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
IG Metall (German: [iːɡeː meˈtal] ; IGM; German: Industriegewerkschaft Metall, "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of German labor relations consider it a major trend-setter in national bargaining.
IG Metall and ver.di together account for around 15 percent of the German workforce, and other sectors tend to broadly follow their agreements. (Full article...)September in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- September 01 - Walter Reuther was born; William Z. Foster died; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers was formed; Working America was founded
- September 02 - Federal troops intervened in the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 in the U.S.; Franz Leopold Neumann died; the Rock Springs massacre occurred in 1885 in the U.S.
- September 04 - The Textile workers strike of 1934 began in the U.S.; former unionist Francisco Largo Caballero became prime minister of Spain; Thomas R. Donahue was born
- September 05 - Victor Gotbaum was born; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn died
- September 06 - Johan Nygaardsvold was born
- September 07 - Southampton Dock strike of 1890 began in the U.K.; Ela Bhatt was born; Cornelius Shea was born
- September 08 - The Delano grape strike began in 1965 in the U.S.; Kenneth Yablonski died; Ben Gold was born
- September 09 - John Mitchell died; the Hanapepe massacre occurred in 1924 in the Hawaii
- September 10 - Lattimer massacre occurred in the U.S.
- September 11 - Russell Crowell died
- September 12 - Tom Mooney was born; George L. Berry was born
- September 13 - Amado V. Hernández was born; Carlos Bulosan died; George Hardy died
- September 14 - Albert Shanker was born; the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act became law in the U.S.; the U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 ended in the U.S.; Leon J. Davis died; the German Trade Union of the Police was founded in 1950; James Duncan died
- September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny occurred in 1931 in the U.K.; the Free Workers' Union of Germany was founded in 1919
- September 16 - The 2004–05 NHL lockout began in the U.S. and Canada; the Farm Labor Organizing Committee signed a first contract with the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in the U.S.
- September 17 - Miguel Contreras was born; David Dubinsky died; the National Federation of Federal Employees was formed
- September 18 - Sandra Feldman died; James Scullin was born; Teamsters for a Democratic Union was founded; Thomas E. Scanlon was born; Mary Lee died
- September 19 - Joe Glazer died; the National Football League Players Association struck in 1982 in the U.S.
- September 20 - Lewis B. Schwellenbach was born; Sam Church was born; Nathan Feinsinger was born; the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union was founded
- September 21 - John White died; Arlene Holt Baker became the first African-American officer of the AFL–CIO in 2007
- September 22 - Steel strike of 1919 began in the U.S.; the Winter of Discontent began in the U.K. as workers struck Ford
- September 23 - The Sydney Twelve were arrested in 1916 in Australia
- September 24 - The Workers Trade Union Law is passed in Bahrain
- September 25 - The Atomic Trades and Labor Council was founded; the Health Professionals and Allied Employees conducted its first strike in 1979 in the U.S.
- September 26 - The Temple University Graduate Students Association was founded
- September 27 - The Santa Barbara News-Press unionization effort began in the U.S.; the Change to Win Federation was formed
- September 28 - Alice Mahon was born
- September 29 - The Liverpool dockers' strike began in 1995 in the UK.
- September 30 - Ignatius Wolfington died; the first legal version of Solidarity was formed in 1985 in Poland
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the 56-foot-tall (17 m) monument to the theologian Samuel Rutherford near his parish church in Anwoth was badly damaged by a lightning strike five years after its construction?
- ... 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 up to 129,000 Canadian federal workers went on strike?
- ... that John Sterling, Anthony Harrison and Chuck Compton were all signed by the Green Bay Packers as replacement players because of a players' strike during the 1987 NFL season?
- ... 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 after being arrested for organizing a general strike in 1920, S. Girinis was sent to the Soviet Union following a Soviet-Lithuanian exchange of political prisoners?
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I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status and, also, generally speaking, to secure their influence in the political field."
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— Albert Einstein, on why he joined American Federation of Teachers, Local 552, as a charter member. |
Did you know
- ...that the free trade union SLOMR, established in opposition to the communist Romanian government, was suppressed one year before the creation of Solidarity, its more successful Polish counterpart?
- ...that Emil Rieve was elected president of his local union when he was only 22 years old, and president of the Textile Workers Union of America when he was 46?
- ...that Irish American mob informant Danny Greene drove a green car, wore green jackets, and had his union office repainted and recarpeted in green?
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