Portal:Organized Labour
Introduction

The trade union, through an elected leadership and bargaining committee, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members (rank and file members) and negotiates labour contracts (collective bargaining) with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment". This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, occupational health and safety standards, complaint procedures, rules governing status of employees including promotions, just cause conditions for termination, and employment benefits.
Unions may organize a particular section of skilled workers (craft unionism), a cross-section of workers from various trades (general unionism), or attempt to organize all workers within a particular industry (industrial unionism). The agreements negotiated by a union are binding on the rank and file members and the employer and in some cases on other non-member workers. Trade unions traditionally have a constitution which details the governance of their bargaining unit and also have governance at various levels of government depending on the industry that binds them legally to their negotiations and functioning.
Originating in Great Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of individual workers, professionals, past workers, students, apprentices or the unemployed. Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a trade union, is highest in the Nordic countries. (Full article...)
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The Italian Labour Union or UIL, in Italian Unione Italiana del Lavoro, is a national trade union center in Italy. It was founded in 1950 as socialist, social democratic, (republican) and laic split from Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL, Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro). It represents almost 2.2 million workers.
The UIL is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). (Full article...)January in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- January 01 - The 1966 New York City transit strike began; the United Transportation Union was founded; the Swedish Trade Union Confederation was founded; Union Network International was founded; the Workplace Relations Act 1996 entered into force in Australia
- January 02 - The Sago Mine disaster occurred in the 2006 in the U.S.
- January 03 - The 1929 Australian timber workers' strike began; Guy Ryder was born
- January 04 - The St. John's University strike of 1966–67 began in the U.S.; the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union merged in 1999 with the United Paperworkers International Union to form the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union
- January 05 - The 1891 Australian shearers' strike began; the 1919 Spartacist uprising began in Berlin
- January 07 - Edward T. Hanley died; A. P. T. James died
- January 08 - SEIU Local 1.on was founded
- January 09 - Maurice Hutcheson died; Sol Chick Chaikin was born
- January 11 - The 1912 Lawrence textile strike began in the U.S.; Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union merged with the United Steelworkers; Bogdan Borusewicz was born
- January 12 - Cornelius Shea died
- January 14 - The Reesor Siding strike of 1963 began in Canada; Joseph Glimco was born
- January 15 - Michael Sommer was born; the song "Solidarity Forever" is written; the Steel strike of 1959 ends in the U.S.
- January 16 - Dutta Samant was murdered; Leonard Woodcock died; Daniel John O'Donoghue died
- January 17 - Pablo Manlapit was born
- January 18 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Moyer v. Peabody in 1909; Mary Kenney O'Sullivan died; the 1912 Brisbane general strike began in Australia; the Dublin Lock-out ended in 1914; Paul Keating was born; the Great Bombay textile strike began
- January 19 - Thomas Kennedy died; Morris Kight died; Bill Andersen died; Annie Buller died
- January 20 - The Tunisian General Labour Union was founded; trade unions launched the 2005 civil unrest in Belize; Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch was born; Bruce Nissen was born
- January 21 - Edward T. Hanley was born; Bill Andersen was born; James Henry Thomas died; Nicholas Pollard Sr. died
- January 22 - The United Mine Workers was founded; Terence V. Powderly was born; Andrew Furuseth died; Chea Vichea was murdered; Gyula Peidl died; Ong Teng Cheong died
- January 23 - David Sullivan died; Nikolaus Gross died
- January 24 - The Wapping dispute began in 1986 in the U.K.; Emil Rieve died; the 1977 Massacre of Atocha occurred in Spain; Henri Krasucki died; Herbert Hill was born; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its reasoning in R.W.D.S.U., Local 558 v. Pepsi-Cola Canada Beverages (West) Ltd.; the Alliance for Labor Action was dissolved
- January 25 - The Sheet Metal Workers' International Association was founded; Matthew Woll was born; Chummy Fleming died
- January 26 - Bernard Kleiman was born
- January 27 - Samuel Gompers was born; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB; Ben Tillett died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Adair v. United States; Frank Tudor was born
- January 28 - Mike Quill died; Harry Lundeberg died; Mike Moore was born; James Scullin died
- January 29 - The Timex strike began in 1993 in Scotland; Anna LoPizzo died; John M. Dunn died
- January 30 - Edward Heitmann died
- January 31 - The 1919 Battle of George Square occurred in Scotland; New Orleans fired all members of the United Teachers of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; Bob Semple died
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the web series Avrodh: The Siege Within meticulously details the planning for India's retaliatory military strike following the 2016 Uri terrorist attacks?
- ... that Ottilie Baader was one of the founders of the first trade union organization for women in Germany?
- ... that Hurricane Dorian was the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Bahamas?
- ... that Józefa Joteyko believed that wages should be based upon scientific research and the amount of effort required to do a job, rather than arbitrary factors like gender?
- ... that Italy bombed a Swedish hospital in Dolo during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War?
- ... that one out of ten labourers in the haruwa–charuwa system is forced to work when seriously ill or injured, and may still face deduction or non-payment of wages?
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In spite of oppressors, in spite of false leaders, in spite of labor's own lack of understanding of its needs, the cause of the worker continues onward. Slowly his hours are shortened, giving him leisure to read and to think. Slowly his standard of living rises to include some of the good and beautiful things of the world. Slowly the cause of his children becomes the cause of all. His boy is taken from the breaker, his girl from the mill. Slowly those who create the wealth of the world are permitted to share it. The future is in labor's strong, rough hands." | ![]() |
— Mary Harris Jones. |
Did you know
- ...that the Alliance for Retired Americans was instrumental in enacting Medicare?
- ...that the Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local 28 in New York City negotiated the first pension plan in the construction industry?
- ... that the miners' union leader Óscar Salas Moya was a candidate for vice-president of Bolivia in 1985?
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