The labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign for better working conditions and treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour relations. Trade unions are collective organizations within societies, organized for the purpose of representing the interests of workers and the working class. Many ruling class individuals and political groups may also be active in and part of the labour movement.
In some countries, especially the United Kingdom and Australia the labour movement is understood to encompass a formal "political wing", frequently known by the name labour party or workers' party, which complements the aforementioned "industrial wing".
|
Organized labour |
|---|
|
The labour movement
New Unionism · Proletariat Social Movement Unionism · Socialism Syndicalism · Anarcho-syndicalism Timeline |
|
Labour rights
Child labour · Eight-hour day Collective bargaining Occupational safety and health |
|
Trade unions
Trade unions by country Trade union federations International comparisons ITUC · IWA · WFTU |
|
Labour parties
Labour Party (UK) Labour Party (Ireland) Australian Labor Party New Zealand Labour Party List of other Labour parties |
|
Academic disciplines
Industrial relations Labour economics Labor history · Labour law |
Read more about Labour Movement: History, Labour Parties, Labour and Racial Equality, Development of Labour Movements Within Nation States, Development of An International Labour Movement, List of National Labour Movements
Famous quotes containing the words labour and/or movement:
“The habits of our whole species fall into three great classes—useful labour, useless labour, and idleness. Of these the first only is meritorious; and to it all the products of labor rightfully belong; but the two latter, while they exist, are heavy pensioners upon the first, robbing it of a large portion of its just rights. The only remedy for this is to, as far as possible, drive useless labour and idleness out of existence.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“... contemporary black women felt they were asked to choose between a black movement that primarily served the interests of black male patriarchs and a women’s movement which primarily served the interests of racist white women.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)