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 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 International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the first and oldest specialized agencies of the UN. The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with around 40 field offices around the world, and employs some 3,381 staff across 107 nations, of whom 1,698 work in technical cooperation programmes and projects.

The ILO's standards are aimed at ensuring accessible, productive, and sustainable work worldwide in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity. They are set forth in 189 conventions and treaties, of which eight are classified as fundamental according to the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; together they protect freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of forced or compulsory labour, the abolition of child labour, and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. The ILO is a major contributor to international labour law.

Within the UN system the organization has a unique tripartite structure: all standards, policies, and programmes require discussion and approval from the representatives of governments, employers, and workers. This framework is maintained in the ILO's three main bodies: The International Labour Conference, which meets annually to formulate international labour standards; the Governing Body, which serves as the executive council and decides the agency's policy and budget; and the International Labour Office, the permanent secretariat that administers the organization and implements activities. The secretariat is led by the Director-General, Gilbert Houngbo of Togo, who was elected by the Governing Body in 2022. (Full article...)

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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 labor lawyer Dick Moss argued the 1975 case which resulted in the establishment of free agency in Major League Baseball?
... 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 Ana Sigüenza was the first woman to be the general secretary of a national trade union center in Spain?
... 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 in the 1951 court case Kuzych v White, on appeal from the British Columbia Court of Appeal, five law lords of the British Judicial Committee ruled in favour of a Communist-led trade union?
... 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

Selected image

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

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 labor leader Victor Kamber created playing cards with public figures in 1968 and the "Rappin' Ronnie" music video depicting a rapping Ronald Reagan in 1984?
...that members of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance faced surveillance, interrogation, and harassment by the FBI?
... that one former Chair of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board described the position as "more like a bully pulpit than a position of authority"?

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