| Revision as of 17:40, 7 January 2002 editF. Lee Horn (talk) *Changing the defintion of "Labor union" to reflect legal definition← Previous edit | Revision as of 19:15, 7 January 2002 edit undoF. Lee Horn (talk) *Rewritten for NPOV, historical accuracy, and grammarNext edit → | ||
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| The concept of labor unions began early in the industrial revolution. More and more people left farming as an occupation and began to work for employers, usually in appaling conditions and for very low wages. The labor movement arose as an outgrowth of the disparity between the power of employers and the powerlessness of individual employees. | |||
| The idea of a labor union came with the industrial revolution. As more and more people started working at a single place, they came to the conclusion that the employer was dependent upon the workers, rather than the other way around. If the workers could organize themselves, they would be able to negotiate for higher wages and better work conditions. A single worker could always be fired, but if they all grouped together into a labor union, they had power to force an employer to negotiate. | |||
| Labor unions were illegal for many years in most countries. There were severe penalties for attempting to organize labor unions, up to and including execution. Despite this, labor unions were formed and began to acquire political power, eventually resulting in a body of ] which not only legalized organizing efforts, but codified the relationship between employers and those employees organized into labor unions. | |||
| If a union and an employer can't reach an agreement, ]s very often follow. | |||
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| See also ], ], ] | |||
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Revision as of 19:15, 7 January 2002
A labor union, or Labor organization, is a legal entity comprised of employees or workers having a common interest (such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the trades workers in a particular industry), and who form a union for the purpose of negotiating with an employer (or employers) over wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment.
The concept of labor unions began early in the industrial revolution. More and more people left farming as an occupation and began to work for employers, usually in appaling conditions and for very low wages. The labor movement arose as an outgrowth of the disparity between the power of employers and the powerlessness of individual employees.
Labor unions were illegal for many years in most countries. There were severe penalties for attempting to organize labor unions, up to and including execution. Despite this, labor unions were formed and began to acquire political power, eventually resulting in a body of Labor law which not only legalized organizing efforts, but codified the relationship between employers and those employees organized into labor unions.
Some countries, such as Sweden have strong, centralized unions, where every type of work has a specific union, which are then gathered in large unions. The largest Swedish union is LO, Landsorganisationen. LO has over 2.1 million members, which is more than a fifth of Swedens population.
See also Salting, Labor organizations, Labor law