas Sankara?
... that during the Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003, all but one of Venezuelan chocolatier María Fernanda Di Giacobbe's ten businesses went bankrupt?
... that after Kellogg's announced plans to replace striking workers in 2021, members of r/antiwork organized to submit fake applications to the company's hiring system?
... that shortly after a missile strike on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters, Oleksiy Danilov said that the fleet could be "sliced up like a salami" at a later date?
... 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?

Related Portals

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

Selected Quote

- Our main duty is to consider the needs of others. If we become alive to this duty, there will be no unjustly treated people in our midst, and we, in turn, shall not be treated unjustly. Our day-to-day motto should be: "Your problems are also my problems." We must extend our friendship and strengthen our solidarity.

— Anna Walentynowicz.

Did you know

...that firing of Anna Walentynowicz, a Polish free trade union activist, was one of the events that led to the giant wave of strikes in Poland and eventually the creation of Solidarity?
...that Richard Nixon credited Tony Mazzocchi with being the primary force behind enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970?
... that in 1955 the Indonesian film workers union Sarbufis launched a campaign to ban American newsreel film?

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