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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Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing 2 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members work in the healthcare field), including hospital, home care and nursing home workers; public services (government employees, including law enforcement); and property services (including janitors, security guards and food service workers).

SEIU has over 150 local branches. It is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the Strategic Organizing Center, and the Canadian Labour Congress. SEIU's international headquarters is located in Washington, D.C., and it is one of the largest unions in the country.

The union is known for its strong support for Democratic candidates. It spent $28 million supporting Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. In 2012, SEIU was the top outside spender on Democratic campaigns, reporting almost $70 million of campaign donations, television ads and get-out-the-vote efforts in support of President Obama and other Democrats. SEIU is a major supporter of the Affordable Care Act and of increased minimum wage laws, including wage increases for fast food workers. The union is the primary backer of the Fight for $15. (Full article...)

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June in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

June 01 - Matthew Woll died; the United Farm Workers conducted its first strike in 1966 in Texas; the Cananea strike began in 1906 in Mexico
June 02 - During the 1952 steel strike, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer; the Child Labor Amendment was adopted by the U.S. Congress; Charles Moyer died
June 03 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Hammer v. Dagenhart, outlawing child labor laws; Victor G. Reuther died; Emmanuel Christopher Loblack died
June 04 - The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers affiliated with the CIO; Lou Cunningham was born
June 05 - Teamsters for a Democratic Union was formed; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hague v. CIO; the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act became law
June 06 - Don Farrell was born; CUPE 3902 was founded; N. M. Perera was born; Thomas Jackson died
June 07 - The Steel Workers Organizing Committee was founded; the Matignon Agreements ended a general strike in 1936 in France; John Willcock died
June 08 - Robert Lee Hill was born; Emil Rieve was born; Percy Wells was born
June 09 - R. J. Thomas was born
June 10 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co.; Frank Hayes died
June 11 - John L. Lewis died; the Federación Sindical de Trabajadores Mineros de Bolivia was founded; José Bové was born
June 12 - The 1981 Major League Baseball strike began in the U.S. and Canada; Philip Vera Cruz died
June 13 - Israel Kugler was born; Tony Mazzocchi was born
June 14 - 1911 Liverpool general transport strike began in the U.K.; government troops triggered the 2006 Oaxaca protests in Mexico
June 15 - The Metal Trades Department, AFL–CIO was founded
June 16 - Dave Beck was born
June 18 - Battle of Ballantyne Pier occurred in Canada in 1935; the Battle of Orgreave occurred in 1984 in the U.K.
June 19 - Nelson Cruikshank died; John W. Brown died; Tanong Po-arn disappeared
June 20 - The American Railway Union was founded; Jim Bacon died; Evelyn Dubrow died; Alphonse Verville died
June 21 - Nelson Cruikshank was born; the Herrin massacre occurred in 1922 in the U.S.; the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Congress of Industrial Organizations; the "Molly Maguires" were hanged in the U.S.; Frank Drozak died
June 22 - Riots occurred during the Grunwick dispute in 1976 in the U.K.; Paul Hall died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Burlington Northern Railway v. White; the Sheffield Trades and Labour Council was founded; John Marius Trana was born
June 23 - The Taft–Hartley Act became law in the U.S.
June 24 - Terence V. Powderly died, Agnes Nestor was born
June 25 - Winnipeg general strike of 1919 ended; the Smith–Connally Act became law in the U.S.
June 26 - Timothy D. Murphy died; the Alliance of Concerned Teachers was formed; John W. Brown died; Emma Miller was born
June 27 - The 1949 Australian coal strike began; the Industrial Workers of the World was founded; the Bureau of Labor Statistics was formed in the U.S.
June 28 - President Grover Cleveland signed legislation establishing Labor Day in the U.S.; Alfred Miodowicz was born; Vere Bird died
June 29 - The National Labor Relations Board was created; a lockout triggered the Homestead Strike; the merger of the blacksmiths and boilermakers formed the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; Edward J. Carlough died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Communications Workers of America v. Beck
June 30 - Former labor union official Tomiichi Murayama became Prime Minister of Japan

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... 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 55,000 Berlin workers went on strike on 28 June 1916 to protest the arrest and trial of anti-war campaigner Karl Liebknecht?
... that during World War I the organ of evacuated Polish railway workers in Moscow denounced the trade unions of the Warsaw–Vienna railway as "separatists"?
... that the 56-foot-tall (17 m) monument to the theologian Samuel Rutherford near his parish church in Anwoth was badly damaged by a lightning strike five years after its construction?
... that Scottish bricklayer Brian Higgins was unable to find work for 25 years after appearing on a construction-industry blacklist?
... that the opening day of a California TV station was affected by a strike when workers refused to cross a two-man picket line?

Related Portals

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

Selected Quote

"The first thing a dictator does is abolish the free press. Next he abolishes the right of labor to go on strike."

— George Seldes

Did you know

...that Arnold Miller defeated W. A. Boyle in 1972 for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America after Boyle murdered union reformer Joseph Yablonski?
... that paper locals, which can be used to extort money from employers or secure sweetheart contracts, are denounced by the AFL–CIO Code of Ethical Practices?
... that in 1947, 72 out of 126 trade unions in Singapore were affiliated to the communist-led Singapore Federation of Trade Unions?

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