Portal:Organized Labour

Introduction

A trade union, also called a labour union or labor union (US), is an organization of workers who have come together to achieve many common goals, such as protecting the integrity of their trade, improving safety standards, and attaining better wages, benefits (such as vacation, health care, and retirement), and working conditions through the increased bargaining power wielded by the creation of a monopoly of the workers. The trade union, through its leadership, 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, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.

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.

Read more...

Show new selections

edit

Selected article

Female tailors on strike, New York City, February 1910.

Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage, caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. In most countries, strike actions were quickly made illegal, as factory owners had far more power than workers. Most Western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. Occasionally, strikes destabilize the rule of a particular political party or ruler; in such cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance. Notable examples are the 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard or 1981 Warning Strike, led by Lech Wałęsa. These strikes were significant in the long campaign of civil resistance for political change in Poland, and were an important mobilizing effort that contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of communist party rule in eastern Europe. Read more...

edit

December in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

December 01 - W. A. Boyle was born; the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union was dissolved
December 02 - The Professional Footballers' Association was founded
December 03 - Tom Mooney died
December 04 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations were dissolved; George L. Berry died; the 2007 South Africa miners' strike occurred
December 05 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL–CIO
December 06 - Santa Marta massacre occurred in Colombia in 1928; the Bituminous coal strike of 1977–78 began in the U.S.; the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was founded
December 07 - The International Union of Operating Engineers was founded; the Fiji Teachers Union was founded; Vere Bird was born
December 08 - Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions disbanded to from the American Federation of Labor; Anil Moonesinghe died; Bernice Fisher was born
December 09 - Thomas Hepburn died; the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers was dissolved; Bob Hawke was born; Selig Perlman was born; Pablo Iglesias died
December 10 - Jean Maitron is born; the American Federation of Teachers won its first collective bargaining election
December 11 - The Union of Democratic Mineworkers was founded
December 12 - Ron Carey died; Michael Ratchford died; Anthony Provenzano died; Charles Ballam died; Tommy Lewis was born
December 13 - Samuel Gompers died; Bernard Kleiman died; William Spence died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Wheeler
December 15 - George Hardy was born; George W. Taylor died; Chico Mendes was born; Mark Hewitson was born; Clinton Jencks died
December 16 - The Rothbury riot occurred in 1929 in Australia
December 17 - Clarence Gillis died; Mustafa al-Hallaj died
December 18 - The Transport and General Workers' Union and Amicus voted to merge into a new union, Unite, in 2006; the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers was formed; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd.; Douglas Fraser was born; Randi Weingarten was born
December 19 - Frank Keys Foster was born; the Ford Strike of 1945 in Canada ended; B. T. Ranadive was born
December 20 - The 2005 New York City transit strike began; two of the Sydney Twelve were executed in Australia in 1916; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General); the Occupational Safety and Health Act became law in the U.S. in 1970; Richard Cordtz was born
December 21 - William Usery Jr. was born
December 22 - Chico Mendes died; the 2005 New York City transit strike ended
December 23 - 1929 Australian timber workers' strike began; Gunnar Sträng was born; Derek Simpson was born; Ella Vogelaar was born
December 24 - Ed Boyce died; the Electrical Trades Union of Australia was formed; Italian Hall Disaster in 1913
December 25 - Ed Hochuli was born; Bartholomew Ulufa'alu was born; Philip Vera Cruz was born
December 26 - A series of general strikes began in 1996 in South Korea; Dave Beck died
December 27 - Cyrus S. Ching died; Free Workers' Union of Germany was founded; William Konyha died; John La Rose was born; Makhan Singh was born
December 28 - Agnes Nestor died
December 29 - Flint sit-down strike began in 1936; the Indian Labour Organization was founded; Ted Theodore was born
December 30 - Bill Tytla died
December 31 - The International Typographical Union was dissolved; Joseph Yablonski was murdered on the orders of United Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle; John Garden died

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

edit

Selected Quote

Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice."

— Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Did you know...

... that Women Wage Peace held a 50-day hunger strike outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's formal residence in 2015?
... that Irish immigrant, anarchist, strike organiser, and New York surgeon Gertrude Kelly is commemorated by a children's park in Chelsea, Manhattan?
... that the only player strike in Japanese professional baseball history occurred during the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment and lasted for two days?
... that in 1919, Rose Finkelstein Norwood helped lead 8,000 switchboard operators in a six-day strike that paralyzed telephone service throughout New England?
... that the 1912 testimony of 14-year-old child laborer Carmela Teoli spurred labor reforms in Massachusetts, helped settle a strike, and raised wages for working men and women?
... that when Sisir Roy died in 1960, his sister Sudha Roy took over his post as general secretary of the United Trade Union Congress?

edit

Selected image

Nyctransitstrikesign.jpg

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) notice of subway closure during the 2005 New York City transit strike.
United Mine Workers of America poster circa 1902.
Striking workers march moments before the Swedish military opened fire, killing five workers during the Ådalen shootings.
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Albert Shanker.
Cripple Creek, Colo., under martial law, during the 1894 strike.
The Ludlow massacre monument located in Ludlow, Colorado, United States.
Marcha-obrera-Argentina-2005.jpg

Union members march in Argentina on Human Rights Day in December 2005. The signs read "Worker rights are human rights..
Breaker boys, child laborers, working in a U.S. coal mine in 1911.
Public and Commercial Services Union members on strike in Manchester 2006.
J. Warren Madden, the first Chair of the National Labor Relations Board.
Australian industrial relations legislation national day of protest, 2005.
Samuel Gompers.
Mumbaimaydayrally0645.jpg

May Day Rally in Mumbai, India, 2004.
Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, and his wife, circa 1908.
Picket signs at the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.
Registered nurses on strike in 2006 outside Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
Exaggerated 19th century engraving showing flames and smoke following the Haymarket riot.
An AFL–CIO protest of Rite Aid, with Rev. Mark Reisinger (Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania), Bill George, and Richard Bloomingdale.
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.
Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
Richard Trumka.
Lewis 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.
Striking teamsters armed with pipes battle police in the streets during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.
Abgesprerrter Place de la Sorbonne 18 Maerz 2006.jpg

The Place de la Sorbonne in Paris is closed by police during the 2006 labour protests in France.
Guatepepsi0885.jpg

Camp put up by striking Pepsi-Cola workers, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2008.
Political cartoon about the Coal Strike of 1902 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
William Green, president of the AFL–CIO from 1924 to 1952.
George Meany, former leader of the AFL–CIO.
Western Federation of Miners-Is Colorado in America.jpg

The Western Federation of Miners' famous flyer entitled "Is Colorado in America?".
Memorial marker for the Bay View Tragedy.
Wilma B. Liebman, chair, NLRB.
Illustration from the Brisbane Worker newspaper condemning the brutality of the Queensland Police on Black Friday during the 1912 Brisbane General Strike.
Strike sign used by the German Train Drivers' Union in the German national rail strike of 2007.
AFL–CIO unions protest outside Verizon headquarters in Philadelphia using a giant inflatable rat.
Striking I.W.W. members confront Massachusetts National Guard troops in Boston, during the Lawrence textile strike in 1912.
Big Bill Haywood, a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World.
8marchrallydhaka (55).jpg

Rally 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.
Armed vigilantes deport striking copper miners during the Bisbee Deportation in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12, 1917.
Empty Gare du Nord train station during the November 2007 strikes in France.
Members 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.
Protesters barricade the street on June 22 during the 2006 Oaxaca protests.
Joe Hill.
National Federation of Federal Employees officials sign a collective bargaining agreement with the U.S. 8th Army in October 2002.
Union elections with an illegal firing, 1951 to 2007.
Detail of monument to the Reesor Siding Strike of 1963.
A. Philip Randolph.
During World War II, a female aircraft worker checks electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California.
UMWA Former HQ 2008.jpg

Former headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 900 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C., in 200.
Union members picketing recent NLRB rulings outside the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters in November 2007.
Knights of Labor Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly.
Barges set ablaze by steelworkers during the Homestead strike in 1892.
Mounted police chase demonstrators through Vancouver's East End during the Battle of Ballantyne Pier in 1935.
The front page of the Union Record on the Seattle General Strike of 1919.
Crowd gathered outside old City Hall during the Winnipeg general strike, June 21, 1919.
Shields used by striking workers at the Carnegie Steel Works during the Homestead Strike in 1892.
Strike leaders at the Paterson silk strike of 1913. From left, Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood.
Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago, Illinois, during the Pullman Strike in 1894.
John 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.

edit

Project Tasks

The Organized Labour WikiProject is a group of editors who create and maintain labour-related articles. Here are some open tasks anybody can complete.