Portal:Organized Labour
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 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands; in particular electricians, or inside wiremen, in the construction industry and lineworkers and other employees of public utilities. The union also represents some workers in the computer, telecommunications, and broadcasting industries, and other fields related to electrical work. (Full article...)
October in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- October 01 - The McNamara Brothers bombed the Los Angeles Times in 1910; Israel Kugler died
- October 02 - Peter J. Brennan died
- October 03 - J. H. Thomas was born; Clarence Gillis was born
- October 05 - The Hollywood Black Friday riot occurred during a set decorators' strike in 1945; the Winter of Discontent began in the United Kingdom in 1978; Tony Mazzocchi died
- October 06 - American Dream, a film about the 1985-86 strike at Hormel, debuted; the British Seafarers' Union was founded; the South African Democratic Teachers Union was founded
- October 07 - Joe Hill was born; the Structural Building Trades Alliance was formed; Joseph Labadie died
- October 08 - James Kirby died; Lee Batchelor died
- October 09 - The Taft–Hartley Act was invoked for the first time in U.S. history during the Steel strike of 1959; John McBride died; James J. Reynolds died
- October 10 - A series of general strikes began in 1995 in France
- October 11 - Joe Morris died; Joseph Lanza died
- October 12 - The German Confederation of Trade Unions was founded in Munich in 1949; the general strike began in the Nigerian Oil Crisis in 2004; Edward Grayndler was born
- October 13 - Sandra Feldman was born
- October 14 - Matthew Guinan was born; NASCAR union leader Curtis Turner died; Marcus Thrane was born
- October 15 - The International Seamen's Union was chartered by the AFL as the Seafarers International Union; the Confédération Française de l'Encadrement - Confédération Générale des Cadres was founded
- October 16 - I. C. Frimu was born
- October 17 - Giovanni Gronchi died
- October 18 - Pablo Iglesias was born
- October 19 - William Coaker was born; Bill Morris was born
- October 20 - George Becker was born; William Hutcheson died; Eugene V. Debs died; Weldon Mathis died
- October 21 - Gary Chaison is born
- October 22 - The Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions was founded; Jean-Pierre Timbaud died
- October 23 - The Coal strike of 1902 ended in the U.S.; James Petrillo died; Robert Courtleigh was born; Arthur Creech Jones died
- October 25 - John Sweeney was elected president of the AFL–CIO; Catherine J. Bell was born; John F. Henning was born
- October 27 - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil
- October 28 - The Supreme Court of Canada issued a ruling in Newfoundland (Treasury Board) v. N.A.P.E.; Charlie Gordon was born
- October 29 - The International Labour Organization met for the first time; the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers merged with the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association in 1957; Kevin Barron was born; James Orange was born
- October 31 - 1923 Victorian police strike began in Australia; Maine AFL–CIO was founded; William O'Brien died; Mikhail Tomsky was born; Antonio Davis was born; Cecil Roberts was born
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... 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 a number of bus drivers who participated in a strike were unaware that it was illegally held?
- ... 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 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 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?
- ... that the day after returning to Atlanta following his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. joined picketers who were on strike against Scripto?
Related Portals
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Selected Quote
The history of the labor movements needs to be taught in every school in this land. America is a living testimonial to what free men and women, organized in free democratic trade unions can do to make a better life. … We ought to be proud of it!"
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— Hubert Humphrey |
Did you know
- ...that the first company union in the United States was created by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in response to the bad publicity generated by the Ludlow Massacre?
- ...that while the majority of Benin's formal workforce are represented by trade unions, nationwide use of child labour and forced labour continues?
- ...that anarchism once was the strongest current in the Cuban labor movement?
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