Portal:Organized Labour

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Introduction

The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade unionorlabour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considered an instance of class conflict.

• Intrade 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 (inGermanic and Slavic countries), a socialist party (inRomance 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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• Intrade 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 (inGermanic and Slavic countries), a socialist party (inRomance 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. (Full article...)

July in Labor 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 Strikein1894
• 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 Strikein1894; 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 IRTin1935
• 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 MathisasTeamsters 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

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Image 2Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) notice of subway closure during the 2005 New York City transit strike.

Image 3Striking teamsters armed with pipes battle police in the streets during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.

Image 4Union elections with an illegal firing, 1951 to 2007.

Image 5Empty Gare du Nord train station during the November 2007 strikes in France.

Image 6Richard Trumka.

Image 7Strike leaders at the Paterson silk strike of 1913. From left, Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood.

Image 8Camp put up by striking Pepsi-Cola workers, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2008.

Image 9United Mine Workers of America poster circa 1902.

Image 10Knights of Labor Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly.

Image 11Strike sign used by the German Train Drivers' Union in the German national rail strike of 2007.

Image 12Lewis 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 13A. Philip Randolph.

Image 14Samuel Gompers.

Image 15John 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 16Exaggerated 19th century engraving showing flames and smoke following the Haymarket riot.

Image 17The Ludlow massacre monument located in Ludlow, Colorado, United States.

Image 18Detail of monument to the Reesor Siding Strike of 1963.

Image 19Crowd gathered outside old City Hall during the Winnipeg general strike, June 21, 1919.

Image 20Former headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 900 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C., in 200.

Image 21Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

Image 22American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Albert Shanker.

Image 23Picket signs at the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.

Image 24Big Bill Haywood, a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Image 25Rally 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 26George Meany, former leader of the AFL–CIO.

Image 27J. Warren Madden, the first Chair of the National Labor Relations Board.

Image 28During World War II, a female aircraft worker checks electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft CorporationinBurbank, California.

Image 29Breaker boys, child laborers, working in a U.S. coal mine in 1911.

Image 30Illustration from the Brisbane Worker newspaper condemning the brutality of the Queensland PoliceonBlack Friday during the 1912 Brisbane General Strike.

Image 31Barges set ablaze by steelworkers during the Homestead strikein1892.

Image 32Joe Hill.

Image 33May Day Rally in Mumbai, India, 2004.

Image 34Wilma B. Liebman, chair, NLRB.

Image 35AnAFL–CIO protest of Rite Aid, with Rev. Mark Reisinger (Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania), Bill George, and Richard Bloomingdale.

Image 36Striking workers march moments before the Swedish military opened fire, killing five workers during the Ådalen shootings.

Image 37The Place de la SorbonneinParis is closed by police during the 2006 labour protests in France.

Image 38Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago, Illinois, during the Pullman Strike in 1894.

Image 39Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, and his wife, circa 1908.

Image 40Australian industrial relations legislation national day of protest, 2005.

Image 41Union members march in ArgentinaonHuman Rights Day in December 2005. The signs read "Worker rights are human rights..

Image 42Shields used by striking workers at the Carnegie Steel Works during the Homestead Strike in 1892.

Image 43Protesters barricade the street on June 22 during the 2006 Oaxaca protests.

Image 44Cripple Creek, Colo., under martial law, during the 1894 strike.

Image 45Armed vigilantes deport striking copper miners during the Bisbee Deportation in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12, 1917.

Image 46The front page of the Union Record on the Seattle General Strike of 1919.

Image 47Memorial marker for the Bay View Tragedy.

Image 48AFL–CIO unions protest outside Verizon headquarters in Philadelphia using a giant inflatable rat.

Image 49Members of the United SteelworkersinOhio phone bank other union members to educate them about critical issues in the 2008 election in the U.S.

Image 50Union members picketing recent NLRB rulings outside the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters in November 2007.

Image 51The Western Federation of Miners' famous flyer entitled "Is Colorado in America?".

Image 52Striking I.W.W. members confront Massachusetts National Guard troops in Boston, during the Lawrence textile strike in 1912.

Image 53National Federation of Federal Employees officials sign a collective bargaining agreement with the U.S. 8th Army in October 2002.

Image 54William Green, president of the AFL–CIO from 1924 to 1952.

Image 55Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.

Image 56Public and Commercial Services Union members on strike in Manchester 2006.

Image 57Political cartoon about the Coal Strike of 1902 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Image 58Registered nurses on strike in 2006 outside Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

Selected Quote

"When people ask me, 'Why can't labor organize the way it did in the thirties?' the answer is simple: everything we did then is now illegal."

— Thomas Geoghegan

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