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 American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together representing nearly 15 million active and retired workers. The AFL-CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism, typically in support of progressive and pro-labor policies.

The AFL-CIO was formed in 1955 when the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged after a long estrangement. Union membership in the US peaked in 1979, when the AFL-CIO's affiliated unions had nearly twenty million members. From 1955 until 2005, the AFL-CIO's member unions represented nearly all unionized workers in the United States. Several large unions split away from AFL-CIO and formed the rival Change to Win Federation in 2005, although a number of those unions have since re-affiliated, and many locals of Change to Win are either part of or work with their local central labor councils. The largest unions currently in the AFL-CIO are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), with 2 million members, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) with approximately 1.7 million members, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), with approximately 1.4 million members, and United Food and Commercial Workers with 1.2 million members. (Full article...)

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September in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

September 01 - Walter Reuther was born; William Z. Foster died; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers was formed; Working America was founded
September 02 - Federal troops intervened in the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 in the U.S.; Franz Leopold Neumann died; the Rock Springs massacre occurred in 1885 in the U.S.
September 04 - The Textile workers strike of 1934 began in the U.S.; former unionist Francisco Largo Caballero became prime minister of Spain; Thomas R. Donahue was born
September 05 - Victor Gotbaum was born; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn died
September 06 - Johan Nygaardsvold was born
September 07 - Southampton Dock strike of 1890 began in the U.K.; Ela Bhatt was born; Cornelius Shea was born
September 08 - The Delano grape strike began in 1965 in the U.S.; Kenneth Yablonski died; Ben Gold was born
September 09 - John Mitchell died; the Hanapepe massacre occurred in 1924 in the Hawaii
September 10 - Lattimer massacre occurred in the U.S.
September 11 - Russell Crowell died
September 12 - Tom Mooney was born; George L. Berry was born
September 13 - Amado V. Hernández was born; Carlos Bulosan died; George Hardy died
September 14 - Albert Shanker was born; the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act became law in the U.S.; the U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 ended in the U.S.; Leon J. Davis died; the German Trade Union of the Police was founded in 1950; James Duncan died
September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny occurred in 1931 in the U.K.; the Free Workers' Union of Germany was founded in 1919
September 16 - The 2004–05 NHL lockout began in the U.S. and Canada; the Farm Labor Organizing Committee signed a first contract with the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in the U.S.
September 17 - Miguel Contreras was born; David Dubinsky died; the National Federation of Federal Employees was formed
September 18 - Sandra Feldman died; James Scullin was born; Teamsters for a Democratic Union was founded; Thomas E. Scanlon was born; Mary Lee died
September 19 - Joe Glazer died; the National Football League Players Association struck in 1982 in the U.S.
September 20 - Lewis B. Schwellenbach was born; Sam Church was born; Nathan Feinsinger was born; the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union was founded
September 21 - John White died; Arlene Holt Baker became the first African-American officer of the AFL–CIO in 2007
September 22 - Steel strike of 1919 began in the U.S.; the Winter of Discontent began in the U.K. as workers struck Ford
September 23 - The Sydney Twelve were arrested in 1916 in Australia
September 24 - The Workers Trade Union Law is passed in Bahrain
September 25 - The Atomic Trades and Labor Council was founded; the Health Professionals and Allied Employees conducted its first strike in 1979 in the U.S.
September 26 - The Temple University Graduate Students Association was founded
September 27 - The Santa Barbara News-Press unionization effort began in the U.S.; the Change to Win Federation was formed
September 28 - Alice Mahon was born
September 29 - The Liverpool dockers' strike began in 1995 in the UK.
September 30 - Ignatius Wolfington died; the first legal version of Solidarity was formed in 1985 in Poland

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Guyanese trade unionist Philomena Sahoye-Shury was nicknamed "Fireball" due to her "outspoken and forthright stance on the workers' behalf"?
... that the 1937 Fleischer Studios strike in New York City was the first major labor strike in the animation industry?
... that a number of bus drivers who participated in a strike were unaware that it was illegally held?
... that the execution of Burkinabé trade union leader Soumane Touré was prevented by the intervention of his childhood friend, then-president Thomas Sankara?
... that Ana Sigüenza was the first woman to be the general secretary of a national trade union center in Spain?
... that the murder of Luisa Lallana sparked a general strike in Rosario, Argentina?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

There is nothing fairer than workmen having unions of their mutual benefit."

— Will Rogers

Did you know

...that Canada's syndicalist One Big Union kept itself alive for some time by running an illegal lottery in its weekly bulletin?
...that the three-day S.S. California strike in 1936 triggered a wave of strikes by merchant seamen and led to the founding of the National Maritime Union?
...that during the 1905 Chicago Teamsters' strike, 21 people were killed and the strike ended only after union leaders were accused of taking bribes?

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