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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become teachers. The NEA has just under 3 million members and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The NEA had a budget of more than $341 million for the 2012–2013 fiscal year. Becky Pringle is the NEA's current president.

During the early 20th century, the National Education Association was among the leading progressive advocates of establishing a United States Department of Education.

Driven by pressure from teacher organizing, by the 1970s the NEA transformed from an education advocacy organization to a rank-and-file union. In the decades since, the association has continued to represent organized teachers and other school workers in collective bargaining and to lobby for progressive education policy. The NEA's political agenda frequently brings it into conflict with conservative interest groups. State affiliates of the NEA regularly lobby state legislators for funding, seek to influence education policy, and file legal actions. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

July in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

July 01 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 began in the U.S.; the Regina Riot occurred during the On-to-Ottawa Trek in Canada in 1935; Lee Pressman was born; P. H. McCarthy died; the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia was founded; the Westmoreland County coal strike of 1910–11 ended in the U.S.
July 02 - William J. McCarthy was born; Edward Ikem Okeke died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown v. Hotel and Restaurant Employees
July 03 - The United States Army began suppression of the American Railway Union during the Pullman Strike in 1894
July 04 - The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention came into force
July 05 - "Bloody Thursday" occurred during the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike in the U.S.
July 06 - Peter J. McGuire was born; the Homestead Strike culminated with a battle between Pinkerton agents and striking workers
July 07 - Eugene V. Debs was arrested during the Pullman Strike in 1894; the 1998 Puerto Rican general strike began
July 08 - Jesse Simons died
July 09 - Jackie Presser died; the Transport Workers Union of America won the "Squeegee Strike" at the IRT in 1935
July 10 - Sidney Hillman died; George W. Taylor was born; Donald Richberg was born
July 11 - Frank Duffy died; Sigurd Lucassen was born
July 12 - The British Columbia Teachers' Federation was founded; Arnold Miller died; Clara Lemlich died; Edgar Nixon was born; the Bisbee Deportation occurred in the U.S. in 1917
July 13 - The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 began
July 14 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began in the U.S.
July 15 - The Steel strike of 1959 began in the U.S.; Set Persson died; Michael Costa was born; the Vancouver Police Union was founded
July 16 - Frank Rudolph Crosswaith was born
July 17 - The Cape Breton coal strike of 1981 began in Canada
July 18 - William J. McCarthy defeated Weldon Mathis as Teamsters president in 1988; Robert Georgine was born; the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, one of the two primary labour conventions of the ILO, came into force
July 19 - The Hatch Act of 1939 was extended to cover state and local government workers in the U.S.; Benjamin Gitlow died; Rhoda Williams died
July 20 - The Newsboys' strike of 1899 began
July 22 - Patrick J. Campbell was born; the 2004–05 NHL lockout ended in the U.S. and Canada
July 23 - Emma Tenayuca died
July 24 - The 1952 steel strike ended in the U.S.; Ben Gold died; the Alliance for Labor Action is formed
July 25 - Farrell Dobbs was born; the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters announced their intention to leave the AFL–CIO; labor attorney Arthur Goldberg resigned as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
July 26 - Elias Motsoaledi was born; William Trenwith died; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, banning workplace discrimination based on disability, became law
July 27 - The Polish film Man of Iron was released in 1981
July 28 - Harry Bridges was born; the 1913 Paterson silk strike ended in the U.S.; Florence Cohen was born
July 29 - The Sailors' Union of the Pacific was formed; the United Food and Commercial Workers disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO
July 30 - Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975; the Arizona copper mine strike of 1983 began in the U.S.
July 31 - Edward T. Hanley resigned as president of HERE after a corruption scandal

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that during the 1913 El Paso smelters' strike the Industrial Workers of the World and the Western Federation of Miners competed to organize the strikers with their respective labor unions?
... that a 1994 lightning strike in Egypt led to 469 deaths after oil tanks were ignited and flooded the village of Dronka with burning fuel?
... that in 1977, Appalachian folk singer Phyllis Boyens performed at a Christmas benefit concert to support Kentucky coal miners who had been on strike for 17 months?
... that Italian anarchists founded the first trade union for bakers in Argentina?
... that Marco van Basten's strike in the UEFA Euro 1988 Final was described as "perhaps the most iconic goal in UEFA European Championship history"?
... that in 1969, the first women's strike for equal pay in the Netherlands was called in a cigar factory in Nieuwe Pekela?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

I am opposed to 'right to work' legislation because it does nothing for working people, but instead gives employers the right to exploit labor."

— Eleanor Roosevelt.

Did you know

...that Ralph Fasanella was pumping gas for money in 1972 when featured on the cover of New York Magazine as "...the best primitive painter since Grandma Moses"?
...that unions sometimes permit local or regional variations in master contracts in order to meet special economic, competitive, or other needs of employers?
... that the McClellan Committee served 8,000 subpoenas, took testimony from 1,526 witnesses (343 of whom invoked the Fifth Amendment), and compiled almost 150,000 pages of evidence?

More Did You Know?

Topics

Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Organized Labour-related articles, see Organized Labour WikiProject.