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 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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Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation worldwide, although these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training, and some forms of work undertaken by Amish children, as well as by Indigenous children in the Americas.

Child labour has existed to varying extents throughout history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families worked in Western nations and their colonies alike. These children mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories, mining, and services such as news boys – some worked night shifts lasting 12 hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell.

, in the world's poorest countries, around one in five children are engaged in child labour, the highest number of whom live in sub-saharan Africa, where more than one in four children are so engaged. This represents a decline in child labour over the preceding half decade. In 2017, four African nations (Mali, Benin, Chad and Guinea-Bissau) witnessed over 50 per cent of children aged 5–14 working. Worldwide agriculture is the largest employer of child labour. The vast majority of child labour is found in rural settings and informal urban economies; children are predominantly employed by their parents, rather than factories. Poverty and lack of schools are considered the primary cause of child labour. UNICEF notes that "boys and girls are equally likely to be involved in child labour", but in different roles, girls being substantially more likely to perform unpaid household labour. (Full article...)

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May in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

May 01 - In 1884 Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States. Two years later, in 1886, the general strike which eventually won the eight-hour workday in the United States, began. These events are today commemorated as May Day or Labor Day in most industrialized countries; Thomas Lewis died; the 1946 Pilbara strike occurred in Australia; International Woodworkers of America merged with the International Association of Machinists; Mike Watson was born; the Taksim Square massacre occurred in Turkey in 1977
May 02 - Nazi Germany outlawed free trade unions and established the German Labour Front; Bernice Fisher died
May 03 - The International Typographical Union was founded; the Bay View Tragedy occurred in 1886 in the U.S.
May 04 - Haymarket Riot occurred in 1886 in the U.S.
May 05 - John Sweeney was born; Jackie Presser stepped down as Teamsters president due to cancer; James Duncan was born
May 06 - Miguel Contreras died; Frank Fitzsimmons died; Ludvik Buland was born
May 07 - Miguel Contreras was born; Maurice Hutcheson was born; David Sullivan was born
May 08 - Jerome Wurf was born; the Hard Hat riot occurred in the U.S. in 1970
May 09 - Elias Motsoaledi died; 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike began in the U.S.
May 10 - Isaac Theophilus Akunna Wallace-Johnson died; Walter Philip Reuther died; the 2008 Skorpion Zinc Strike began in Namibia
May 11 - William Konyha was born; Pullman Strike began in 1894 in the U.S.
May 12 - Coal Strike of 1902 began in the U.S.; the American Maritime Officers was founded
May 13 - Henk Sneevliet was born
May 14 - Arthur Moore (labor leader) was born; the Ådalen shootings occurred in Sweden in 1931
May 15 - Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum; Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 began; George Mock stepped down as president of the Teamsters after eight days; the Ulster Workers' Council Strike began in 1974 in Northern Ireland; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Gompers v. Buck's Stove and Range Co.; Arthur Creech Jones was born
May 16 - The Minneapolis General Strike of 1934 began in the U.S.; the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions was founded; the U.S. Supreme Court decided NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co.; A. Philip Randolph died
May 17 - The first Starbucks Workers Union was organized; former trade union leader Francisco Largo Caballero was deposed as prime minister of Spain
May 18 - Bill Haywood died; the Atlanta transit strike of 1950 began in the U.S.
May 19 - James P. Hoffa was born; the Battle of Matewan began in 1920 in the U.S.
May 21 - Cyrus S. Ching was born
May 22 - Agustín Tosco was born; the Steel Workers Organizing Committee was disbanded in 1942; the United Steel Workers of America was founded in 1942
May 23 - The "Battle of Toledo" occurred during the Auto-Lite Strike in 1934 in the U.S.
May 24 - The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals was founded; Peter J. Brennan was born
May 25 - Philip Murray was born; the Remington Rand strike of 1936–1937 began in the U.S.; Basdeo Panday was born; Will H. Daly was born
May 26 - Actors' Equity Association was founded; the Ohio Federation of Teachers was founded
May 27 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided In re Debs
May 29 - The Disney animators' strike began in 1941 in the U.S.; the Cordobazo uprising began in 1969 in Argentina; the 2006 TTC wildcat strike began in Canada
May 30 - William Sidell was born; the Memorial Day massacre of 1937 occurred in the U.S.; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Association
May 31 - W. A. Boyle died

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that in 1969, the first women's strike for equal pay in the Netherlands was called in a cigar factory in Nieuwe Pekela?
... that the British Tychon missile was developed from a Barnes Wallis concept to keep strike aircraft safe while dropping nuclear bombs?
... 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 following the ban of its labour unions in 1934, the Romanian United Socialist Party would rely on its youth and women's wings for political action?
... that Surinamese trade unionist Louis Doedel was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital by the governor-general for 43 years?
... that when journalist and trade unionist Nisn Pups was released from jail, the Communist Party of Lithuania instructed him to change his name?

Related Portals

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

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 the "Mohawk Valley formula," a strikebreaking plan devised during the Remington Rand strike of 1936–37, was declared by the National Labor Relations Board to be "a battle plan for industrial war"?
...that Sandra Feldman, former president of the American Federation of Teachers, was mentored by civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and arrested twice during the Freedom Rides?
...that in Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co. the U.S. Supreme Court held that preliminary work activities should be included as working time under the Fair Labor Standards Act?

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