A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level. They may also be based on a particular industry rather than geographical area, as for example, in the Maritime Council of Australia which co-ordinated the waterfront and maritime unions involved in the 1890 Australian Maritime Dispute. A trade union or labor union is an organization of workers. ... Just as governments have branches to deal with particular areas, trade unions have locals, designed to represent the unions members from a particular company or in a particular area. ... The 1890 Australian Maritime Dispute, commonly known as the 1890 Maritime Strike, was on a scale unprecedented in the Australasian colonies to that point in time, causing political and social turmoil across all Australian colonies and in New Zealand, including the collapse of colonial governments in the colonies of Victoria...

Affiliates of labour councils are trade union branches or locals, and occasionally other labour movement organisations. City-wide or provincial councils may have district or regional labour council affiliates as well as trade unions. Some labour councils restrict their membership to organisations which are affiliated with a particular national trade union federation, such as many labor councils in the United States, which are chartered from the AFL-CIO national confederation. A trade union or labor union is an organization of workers. ... The labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and political governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labor relations. ... A national trade union centre is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a single country. ... American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL-CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 54 national and international unions (including Canadian), together representing more than 10 million workers. ...

Finances are usually obtained through an affiliation fee, often based on a per capita tax on the membership of affiliates. In Australia, Trades and Labour Councils often have their own hall and offices known as a Trades Hall, with the term Trades Hall often used as a colloquial expression for the Labour Council or Trades Hall Council. Trades Hall is a building in the suburb of Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...

Note on usage

Labour councils are a widespread phenomenon, but are given different names in different English-speaking areas. Labour Council is most common in Canada and Australia, Labor Council is used in the (USA) and Trades Council, Trades Union Council or Trades and Labour Council in the United Kingdom (and until recently was widespread in Australia) and some other countries. Another term sometimes used is Industrial Council, as in for example, the Barrier Industrial Council of Broken Hill in Australia. Trades Hall (1921) in Broken Hill The Barrier Industrial Council is the Labour council for the isolated mining town of Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. ... Broken Hill Post Office Broken Hill is an isolated mining city and Local Government Area (see City of Broken Hill) in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 21,000. ...

National associations of trade unions, such as British Trade Union Congress may also be considered a labour council, though the term often implies a primarily local organisation. Trades Union Congress headquarters at Congress House in Great Russell Street near Tottenham Court Road, Camden, London. ...

History

Labour Councils were formed to meet a need to co-ordinate trade union activity in a geographical region. The earliest examples of this form of organisation can be found in the medieval craft guilds and Craft halls that developed in European cities. An example of this is the historic Glasgow Trades Hall wherein the 14 Incorporated Trades of Hammermen, Tailors, Cordiners, Maltmen, Weavers, Bakers, Skinners, Wrights, Coopers, Fleshers, Masons, Gardeners, Barbers, Bonnetmakers & Dyers yearly elected members of the Trades House, headed by the Deacon Convener of the Trades: A guild is an association of craftspeople in a particular trade. ...

The Trades House of Glasgow was created at the time of reform of Glasgow's local government in 1605. At that time the electorate was basically divided into two groups, the Merchants and the Craftsmen. The Craft Incorporations or Guilds comprised the trades Rank of Burgesses under the leadership of the deacon convener, who was given a council. This included the Craft leaders and is the body we now recognise as the Trades House. [1]

The trade union activity of the late nineteenth century in particular spurred the establishment of Labour Councils and Trades Councils acrossing North America, Australia and Britain. 1605 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Some notable events in the history of labour councils include:

• 1791 - 1794 - Glasgow Trades Hall built to serve as a public hall and meeting place for the city’s Trades House & 14 Incorporated Crafts.
• 1834 - attempt to establish the Grand National Consolidated Trades' Union in Britain.
• 1856 - Melbourne Trades Hall Committee formed. Now known as Victorian Trades Hall Council
• 1858 - trades councils started forming in major British towns and cities.
• 1858 - Sheffield Trades Council and Glasgow Trades Council founded.
• 1859 - Melbourne Trades Hall opened in May.
• 1860 - London Trades Council founded.
• 1861 - Dundee Trades Union Council founded.
• 1864 - Manchester and Salford Trades Council formed.
• 1868 - First Trades Union Congress called by Manchester and Salford Trades Council in Manchester, with invitations being sent to "trades councils and other similar federations of trade societies" only.
• 1871 - Trades & Labor Council of Sydney formed.
• 1893 - San Francisco Labor Council chartered.
• 1895 - Trades Union Congress (Britain) restricted to unions, with trades councils excluded altogether to avoid dual representation.
• 1926 - In Britain, Trades Councils play a prominent role in organising the General Strike

1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1794 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1834 (MDCCCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Victorian Trades Hall Council is a representative body of trade union organisations, known as a Labour council, in the State of Victoria, Australia. ... Year 1858 (MDCCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1858 (MDCCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Sheffield Trades and Labour Council, usually known as the Sheffield Trades Council, is a labour organisation uniting trade unionists in Sheffield. ... Year 1859 (MDCCCLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Melbourne Trades Hall entrance on Lygon Street Melbourne Trades Hall is a Trades Hall building located in the suburb of Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and home to the Victorian Trades Hall Council. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... The London Trades Council was an early labour organisation, uniting Londons trade unionists. ... Year 1861 (MDCCCLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Year 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Image:TradeUnionsCongress20050108 CopyrightKaihsuTai. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Labor Council of New South Wales is a representative body of Trade union organisations in the State of New South Wales, Australia. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Image:TradeUnionsCongress20050108 CopyrightKaihsuTai. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Subsidised Mineowner - Poor Beggar! from the Trade Union Unity Magazine (1925) Foraging for coal in the strike Tyldesley miners outside the Miners Hall during the strike The UK General Strike of 1926 was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 3 May 1926 to 12 May 1926. ...

See also

Organized Labour Portal

• Bourses du travail in France
• labour federation
• Trades Hall
• Trade union
• National trade union center
• Labor history

Image File history File links Syndicalism. ... The Bourse de Travail or labour exchanges, is a form of French labour council, were working class organizations in that encouraged mutual aid, education, and self-organization amongst their members in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ... Trades Hall is a building in the suburb of Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... A trade union or labor union is an organization of workers. ... A national trade union center is a federation of trade unions in a single country. ... til the development of wage labour. ...

References

• Glasgow Trades Hall history
• What is a trade union council? Greater London Association of Trade Union Councils
• Trades Union Councils by the British Trade Union Congress