Unions, Unionizing and Workers Rights

West Virginia's Mine Wars
A look at West Virginia's labor history, compiled by the West Virginia Archives.

Cyber Lodge: An Open Source Union Project

"CyberLodge: An Open Source Union Project
Traditional unions can't help us. We're too scattered across industries and geography. And, let's face it, we like to do things differently. We need a fresh approach."

"That's where CyberLodge comes in. Consider us SourceForge.net for the labor movement. We're here to gather requirements for the ideal cyber worker organization. What would your ideal labor organization provide? Health benefits? Standards? Testing? Representation? Or just good advice?"

"Open Source software gets its strength from the combined efforts of many developers. CyberLodge.org hopes to accomplish the same thing, by creating the foundation of a cyber workers' association through input from you and people like you."

"Take a look through the site and think about what would improve your career. Then let us know, so we can all start building a labor organization for the 21st Century."

No Sweatshop: The Union Mall
" The UNION MALL is designed to make it easy for progressive consumers to help empower workers around the world. We have gathered every retailer we could find that source exclusively from union shops or worker owned cooperatives. We know that the only way to change the global garment industry is to create successful alternatives to the sweatshops."

Retail Worker.com
A place for those employed in retail to gather, discuss, and organize.

No Sweat

No Sweat is an activist, campaigning organisation, fighting sweatshop bosses, in solidarity with workers, worldwide.

Sweatshop labour is modern, global capitalism stripped bare. From the small, backstreet sweatshop to some of the biggest corporations in the world - child labour, forced overtime, poverty wages, unsafe conditions, harassment of women workers and intimidation of trade unionists are commonplace.

Multinational Monitor On-Line
"The Multinational Monitor tracks corporate activity, especially in the Third World, focusing on the export of hazardous substances, worker health and safety, labor union issues and the environment." Includes a section on the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) as well as information on global corporations.

SweatGear: A Lucrative Blend of Old and New
"Designer Attire from Old-Fashioned Sweatshops in El Salvador FOR THAT LEAN AND MEAN LOOK... Was it only a decade ago that our tax dollars built this little oasis of profit? How it's grown in just ten short years, while real wages fell 50%! I must admit, at that moment, I felt more than a little pride in our accomplishments." Sweatshop satire from CISPES. Do, do, check this one out!

Zenroren
A progressive, democratic, labor federation in Japan. From their 1989 founding convention: "The major aim, which is the basis of all action by Zenroren, is to unite the workers and other people to fulfill their historic role, to realize the workers' just demands for a bright and hopeful future for all working people."

International Labor/Unions

Brazilian Workers Party (Portuguese and English)
As we struggle to put together a Labor Party in the United States, think about what it would have been like in Brazil, where workers managed to build a workers' party under an overt dictatorial regime. They really did it. Check it out!

Global Labour Directory of Directories
A directory of the top ten labor directories from around the world, ranked by thoroughness. If it's a union you're looking for, check here first!

International Labour Organization (ILO)
"The ILO (a UN agency) formulates international labour standards... setting minimum standards of basic labour rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues." Among this site's categories: Child Labor, Equality for Women, Social Security (known in the US as the "Safety Net"), Workers' Activities, Statistics and more.

National Labor Committee
This group has been highly successful in forcing some large retailers and manufacturers to change their sweatshop ways: the GAP, Liz Claiborne, and Ralph Loren to name a few. Their latest target is Disney and is worldwide empire of sweatshops. Check it out - and help!

National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa
It was not easy to survive the 1980's and many thousands of workers joined the unions. Workers became strong on the factory floor. Workers went on strike all over the country. Sometimes they won what they wanted, sometimes they lost the issue and their jobs, but they never lost their dignity. By the end of the 1970s, MAW, NUMARWOSA, WPMAWU, MICA were still small. But the government could not make them go away. In 1987 they merged to form one giant - the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, NUMBS. With 130,000 members, it was the biggest metal union ever in the history of South Africa and Africa." Interested? Find out more...

National Union of Miners in South Africa
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM.) was formed in 1982 and represents approximately 357,000 members in the mining and electrical energy industries, the vast majority of the unionized workforce. Since its inception, the issues of wages, racial discrimination and health and safety have been the pivots of its campaigns for improved conditions for mine and energy workers. The NUM. is the largest recognized collective bargaining agent representing workers in the mining industry and the electrical energy industry."

Solidarity With Korea's Labour Movement
This website has now been rolled-into LabourStart, which is where this link will take you: "I don't know if any of you folks are following the incredible developments taking place in the South Korean labour movement. I've just done up a website which offers dozens of links and daily news about their struggle." Edited by Eric Lee.

Songs of Irish Labour
The web site and a recently released CD of the same name were inspired by the April 1998 dedication of a memorial to Jim Connell, an Irishman who more than a century ago wrote the song "The Red Flag." Both web site and CD have been produced by Helena Sheehan, a Dublin City University lecturer and union member and former chair of the Irish Writers' Union. The web site contains words, background info and sound files of some songs from the CD -- construction is still underway. The web site is attractive, with color photos (and waving red flags), and great links to international labor and labor song sites, including a link to Billy Bragg's home page (worth the price of admission?).