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 Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In a broader sense, the party has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. It is the governing party of the United Kingdom, having won the 2024 general election, and is currently the largest political party by number of votes cast and number of seats in the House of Commons. There have been seven Labour prime ministers and fourteen Labour ministries. The party traditionally holds the annual Labour Party Conference during party conference season, at which senior Labour figures promote party policy.

The Labour Party was founded in 1900, having emerged from the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. It was electorally weak before the First World War, but in the early 1920s overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party, and briefly formed a minority government under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. In 1929, Labour for the first time became the largest party in the House of Commons with 287 seats, but fell short of a majority, forming another minority government. In 1931, in response to the Great Depression, MacDonald formed a new government with Conservative and Liberal support, which led to his expulsion from the party. Labour was soundly defeated by his coalition in the 1931 election, winning only 52 seats, but began to recover in 1935, with 154 seats.

During the Second World War, Labour served in the wartime coalition, after which it won a majority in the 1945 election. Clement Attlee's government enacted extensive nationalisation and established the modern welfare state and National Health Service before losing power in 1951. Under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, Labour again governed from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1979. The party then entered a period of intense internal division which ended in the defeat of its left wing by the mid-1980s. After electoral defeats to the Conservatives in 1987 and 1992, Tony Blair took the party to the political centre as part of his New Labour project, which governed under Blair and then Gordon Brown from 1997 to 2010. After further electoral defeats in the 2010s, Keir Starmer again took Labour to the centre and has governed since 2024. (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 Russian pianist Pavel Kushnir died on a hunger strike after his arrest for anti-war videos posted on a YouTube channel with five subscribers?
... 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 the 1937 Fleischer Studios strike in New York City was the first major labor strike in the animation industry?
... 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 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 Jennifer Bates led thousands of Amazon warehouse workers to petition a vote for a union in Bessemer, Alabama?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."

— Mary Harris Jones.

Did you know

...that at the 1974 Coalition of Labor Union Women convention, Myra Wolfgang declared "...there are 3,000 women in Chicago and they didn't come here to swap recipes!"?
...that fear of retaliatory terminations is a leading obstacle to union organizers in their efforts to unionize a workplace?
... that William E. Simkin, longest-serving head of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, first got involved in arbitration when a professor asked him to assist with a hosiery industry dispute?

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