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 National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is Alex Gordon and its current General Secretary is Mick Lynch.

The RMT is one of Britain's fastest growing trade unions. Membership rose under and following the leadership of Bob Crow, increasing from 57,000 in 2002 to almost 81,500 in 2019. (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 on February 3, 1986, African Independence Party leaders Adama Touré and Adama Touré were released from detention?
... that up to 129,000 Canadian federal workers went on strike?
... that 55,000 Berlin workers went on strike on 28 June 1916 to protest the arrest and trial of anti-war campaigner Karl Liebknecht?
... 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 the Russian airstrike on Kyiv TV Tower (video featured) killed Yevhenii Sakun, one of at least 14 civilian journalists killed in the line of duty during the Russo-Ukrainian War?
... 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?

Related Portals

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

Selected Quote

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 before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the United Teachers of New Orleans was the largest trade union in the city?
...that Alliance for Labor Action launched a $4 million organizing drive targeting African American workers in Atlanta, Georgia, in the fall of 1969?
... that the British Labour Party politician and trade unionist Richard Kelley opposed allowing coal miners to leave work early if they had finished their day's tasks?

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