Portal:Organized Labour
Introduction
- 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...)
Selected article
The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union in further and higher education representing over 120,000 academics and support staff.
UCU is a vertical union representing casualised researchers and teaching staff, "permanent" lecturers and academic related professional services staff. Definitions of all these categories are currently rather ambiguous due to recent changes in fixed term and open-ended contract law. In many universities, casualised academics form the largest category of staff and UCU members. (Full article...)August in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- August 01 - The Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977 began in Romania; the 1942–44 musicians' strike began in the U.S.; Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was born; the United Firefighters Union of Australia was founded
- August 02 - Robert Zieger was born; the Contrat nouvelle embauche entered into force in France in 2005
- August 03 - The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike began in the U.S.
- August 04 - Joseph Paul-Boncour was born; the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was formed
- August 05 - The Lupeni Strike of 1929 occurred in Romania; the National Labor Board was created; Devan Nair was born
- August 06 - Jackie Presser was born
- August 07 - Frank Fitzsimmons was born
- August 08 - David McDonald died; the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America was formed; Arthur Goldberg was born
- August 09 - The California School Employees Association was founded; Raymond McKay died; Harry Davenport died; Thomas E. Scanlon died; the 1981 Major League Baseball strike ended in the U.S. and Canada; John Willcock was born
- August 10 - The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 began; Iorwith Wilbur Abel died; Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca was born
- August 11 - The International Longshore and Warehouse Union was founded; Iorwith Wilbur Abel was born; Rose Schneiderman died; Edwin D. Hill was born
- August 12 - The Buffalo switchmen's strike of 1892 began; the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike began in the U.S. and Canada; the National War Labor Board was abolished in 1919; the Chorus Equity Association was founded; the Unión General de Trabajadores was founded
- August 13 - Carlos Ortega escaped from prison in Venezuela and disappeared
- August 14 - Solidarity struck for the first time; Joseph Curran died; Lane Kirkland died; Selig Perlman died; N. M. Perera died
- August 15 - The 1890 Australian maritime dispute began; Herbert Hill died; lockout of the Canadian Media Guild began in 2005 in Canada; Anna Walentynowicz was born
- August 16 - George Meany was born; Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca died
- August 18 - The 1989 Australian pilots' strike began; the American Federation of Government Employees was founded; Alberto Hurtado died
- August 19 - The Maritime Trades Department of the AFL–CIO was founded; Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association launched a strike against Northwest Airlines
- August 22 - The United Farm Workers was founded; the Association of Flight Attendants was founded
- August 23 - The Gurindji strike began in 1966 in Australia; the Salad Bowl strike began in the U.S.
- August 24 - Ray Stevenson died
- August 25 - The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was founded; the Battle of Blair Mountain began in 1921 in the U.S.; the 2006 Progressive Enterprises dispute began in New Zealand; the Buffalo switchmen's strike ended in the U.S.; Charles Millard was born; Miron Cozma was born
- August 26 - The Dublin Lock-out began in 1913
- August 27 - Juan Lechín Oquendo died
- August 28 - The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom occurred; the film Matewan was released; the Central Única dos Trabalhadores was founded
- August 29 - The British police strikes in 1918 and 1919 began; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled picketing is not a breach of the peace in Cox v. Louisiana; Emmanuel Christopher Loblack was born
- August 31 - The Gdańsk Agreement was signed, ending the first wave of strikes by Solidarity
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that a strike by uranium miners in 1974 in Ontario led to the creation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act?
- ... that the 1937 Fleischer Studios strike in New York City was the first major labor strike in the animation industry?
- ... that shortly after a missile strike on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters, Oleksiy Danilov said that the fleet could be "sliced up like a salami" at a later date?
- ... that the opening day of a California TV station was affected by a strike when workers refused to cross a two-man picket line?
- ... 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 communist trade unionist Ditto Pölzl was a member of all three provisional state governments of Styria in 1945?
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Selected Quote
Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong."
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— Ralph Chaplin, lyricist, "Solidarity Forever" |
Did you know
- ...that Benjamin Aaron helped negotiate the first contract between a county and its public employee union in California history in 1968?
- ...that in 1865, the Sons of Vulcan won the first union contract in the iron and steelmaking industry and what may be the first union contract of any kind in the United States?
- ...that Arnold Miller defeated W. A. Boyle in 1972 for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America after Boyle murdered union reformer Joseph Yablonski?
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