Aja viide. Aja lugu.

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, safe working conditions 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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Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. As striking became a more common practice, governments were often pushed to act (either by private business or by union workers). When government intervention occurred, it was rarely neutral or amicable. Early strikes were often deemed unlawful conspiracies or anti-competitive cartel action and many were subject to massive legal repression by state police, federal military power, and federal courts. Many Western nations legalized striking under certain conditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. Occasionally, strikes destabilize the rule of a particular political party or ruler; in such cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance. Notable examples are the 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard and the 1981 Warning Strike led by Lech Wałęsa. These strikes were significant in the long campaign of civil resistance for political change in Poland, and were an important mobilizing effort that contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of communist party rule in Eastern Europe. Another example is the general strike in Weimar Germany that followed the March 1920 Kapp Putsch. It was called by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and received such broad support that it resulted in the collapse of the putsch. (Full article...)

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March in Labor History

Significant dates in labour history.

March 01 - Joseph Curran was born; the S.S. California strike began in 1936 in the U.S.; the South Korean railroad strike of 2006 began; the Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union was founded; Tinos Rusere died; Clinton Jencks was born
March 02 - The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signed a first contract with U.S. Steel; the Confederation of Labour of Kazakhstan was founded
March 03 - William Green was born; Frances Perkins became U.S. Labor Secretary and the first female member of the Cabinet; Joseph Yablonski was born
March 04 - Shannon J. Wall was born; the formation of SLOMR was announced in Romania; Sam Pollock died; Art Babbitt died; the South Korean railroad strike of 2006 ended; Joseph Ashby died
March 05 - The UK miners' strike of 1984–1985 began; Thomas Devin Reilly died
March 06 - The Sailors' Union of the Pacific was founded; Richard Frankensteen was born; James Thompson Bain was born; the 1912 Brisbane general strike ended in Australia
March 07 - The 2003 Broadway Musicians Strike began in the U.S.
March 08 - Buzz Hargrove was born; Rhoda Williams died
March 09 - Westmoreland County Coal Strike of 1910–1911 began; Ernest Bevin was born; Amir Peretz was born; John Golding was born
March 10 - Morgan Tsvangirai was born
March 11 - Ron Todd was born; Jack Egerton was born
March 12 - Lane Kirkland was born; the first employer agreed to union demands, effectively ending the Lawrence textile strike in the U.S. in 1912; Edward Grayndler died; Andrew Furuseth was born
March 13 - Ami Chandra died; Irmã Dulce died; Paul Mattick was born
March 14 - The Asbestos Strike began in Canada in 1949; the film Salt of the Earth was released in 1953; Michael Foster was born
March 15 - A major insider-trading scandal was exposed at the Union Labor Life Insurance Company in the U.S.; William McFetridge died; William Broadhead died
March 16 - The Bydgoszcz events began in Poland in 1981; Lloyd McBride was born; James Petrillo was born; the United Federation of Teachers was founded; Samizu Matsuki was born
March 17 - Edward J. McElroy was born; P. H. McCarthy was born; Edward William O'Sullivan was born
March 18 - The U.S. postal strike of 1970 began Seymour Martin Lipset was born
March 19 - The Bituminous Coal Strike of 1977-1978 ended in the U.S.
March 20 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided Teamsters v. Terry; the General Union of Moroccan Workers was founded; the Structural Building Trades Alliance was founded
March 21 - The Australian Industrial Relations Commission decided the Three certified agreements case in 2005; the U.S. Supreme Court decided National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab; Alice Henry was born
March 22 - Ron Carey was born; Matthew Guinan died; Roy Lee Williams was born; Thomas Helliker died
March 23 - Coalition of Labor Union Women was founded; Christiane Brunner was born; Kate Bronfenbrenner was born; Edward Lamb died; Will H. Daly died; the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions was founded; Lou Cunningham died; Basawon Singh (Sinha) was born; Sigurd Lucassen died
March 25 - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire occurred; the Argentine Regional Workers' Federation was founded; Paul Mackney was born
March 26 - Hugh Mulzac was born; the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees was founded; James Callaghan died
March 27 - James Callaghan was born; WorkChoices entered into force in Australia in 2006
March 29 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish; John Ducker was born
March 30 - The New York State United Teachers is founded
March 31 - César Chávez was born; GMB was founded; MEA-MFT was founded; Mei Li Vos was born

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

More Did you know (auto-generated)

... 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?
... that a 23-day CBC strike thrust Don Goodwin into the Canadian national spotlight and into "folk-hero status"?
... that the 1937 Fleischer Studios strike in New York City was the first major labor strike in the animation industry?
... 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 Russian airstrike on Kyiv TV Tower (video featured) killed Yevhenii Sakun, one of at least 14 civilian journalists killed in the line of duty during the Russo-Ukrainian War?
... that members of the Trade Union Opposition Federation stormed the Copenhagen Stock Exchange?

Related Portals

Selected image

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

Selected Quote

"The first thing a dictator does is abolish the free press. Next he abolishes the right of labor to go on strike."

— George Seldes

Did you know

...that the first company union in the United States was created by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in response to the bad publicity generated by the Ludlow Massacre?
...that although he contributed to an anti-militarist resolution at a congress of the Second International in 1891, Christiaan Cornelissen was one of a few syndicalists to support the Allied effort in World War I in 1914?
...that Indian communist politician K. P. Prabhakaran was in the forefront of a trade union of toddy tappers in Kerala for 55 years?

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