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 or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.

The trade union movement (trade unionism) consists of the collective organisation of working people developed to represent and campaign for better working conditions and treatment from their employers and, by the implementation of labour and employment laws, from their governments. The standard unit of organisation is the trade union.

The political labour movement in many countries includes a political party that represents the interests of employees, often known as a "labour party" or "workers' party". Many individuals and political groups otherwise considered to represent ruling classes may be part of, and active in, the labour movement.

The labour movement developed as a response to the industrial capitalism of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, at about the same time as socialism. (Full article...)

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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...)

List of selected articles

January in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

January 01 - The 1966 New York City transit strike began; the United Transportation Union was founded; the Swedish Trade Union Confederation was founded; Union Network International was founded; the Workplace Relations Act 1996 entered into force in Australia
January 02 - The Sago Mine disaster occurred in the 2006 in the U.S.
January 03 - The 1929 Australian timber workers' strike began; Guy Ryder was born
January 04 - The St. John's University strike of 1966–67 began in the U.S.; the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union merged in 1999 with the United Paperworkers International Union to form the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union
January 05 - The 1891 Australian shearers' strike began; the 1919 Spartacist uprising began in Berlin
January 07 - Edward T. Hanley died; A. P. T. James died
January 08 - SEIU Local 1.on was founded
January 09 - Maurice Hutcheson died; Sol Chick Chaikin was born
January 11 - The 1912 Lawrence textile strike began in the U.S.; Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union merged with the United Steelworkers; Bogdan Borusewicz was born
January 12 - Cornelius Shea died
January 14 - The Reesor Siding strike of 1963 began in Canada; Joseph Glimco was born
January 15 - Michael Sommer was born; the song "Solidarity Forever" is written; the Steel strike of 1959 ends in the U.S.
January 16 - Dutta Samant was murdered; Leonard Woodcock died; Daniel John O'Donoghue died
January 17 - Pablo Manlapit was born
January 18 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Moyer v. Peabody in 1909; Mary Kenney O'Sullivan died; the 1912 Brisbane general strike began in Australia; the Dublin Lock-out ended in 1914; Paul Keating was born; the Great Bombay textile strike began
January 19 - Thomas Kennedy died; Morris Kight died; Bill Andersen died; Annie Buller died
January 20 - The Tunisian General Labour Union was founded; trade unions launched the 2005 civil unrest in Belize; Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch was born; Bruce Nissen was born
January 21 - Edward T. Hanley was born; Bill Andersen was born; J. H. Thomas died; Nicholas Pollard Sr. died
January 22 - The United Mine Workers was founded; Terence V. Powderly was born; Andrew Furuseth died; Chea Vichea was murdered; Gyula Peidl died; Ong Teng Cheong died
January 23 - David Sullivan died; Nikolaus Gross died
January 24 - The Wapping dispute began in 1986 in the U.K.; Emil Rieve died; the 1977 Massacre of Atocha occurred in Spain; Henri Krasucki died; Herbert Hill was born; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its reasoning in R.W.D.S.U., Local 558 v. Pepsi-Cola Canada Beverages (West) Ltd.; the Alliance for Labor Action was dissolved
January 25 - The Sheet Metal Workers' International Association was founded; Matthew Woll was born; Chummy Fleming died
January 26 - Bernard Kleiman was born
January 27 - Samuel Gompers was born; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB; Ben Tillett died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Adair v. United States; Frank Tudor was born
January 28 - Mike Quill died; Harry Lundeberg died; Mike Moore was born; James Scullin died
January 29 - The Timex strike began in 1993 in Scotland; Anna LoPizzo died; John M. Dunn died
January 30 - Edward Heitmann died
January 31 - The 1919 Battle of George Square occurred in Scotland; New Orleans fired all members of the United Teachers of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; Bob Semple died

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that when journalist and trade unionist Nisn Pups was released from jail, the Communist Party of Lithuania instructed him to change his name?
... that after Kellogg's announced plans to replace striking workers in 2021, members of r/antiwork organized to submit fake applications to the company's hiring system?
... 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 physicist Joseph Gelders was kidnapped and beaten, probably by members of the Ku Klux Klan, for his civil rights and labor organizing activities?
... 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 Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls was one of the leaders in the first successful effort to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in the United States?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

"The important role of union organizations must be admitted: their object is the representation of the various categories of workers, their lawful collaboration in the economic advance of society, and the development of the sense of their responsibility for the realization of the common good."

— Pope Paul VI.

Did you know

...that the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, an Indian farm labourers movement, claims a membership of over 2.5 million?
...that on April 29, 1899, trade unionists in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho killed two men by steering an explosives-laden train to the site of a mill, in order to protest the firing of fellow union members?
...that lobbying by the International Seamen's Union led to the abolition of the practice of imprisoning seamen who deserted their ship in the United States in 1915?

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