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, safe working conditions 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 1985–1987 Watsonville Cannery strike was a labor strike that involved over 1,000 workers at two food processing facilities in Watsonville, California, United States. The facilities were owned by Watsonville Canning and Richard A. Shaw Inc., two of the largest frozen food processors in the United States, while the workers were all union members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 912. The strike began on September 9, 1985, and completely ended about 18 months later, on March 11, 1987.

The city of Watsonville has historically been a center for the food processing industry in California, and by the mid-1900s, it had branded itself as the "frozen food capital of the world", with eight frozen food processing plants in the city. These plants were in an industry-wide labor contract with IBT Local 912, who represented several thousand employees in the city. By the 1980s, due to an increase in migration from Mexico, a large number of these food processing workers were Latinos. Around that same time, changes in the food processing industry caused the Watsonville plants to become less profitable, and in 1982, Watsonville Canning (the single-largest frozen food processor in the United States) negotiated an hourly wage decrease for their union employees from $7.06 to $6.66. In 1985, their labor contract had expired, and Watsonville Canning began pushing for further wage and employee benefits reductions. Richard A. Shaw Inc., another major food processing company in the city, similarly began requesting wage and benefits reductions, which were opposed by the local union. On September 9, union members from both companies began a strike, with picketing commencing shortly thereafter.

The strike received significant support from the local Latino community, with support coming from Chicano and Hispanic organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Mexican American Political Association. Additionally, civil rights leaders Cesar Chavez and Jesse Jackson were supportive of the strikers, viewing the labor dispute as part of a larger struggle for civil rights for Latinos in the United States. Additional support came from organized labor activists in both northern California and nationwide, and the strike was characterized by its militancy and rank-and-file leadership. The strikers elected their own Strike Committee that managed the overall daily operations of the strike, and the Teamsters for a Democratic Union also contributed to organizing the strike. On February 14, 1986, Shaw and Local 912 agreed to an hourly wage of $5.85, which soon became the industry standard. However, the strike continued against Watsonville Canning through 1986. In August, the company tried to decertify the union in an election, but failed, and subsequently the company (which had taken on a large debt during this time) declared bankruptcy, with the plant being sold. A tentative contract was reached with the new owners in March 1987 that set wages to the industry standard but contained cuts to medical benefits. While the IBT declared the strike over, several workers continued the dispute as a wildcat strike that lasted for about a week before the company agreed to include medical benefits, with the strike finally coming to an end on March 11. (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 Sting wrote "We Work the Black Seam" because he felt that "the case for coal was never put to the nation" during the 1984–85 British miners' strike, which began 40 years ago today?
... that shortly after a missile strike on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters, Oleksiy Danilov said that the fleet could be "sliced up like a salami" at a later date?
... that John Sterling, Anthony Harrison and Chuck Compton were all signed by the Green Bay Packers as replacement players because of a players' strike during the 1987 NFL season?
... that a number of bus drivers who participated in a strike were unaware that it was illegally held?
... that Scottish bricklayer Brian Higgins was unable to find work for 25 years after appearing on a construction-industry blacklist?
... that in 1977, Appalachian folk singer Phyllis Boyens performed at a Christmas benefit concert to support Kentucky coal miners who had been on strike for 17 months?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

One man quitting out of 50,000 is nothing or even ten men or one hundred men, but if they all quit, so they can do with the employer what the employer does with you, when he discharges you, then they can bargain and there is no other kind of bargaining but collective bargaining."

— Clarence Darrow.

Did you know

...that at the 1974 Coalition of Labor Union Women convention, Myra Wolfgang declared "...there are 3,000 women in Chicago and they didn't come here to swap recipes!"?
...that when 400 RNs unionized with the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals on July 19, 2007, it was the largest successful organizing effort among nurses in the state since 2000?
... that over 200 Paraguayan trade union leaders were arrested by the Stroessner government in connection with a 1958 general strike?

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