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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A branch of the Coastal Federal Credit Union in Raleigh, North Carolina

A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (cheque accounts), credit cards, credit, share term certificates (certificates of deposit), and online banking. Normally, only a member of a credit union may deposit or borrow money. In several African countries, credit unions are commonly referred to as SACCOs (savings and credit co-operatives).

Worldwide, credit union systems vary significantly in their total assets and average institution asset size, ranging from volunteer operations with a handful of members to institutions with hundreds of thousands of members and assets worth billions of US dollars. In 2018, the number of members in credit unions worldwide was 375 million, with over 100 million members having been added since 2016.

Leading up to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, in 2006, 23.6% of mortgages from commercial banks were subprime, compared to only 3.6% of those from credit unions, and banks were two and a half times more likely to fail during the crisis. American credit unions more than doubled lending to small businesses between 2008 and 2016, from $30 billion to $60 billion, while lending to small businesses overall during the same period declined by around $100 billion. In the US, public trust in credit unions stands at 60%, compared to 30% for big banks. Furthermore, small businesses are 80% more likely to be satisfied by a credit union than with a big bank. (Full article...)

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July in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

July 01 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 began in the U.S.; the Regina Riot occurred during the On-to-Ottawa Trek in Canada in 1935; Lee Pressman was born; P. H. McCarthy died; the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia was founded; the Westmoreland County coal strike of 1910–11 ended in the U.S.
July 02 - William J. McCarthy was born; Edward Ikem Okeke died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown v. Hotel and Restaurant Employees
July 03 - The United States Army began suppression of the American Railway Union during the Pullman Strike in 1894
July 04 - The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention came into force
July 05 - "Bloody Thursday" occurred during the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike in the U.S.
July 06 - Peter J. McGuire was born; the Homestead Strike culminated with a battle between Pinkerton agents and striking workers
July 07 - Eugene V. Debs was arrested during the Pullman Strike in 1894; the 1998 Puerto Rican general strike began
July 08 - Jesse Simons died
July 09 - Jackie Presser died; the Transport Workers Union of America won the "Squeegee Strike" at the IRT in 1935
July 10 - Sidney Hillman died; George W. Taylor was born; Donald Richberg was born
July 11 - Frank Duffy died; Sigurd Lucassen was born
July 12 - The British Columbia Teachers' Federation was founded; Arnold Miller died; Clara Lemlich died; Edgar Nixon was born; the Bisbee Deportation occurred in the U.S. in 1917
July 13 - The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 began
July 14 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began in the U.S.
July 15 - The Steel strike of 1959 began in the U.S.; Set Persson died; Michael Costa was born; the Vancouver Police Union was founded
July 16 - Frank Rudolph Crosswaith was born
July 17 - The Cape Breton coal strike of 1981 began in Canada
July 18 - William J. McCarthy defeated Weldon Mathis as Teamsters president in 1988; Robert Georgine was born; the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, one of the two primary labour conventions of the ILO, came into force
July 19 - The Hatch Act of 1939 was extended to cover state and local government workers in the U.S.; Benjamin Gitlow died; Rhoda Williams died
July 20 - The Newsboys' strike of 1899 began
July 22 - Patrick J. Campbell was born; the 2004–05 NHL lockout ended in the U.S. and Canada
July 23 - Emma Tenayuca died
July 24 - The 1952 steel strike ended in the U.S.; Ben Gold died; the Alliance for Labor Action is formed
July 25 - Farrell Dobbs was born; the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters announced their intention to leave the AFL–CIO; labor attorney Arthur Goldberg resigned as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
July 26 - Elias Motsoaledi was born; William Trenwith died; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, banning workplace discrimination based on disability, became law
July 27 - The Polish film Man of Iron was released in 1981
July 28 - Harry Bridges was born; the 1913 Paterson silk strike ended in the U.S.; Florence Cohen was born
July 29 - The Sailors' Union of the Pacific was formed; the United Food and Commercial Workers disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO
July 30 - Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975; the Arizona copper mine strike of 1983 began in the U.S.
July 31 - Edward T. Hanley resigned as president of HERE after a corruption scandal

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that a 1994 lightning strike in Egypt led to 469 deaths after oil tanks were ignited and flooded the village of Dronka with burning fuel?
... that on March 2, 2022, 86 percent of workers in New York City's REI store voted in favor of the outdoor recreation retailer's first ever trade union, REI Union SoHo?
... that Surinamese trade unionist Louis Doedel was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital by the governor-general for 43 years?
... that the 1913 Studebaker strike is regarded as the first major labor strike in the automotive industry?
... 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 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?

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

Selected Quote

Long ago we stated the reason for labor organizations. We said that they were organized out of the necessities of the situation: that a single employee was helpless in dealing with an employer; … that union was essential to give the laborers opportunity to deal on equality with their employer."

— Charles Evans Hughes

Did you know

...that even though the 1952 steel strike lasted 53 days and cost the U.S. $4 billion in lost economic output, it was settled on nearly the same terms offered by the union at the strike's beginning?
...that the four large housing cooperatives that make up Cooperative Village on the Lower East Side of Manhattan were sponsored and financed by trade unions with ties to the Socialist Party of America?
...that Indian trade unionist Dutta Samant led an estimated 200,000 workers on a year-long strike in 1982, causing the exodus of the textile mill industry from Mumbai?

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