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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Cesario Estrada Chavez (/ˈtʃɑːvɛz/; Spanish: [ˈtʃaβes]; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and lesser known Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to become the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union. Ideologically, his worldview combined left-wing politics with Catholic social teachings.

Born in Yuma, Arizona, to a Mexican-American family, Chavez began his working life as a manual laborer before spending two years in the U.S. Navy. Relocating to California, where he married, he got involved in the Community Service Organization (CSO), through which he helped laborers register to vote. In 1959, he became the CSO's national director, a position based in Los Angeles. In 1962, he left the CSO to co-found the NFWA, based in Delano, California, through which he launched an insurance scheme, a credit union, and the El Malcriado newspaper for farmworkers. Later that decade, he began organizing strikes among farmworkers, most notably the successful Delano grape strike of 1965–1970. Amid the grape strike, his NFWA merged with Larry Itliong's AWOC to form the UFW in 1967. Influenced by the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, Chavez emphasized direct nonviolent tactics, including pickets and boycotts, to pressure farm owners into granting strikers' demands. He imbued his campaigns with Roman Catholic symbolism, including public processions, Masses, and fasts. He received much support from labor and leftist groups but was monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In the early 1970s, Chavez sought to expand the UFW's influence outside California by opening branches in other U.S. states. Viewing illegal immigrants as a major source of strike-breakers, he also pushed a campaign against illegal immigration into the U.S., which generated violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and caused schisms with many of the UFW's allies. Interested in co-operatives as a form of organization, he established a remote commune at Keene. His increased isolation and emphasis on unrelenting campaigning alienated many California farmworkers who had previously supported him, and by 1973 the UFW had lost most of the contracts and membership it won during the late 1960s. His alliance with California Governor Jerry Brown helped ensure the passing of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, although the UFW's campaign to get its measures enshrined in California's constitution failed. Influenced by the Synanon religious organization, Chavez re-emphasized communal living and purged perceived opponents. Membership of the UFW dwindled in the 1980s, with Chavez refocusing on anti-pesticide campaigns and moving into real-estate development, generating controversy for his use of non-unionized laborers. (Full article...)

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December in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

December 01 - W. A. Boyle was born; the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union was dissolved
December 02 - The Professional Footballers' Association was founded
December 03 - Tom Mooney died
December 04 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations were dissolved; George L. Berry died; the 2007 South Africa miners' strike occurred
December 05 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL–CIO
December 06 - Santa Marta massacre occurred in Colombia in 1928; the Bituminous coal strike of 1977–78 began in the U.S.; the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was founded
December 07 - The International Union of Operating Engineers was founded; the Fiji Teachers Union was founded; Vere Bird was born
December 08 - Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions disbanded to from the American Federation of Labor; Anil Moonesinghe died; Bernice Fisher was born
December 09 - Thomas Hepburn died; the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers was dissolved; Bob Hawke was born; Selig Perlman was born; Pablo Iglesias died
December 10 - Jean Maitron is born; the American Federation of Teachers won its first collective bargaining election
December 11 - The Union of Democratic Mineworkers was founded
December 12 - Ron Carey died; Michael Ratchford died; Anthony Provenzano died; Charles Ballam died; Tommy Lewis was born
December 13 - Samuel Gompers died; Bernard Kleiman died; William Spence died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Wheeler
December 15 - George Hardy was born; George W. Taylor died; Chico Mendes was born; Mark Hewitson was born; Clinton Jencks died
December 16 - The Rothbury riot occurred in 1929 in Australia
December 17 - Clarence Gillis died; Mustafa al-Hallaj died
December 18 - The Transport and General Workers' Union and Amicus voted to merge into a new union, Unite, in 2006; the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers was formed; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd.; Douglas Fraser was born; Randi Weingarten was born
December 19 - Frank Keys Foster was born; the Ford Strike of 1945 in Canada ended; B. T. Ranadive was born
December 20 - The 2005 New York City transit strike began; two of the Sydney Twelve were executed in Australia in 1916; the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark ruling in Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General); the Occupational Safety and Health Act became law in the U.S. in 1970; Richard Cordtz was born
December 21 - William Usery Jr. was born
December 22 - Chico Mendes died; the 2005 New York City transit strike ended
December 23 - 1929 Australian timber workers' strike began; Gunnar Sträng was born; Derek Simpson was born; Ella Vogelaar was born
December 24 - Ed Boyce died; the Electrical Trades Union of Australia was formed; Italian Hall Disaster in 1913
December 25 - Ed Hochuli was born; Bartholomew Ulufa'alu was born; Philip Vera Cruz was born
December 26 - A series of general strikes began in 1996 in South Korea; Dave Beck died
December 27 - Cyrus S. Ching died; Free Workers' Union of Germany was founded; William Konyha died; John La Rose was born; Makhan Singh was born
December 28 - Agnes Nestor died
December 29 - Flint sit-down strike began in 1936; the Indian Labour Organization was founded; Ted Theodore was born
December 30 - Bill Tytla died
December 31 - The International Typographical Union was dissolved; Joseph Yablonski was murdered on the orders of United Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle; John Garden died

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... that 55,000 Berlin workers went on strike on 28 June 1916 to protest the arrest and trial of anti-war campaigner Karl Liebknecht?
... that Sting wrote "We Work the Black Seam" because he felt that "the case for coal was never put to the nation" during the 1984–85 British miners' strike, which began 40 years ago today?
... that when journalist and trade unionist Nisn Pups was released from jail, the Communist Party of Lithuania instructed him to change his name?
... that in 1969, the first women's strike for equal pay in the Netherlands was called in a cigar factory in Nieuwe Pekela?
... that during the Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003, all but one of Venezuelan chocolatier María Fernanda Di Giacobbe's ten businesses went bankrupt?
... 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?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

The history of the labor movements needs to be taught in every school in this land. America is a living testimonial to what free men and women, organized in free democratic trade unions can do to make a better life. … We ought to be proud of it!"

— Hubert Humphrey

Did you know

...that although an Iron Workers union member planted the dynamite in the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing, the 21 people who died in the explosion and fire were all workers and not managers?
...that although an Iron Workers union member planted the dynamite in the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing, the 21 people who died in the explosion and fire were all workers and not managers?
... that the Indonesian trade union centre SOBRI decided to join the World Federation of Trade Unions following the death of Stalin in 1953?

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