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Introduction
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Walter-crane-1889-solidiarty-of-labour.jpg/250px-Walter-crane-1889-solidiarty-of-labour.jpg)
- 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
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/CoastalFederalCreditUnion-CreedmoorBranch.jpg/220px-CoastalFederalCreditUnion-CreedmoorBranch.jpg)
A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (cheque accounts), credit cards, credit, share term certificates (certificates of deposit), and online banking. Normally, only a member of a credit union may deposit or borrow money. In several African countries, credit unions are commonly referred to as SACCOs (savings and credit co-operatives).
Worldwide, credit union systems vary significantly in their total assets and average institution asset size, ranging from volunteer operations with a handful of members to institutions with hundreds of thousands of members and assets worth billions of US dollars. In 2018, the number of members in credit unions worldwide was 375 million, with over 100 million members having been added since 2016.
Leading up to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, in 2006, 23.6% of mortgages from commercial banks were subprime, compared to only 3.6% of those from credit unions, and banks were two and a half times more likely to fail during the crisis. American credit unions more than doubled lending to small businesses between 2008 and 2016, from $30 billion to $60 billion, while lending to small businesses overall during the same period declined by around $100 billion. In the US, public trust in credit unions stands at 60%, compared to 30% for big banks. Furthermore, small businesses are 80% more likely to be satisfied by a credit union than with a big bank. (Full article...)July in Labor History
Significant dates in labour history.
- July 01 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 began in the U.S.; the Regina Riot occurred during the On-to-Ottawa Trek in Canada in 1935; Lee Pressman was born; P. H. McCarthy died; the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia was founded; the Westmoreland County coal strike of 1910–11 ended in the U.S.
- July 02 - William J. McCarthy was born; Edward Ikem Okeke died; the U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown v. Hotel and Restaurant Employees
- July 03 - The United States Army began suppression of the American Railway Union during the Pullman Strike in 1894
- July 04 - The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention came into force
- July 05 - "Bloody Thursday" occurred during the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike in the U.S.
- July 06 - Peter J. McGuire was born; the Homestead Strike culminated with a battle between Pinkerton agents and striking workers
- July 07 - Eugene V. Debs was arrested during the Pullman Strike in 1894; the 1998 Puerto Rican general strike began
- July 08 - Jesse Simons died
- July 09 - Jackie Presser died; the Transport Workers Union of America won the "Squeegee Strike" at the IRT in 1935
- July 10 - Sidney Hillman died; George W. Taylor was born; Donald Richberg was born
- July 11 - Frank Duffy died; Sigurd Lucassen was born
- July 12 - The British Columbia Teachers' Federation was founded; Arnold Miller died; Clara Lemlich died; Edgar Nixon was born; the Bisbee Deportation occurred in the U.S. in 1917
- July 13 - The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 began
- July 14 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began in the U.S.
- July 15 - The Steel strike of 1959 began in the U.S.; Set Persson died; Michael Costa was born; the Vancouver Police Union was founded
- July 16 - Frank Rudolph Crosswaith was born
- July 17 - The Cape Breton coal strike of 1981 began in Canada
- July 18 - William J. McCarthy defeated Weldon Mathis as Teamsters president in 1988; Robert Georgine was born; the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, one of the two primary labour conventions of the ILO, came into force
- July 19 - The Hatch Act of 1939 was extended to cover state and local government workers in the U.S.; Benjamin Gitlow died; Rhoda Williams died
- July 20 - The Newsboys' strike of 1899 began
- July 22 - Patrick J. Campbell was born; the 2004–05 NHL lockout ended in the U.S. and Canada
- July 23 - Emma Tenayuca died
- July 24 - The 1952 steel strike ended in the U.S.; Ben Gold died; the Alliance for Labor Action is formed
- July 25 - Farrell Dobbs was born; the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters announced their intention to leave the AFL–CIO; labor attorney Arthur Goldberg resigned as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
- July 26 - Elias Motsoaledi was born; William Trenwith died; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, banning workplace discrimination based on disability, became law
- July 27 - The Polish film Man of Iron was released in 1981
- July 28 - Harry Bridges was born; the 1913 Paterson silk strike ended in the U.S.; Florence Cohen was born
- July 29 - The Sailors' Union of the Pacific was formed; the United Food and Commercial Workers disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO
- July 30 - Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975; the Arizona copper mine strike of 1983 began in the U.S.
- July 31 - Edward T. Hanley resigned as president of HERE after a corruption scandal
More Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that Marco van Basten's strike in the UEFA Euro 1988 Final was described as "perhaps the most iconic goal in UEFA European Championship history"?
- ... that a strike by uranium miners in 1974 in Ontario led to the creation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act?
- ... 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 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 murder of Luisa Lallana sparked a general strike in Rosario, Argentina?
- ... 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?
Related Portals
Selected image
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Image 1Rally 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.
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Image 2The Place de la Sorbonne in Paris is closed by police during the 2006 labour protests in France.
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Image 3Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
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Image 5Union elections with an illegal firing, 1951 to 2007.
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Image 6John 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.
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Image 7Picket signs at the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.
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Image 8Richard Trumka.
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Image 9Lewis 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.
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Image 10Crowd gathered outside old City Hall during the Winnipeg general strike, June 21, 1919.
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Image 12Union members march in Argentina on Human Rights Day in December 2005. The signs read "Worker rights are human rights..
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Image 14Armed vigilantes deport striking copper miners during the Bisbee Deportation in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12, 1917.
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Image 15Detail of monument to the Reesor Siding Strike of 1963.
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Image 18Cripple Creek, Colo., under martial law, during the 1894 strike.
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Image 19United Mine Workers of America poster circa 1902.
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Image 20Striking workers march moments before the Swedish military opened fire, killing five workers during the Ă…dalen shootings.
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Image 21Former headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 900 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C., in 200.
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Image 22AFL–CIO unions protest outside Verizon headquarters in Philadelphia using a giant inflatable rat.
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Image 23Samuel Gompers.
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Image 25National Federation of Federal Employees officials sign a collective bargaining agreement with the U.S. 8th Army in October 2002.
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Image 28The front page of the Union Record on the Seattle General Strike of 1919.
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Image 29Memorial marker for the Bay View Tragedy.
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Image 30Union members picketing recent NLRB rulings outside the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters in November 2007.
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Image 31Strike sign used by the German Train Drivers' Union in the German national rail strike of 2007.
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Image 33Exaggerated 19th century engraving showing flames and smoke following the Haymarket riot.
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Image 35Members 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.
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Image 37Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.
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Image 38Mounted police chase demonstrators through Vancouver's East End during the Battle of Ballantyne Pier in 1935.
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Image 39Political cartoon about the Coal Strike of 1902 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
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Image 40Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago, Illinois, during the Pullman Strike in 1894.
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Image 41Illustration from the Brisbane Worker newspaper condemning the brutality of the Queensland Police on Black Friday during the 1912 Brisbane General Strike.
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Image 42During World War II, a female aircraft worker checks electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California.
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Image 43Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) notice of subway closure during the 2005 New York City transit strike.
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Image 44Striking teamsters armed with pipes battle police in the streets during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.
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Image 46Joe Hill.
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Image 47Breaker boys, child laborers, working in a U.S. coal mine in 1911.
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Image 48Strike leaders at the Paterson silk strike of 1913. From left, Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood.
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Image 49The Western Federation of Miners' famous flyer entitled "Is Colorado in America?".
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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.
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Image 53Striking I.W.W. members confront Massachusetts National Guard troops in Boston, during the Lawrence textile strike in 1912.
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Image 54Protesters barricade the street on June 22 during the 2006 Oaxaca protests.
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Image 57Shields used by striking workers at the Carnegie Steel Works during the Homestead Strike in 1892.
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Image 58A. Philip Randolph.
Selected Quote
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"When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs, angels weep in heaven, and the Devil shuts the gates of Hell to keep him out. ... Judas Iscariot was a gentleman compared to a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not."
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— Jack London. |
Did you know
- ...that despite the relatively low level of academic output by Professor Gary Chaison, he is widely cited in the American mass media?
- ...that the 1998 Puerto Rican general strike paralyzed the island for two days, when 500,000 people took to the streets to protest against privatizing the Puerto Rico Telephone Company?
- ... that John Mills Houston, a stage actor, was one of 19 men selected to act as President Woodrow Wilson's honor guard during World War I?
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Portal:Organized labour
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