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 National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes. Central to the act was a ban on company unions. The act was written by Senator Robert F. Wagner, passed by the 74th United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The National Labor Relations Act seeks to correct the "inequality of bargaining power" between employers and employees by promoting collective bargaining between trade unions and employers. The law established the National Labor Relations Board to prosecute violations of labor law and to oversee the process by which employees decide whether to be represented by a labor organization. It also established various rules concerning collective bargaining and defined a series of banned unfair labor practices, including interference with the formation or organization of labor unions by employers. The act does not apply to certain workers, including supervisors, agricultural employees, domestic workers, government employees, and independent contractors.

The NLRA was strongly opposed by conservatives and members of the Republican Party, but it was upheld in the Supreme Court case of NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., decided April 12, 1937. The 1947 Taft–Hartley Act amended the NLRA, establishing a series of labor practices for unions and granting states the power to pass right-to-work laws. (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 M. Farooqui, who had been expelled from his studies for having organized a strike in 1940, received his Delhi University degree in a special convocation in 1989?
... that after being arrested for organizing a general strike in 1920, S. Girinis was sent to the Soviet Union following a Soviet-Lithuanian exchange of political prisoners?
... 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 following the ban of its labour unions in 1934, the Romanian United Socialist Party would rely on its youth and women's wings for political action?
... 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 Marco van Basten's strike in the UEFA Euro 1988 Final was described as "perhaps the most iconic goal in UEFA European Championship history"?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

We were never meant to be beggars at the table of wealth. We were never meant to be the apostles of labor cannibalism on the world stage. We were meant for a higher destiny! We were never meant to be the lieutenants of capitalism. We were never meant to be the pallbearers of the workers of the world.

— John F. Henning, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, California Labor Federation, 1994

Did you know

...that in 1954, the Federal Communications Commission sought to force union attorney Edward Lamb to surrender his broadcasting license on the grounds that he associated with communists?
...that the steel strike of 1959 led to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history?
...that the National Labor Board established the doctrine of representational exclusivity in American labor relations, a rule still used today?

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