Portal:Organized Labour

Introduction

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 formed to represent the interests of organised labour campaign for labour rights, social security and the welfare state. They are often called a labour party or a workers' party. Some parties using the name social democratic party or socialist party are also of this type, with affiliated unions having a role in party structure, although such parties may be independent of the trade union movement.

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 in some cases common ownership. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU or Cosatu) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

November in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

November 01 - Malbone Street Wreck occurs on the first day of the BLE strike in 1918 in the U.S.; the first congress of the International Trade Union Confederation is held; the International Harvester strike of 1979–80 began
November 02 - Brian Behan died
November 03 - Nathan Feinsinger died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Marquez v. Screen Actors Guild Inc.; Dennis McDermott was born
November 04 - Tomasz Arciszewski was born; James Green was born
November 05 - Eugene V. Debs was born; Nimrod Workman was born; Agustín Tosco died; the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike began
November 06 - Lloyd McBride died
November 08 - Ed Boyce was born; the 1892 New Orleans general strike began
November 09 - Congress of Industrial Organizations founded in the U.S.; Philip Murray died; Danny Greene was born; the Chicago Federation of Labor is founded
November 11 - Centralia massacre occurs in the U.S.
November 12 - Bituminous coal strike of 1974 begins in the U.S.; the Democratic Confederation of San Marino Workers is formed
November 13 - The UK firefighter dispute 2002–03 begins; Karen Silkwood died; the International Typographical Union begins publishing the Green Bay News-Chronicle during a strike
November 14 - The High Court of Australia issues its ruling in New South Wales v Commonwealth, upholding the validity of WorkChoices; Daniel J. Tobin died; the 2007 German national rail strike began
November 15 - Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions founded in the U.S.; Raymond McKay was born
November 16 - Jean Maitron died; the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers is founded; Georges Marchais died
November 17 - Harold J. Gibbons died
November 18 - Chris Watson died
November 19 - William J. McCarthy died; Joe Hill is executed; the National Writers Union is formed
November 20 - Giles Hart was born; Richard Cordtz died
November 21 - William Green died; the Columbine Mine massacre occurred in 1927 in the U.S.
November 22 - David McDonald was born; Philip Murray is elected president of the CIO
November 23 - Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. died
November 24 - Charles Millard died
November 25 - George Mock died; the 2006 Progressive Enterprises dispute begins in New Zealand; Ted Saskin becomes executive director of the NHLPA in 2005
November 26 - The National Confederation of the Trade-Union Organizations of Ukraine is formed; Nimrod Workman died; Eliot V. Elliott died
November 27 - Donald Richberg died
November 28 - The U.S. Supreme Court decides Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America; André Morell died; William McFetridge was born
November 29 - John P. Frey died
November 30 - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones died; the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea is formed

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the execution of Burkinabé trade union leader Soumane Touré was prevented by the intervention of his childhood friend, then-president Thomas Sankara?
... that Bal Krishna Kaul, who served as the first Home and Finance minister of Ajmer State, undertook a 22-day hunger strike in Ajmer Jail?
... that Tan Boon Chiang awarded four cases of PepsiCo soft drinks to each worker in Singapore after rejecting their claim for higher wages?
... that Attaher Maïga went from being punished for participating in a labor strike in French Sudan to becoming a member of its legislative assembly within six years?
... that labor lawyer Dick Moss argued the 1975 case which resulted in the establishment of free agency in Major League Baseball?
... that the communist trade unionist Ditto Pölzl was a member of all three provisional state governments of Styria in 1945?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

Nothing moves in the city, without our say-so. Let the bosses curse, let the papers cry. This morning I saw it happen with these ancient eyes of mine. Without our say-so nothing moves but the tide!"

— Rob Rosenthal, written during the Seattle General Strike of 1919.

Did you know

...that Sandra Feldman, former president of the American Federation of Teachers, was mentored by civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and arrested twice during the Freedom Rides?
...that New Australia was a utopian settlement founded in Paraguay in 1893 by former members of the Australian labour movement?
... that John Marius Trana went from being an illegal trade union leader during the German occupation of Norway to being chairman of the Norwegian Union of Railway Workers?

More Did You Know?

Topics

Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Organized Labour-related articles, see Organized Labour WikiProject.