Portal:Organized Labour
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Introduction
- 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...)
Selected article
The eight-hour day (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses of working time.
The eight-hour work day originated in 16th century Spain, but the modern movement originated in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life. At that time, the working day could range from 10 to 16 hours, the work week was typically six days, and child labour was common. In 1593, Spain became the first country to introduce the eight-hour work day by law for factory and fortification workers. In contemporary era, it was established for non-agricultural workers by Uruguay in 1915, and for all professions by Soviet Russia in 1917. (Full article...)August in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- August 01 - The Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977 began in Romania; the 1942–44 musicians' strike began in the U.S.; Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was born; the United Firefighters Union of Australia was founded
- August 02 - Robert Zieger was born; the Contrat nouvelle embauche entered into force in France in 2005
- August 03 - The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike began in the U.S.
- August 04 - Joseph Paul-Boncour was born; the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was formed
- August 05 - The Lupeni Strike of 1929 occurred in Romania; the National Labor Board was created; Devan Nair was born
- August 06 - Jackie Presser was born
- August 07 - Frank Fitzsimmons was born
- August 08 - David McDonald died; the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America was formed; Arthur Goldberg was born
- August 09 - The California School Employees Association was founded; Raymond McKay died; Harry Davenport died; Thomas E. Scanlon died; the 1981 Major League Baseball strike ended in the U.S. and Canada; John Willcock was born
- August 10 - The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 began; Iorwith Wilbur Abel died; Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca was born
- August 11 - The International Longshore and Warehouse Union was founded; Iorwith Wilbur Abel was born; Rose Schneiderman died; Edwin D. Hill was born
- August 12 - The Buffalo switchmen's strike of 1892 began; the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike began in the U.S. and Canada; the National War Labor Board was abolished in 1919; the Chorus Equity Association was founded; the Unión General de Trabajadores was founded
- August 13 - Carlos Ortega escaped from prison in Venezuela and disappeared
- August 14 - Solidarity struck for the first time; Joseph Curran died; Lane Kirkland died; Selig Perlman died; N. M. Perera died
- August 15 - The 1890 Australian maritime dispute began; Herbert Hill died; lockout of the Canadian Media Guild began in 2005 in Canada; Anna Walentynowicz was born
- August 16 - George Meany was born; Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca died
- August 18 - The 1989 Australian pilots' strike began; the American Federation of Government Employees was founded; Alberto Hurtado died
- August 19 - The Maritime Trades Department of the AFL–CIO was founded; Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association launched a strike against Northwest Airlines
- August 22 - The United Farm Workers was founded; the Association of Flight Attendants was founded
- August 23 - The Gurindji strike began in 1966 in Australia; the Salad Bowl strike began in the U.S.
- August 24 - Ray Stevenson died
- August 25 - The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was founded; the Battle of Blair Mountain began in 1921 in the U.S.; the 2006 Progressive Enterprises dispute began in New Zealand; the Buffalo switchmen's strike ended in the U.S.; Charles Millard was born; Miron Cozma was born
- August 26 - The Dublin Lock-out began in 1913
- August 27 - Juan Lechín Oquendo died
- August 28 - The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom occurred; the film Matewan was released; the Central Única dos Trabalhadores was founded
- August 29 - The British police strikes in 1918 and 1919 began; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled picketing is not a breach of the peace in Cox v. Louisiana; Emmanuel Christopher Loblack was born
- August 31 - The Gdańsk Agreement was signed, ending the first wave of strikes by Solidarity
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the communist trade unionist Ditto Pölzl was a member of all three provisional state governments of Styria in 1945?
- ... that when journalist and trade unionist Nisn Pups was released from jail, the Communist Party of Lithuania instructed him to change his name?
- ... 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 M. Farooqui, who had been expelled from his studies for having organized a strike in 1940, received his Delhi University degree in a special convocation in 1989?
- ... 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 the execution of Burkinabé trade union leader Soumane Touré was prevented by the intervention of his childhood friend, then-president Thomas Sankara?
Related Portals
Selected image
- Image 1Members 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 4Strike sign used by the German Train Drivers' Union in the German national rail strike of 2007.
- Image 6Union elections with an illegal firing, 1951 to 2007.
- Image 8Picket signs at the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.
- Image 9Detail of monument to the Reesor Siding Strike of 1963.
- Image 10Breaker boys, child laborers, working in a U.S. coal mine in 1911.
- Image 11The Western Federation of Miners' famous flyer entitled "Is Colorado in America?".
- Image 12Mounted police chase demonstrators through Vancouver's East End during the Battle of Ballantyne Pier in 1935.
- Image 15A. Philip Randolph.
- Image 16Samuel Gompers.
- Image 17Exaggerated 19th century engraving showing flames and smoke following the Haymarket riot.
- Image 18Shields used by striking workers at the Carnegie Steel Works during the Homestead Strike in 1892.
- Image 19Former headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 900 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C., in 200.
- Image 20Rally 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 21Armed vigilantes deport striking copper miners during the Bisbee Deportation in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12, 1917.
- Image 23Union members picketing recent NLRB rulings outside the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters in November 2007.
- Image 24Crowd gathered outside old City Hall during the Winnipeg general strike, June 21, 1919.
- Image 25Striking I.W.W. members confront Massachusetts National Guard troops in Boston, during the Lawrence textile strike in 1912.
- Image 27Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) notice of subway closure during the 2005 New York City transit strike.
- Image 29Richard Trumka.
- Image 30Strike leaders at the Paterson silk strike of 1913. From left, Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood.
- Image 31Union members march in Argentina on Human Rights Day in December 2005. The signs read "Worker rights are human rights..
- Image 32Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
- Image 33AFL–CIO unions protest outside Verizon headquarters in Philadelphia using a giant inflatable rat.
- Image 34During World War II, a female aircraft worker checks electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California.
- Image 36The front page of the Union Record on the Seattle General Strike of 1919.
- Image 37Protesters barricade the street on June 22 during the 2006 Oaxaca protests.
- Image 38John 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 40Striking workers march moments before the Swedish military opened fire, killing five workers during the Ådalen shootings.
- Image 41Lewis 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 42Illustration from the Brisbane Worker newspaper condemning the brutality of the Queensland Police on Black Friday during the 1912 Brisbane General Strike.
- Image 43Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.
- Image 45National Federation of Federal Employees officials sign a collective bargaining agreement with the U.S. 8th Army in October 2002.
- Image 46Joe Hill.
- Image 47Cripple Creek, Colo., under martial law, during the 1894 strike.
- Image 49United Mine Workers of America poster circa 1902.
- Image 50An 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 51Striking teamsters armed with pipes battle police in the streets during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.
- Image 55The Place de la Sorbonne in Paris is closed by police during the 2006 labour protests in France.
- Image 56Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago, Illinois, during the Pullman Strike in 1894.
- Image 57Memorial marker for the Bay View Tragedy.
- Image 58Political cartoon about the Coal Strike of 1902 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Selected Quote
"Let the workers organize. Let the toilers assemble. Let their crystallized voice proclaim their injustices and demand their privileges. Let all thoughtful citizens sustain them, for the future of Labor is the future of America." |
— John L. Lewis. |
Did you know
- ...that the Brazilian labour movement was predominantly anarchist until the 1920s?
- ...that partly because of issues highlighed by the London matchgirls strike of 1888, the Salvation Army opened up its own match factory in Bow, London in 1891, which used harmless red phosphorus and paid better wages?
- ...that the Lublin 1980 strikes marked the beginning of important socio-political changes in Poland, such as the creation of Solidarity and democratization of the country?
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Portal:Organized labour