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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Anti-union violence is physical force intended to harm union officials, union organizers, union members, union sympathizers, or their families. It is most commonly used either during union organizing efforts, or during strikes. The aim most often is to prevent a union from forming, to destroy an existing union, or to reduce the effectiveness of a union or a particular strike action. If strikers prevent people or goods to enter or leave a workplace, violence may be used to allow people and goods to pass the picket line.

Violence against unions may be isolated, or may occur as part of a campaign that includes spying, intimidation, impersonation, disinformation, and sabotage. Violence in labor disputes may be the result of unreasonable polarization, or miscalculation. It may be willful and provoked, or senseless and tragic. On some occasions, violence in labor disputes may be purposeful and calculated, for example the hiring and deployment of goon squads to assault strikers.

Incidents of violence during periods of labor unrest are sometimes perceived differently by different parties. It is sometimes a challenge to ascertain the truth about labor-related violence, and incidents of violence committed by, or in the name of, unions or union workers have occurred as well. (Full article...)

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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 in the 1951 court case Kuzych v White, on appeal from the British Columbia Court of Appeal, five law lords of the British Judicial Committee ruled in favour of a Communist-led trade union?
... that Surinamese trade unionist Louis Doedel was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital by the governor-general for 43 years?
... that "The Strike" (1954), about an American officer's turmoil in ordering an air strike on his own men, was rated as Rod Serling's best script he had written to date?
... that the 2016 Jim Beam strike was the first labor strike in the company's history?
... that on March 2, 2022, 86 percent of workers in New York City's REI store voted in favor of the outdoor recreation retailer's first ever trade union, REI Union SoHo?
... that the opening day of a California TV station was affected by a strike when workers refused to cross a two-man picket line?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

"The idea that businesses will be driven to bankruptcy if strict environmental standards are adopted is the same tired line that has been brought up again and again since workers first organized to improve working conditions. It was brought up when child labor was eliminated, when the minimum wage was introduced, when Social Security and Unemployment Insurance were developed."

— Leonard Woodcock.

Did you know

...that despite the relatively low level of academic output by Professor Gary Chaison, he is widely cited in the American mass media?
...that the first comprehensive campaign of unionized labor was the subject of a 1979 Academy Award-winning film?
...that in the 1984 Brown v. Hotel and Restaurant Employees case, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a New Jersey gaming law requiring union leaders to be of good moral character?

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