labor movement

American  

noun

1. labor unions collectively.

   The labor movement supported the bill.

2. the complex of organizations and individuals supporting and advocating improved conditions for labor.

3. the effort of organized labor and its supporters to bring about improved conditions for the worker, as through collective bargaining.

   Their activities proved more harmful than helpful to the labor movement.

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labor movement Cultural  

1. The movement of workers for better treatment by employers, particularly through the formation of labor unions.

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Etymology

Origin of labor movement

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

“His vision as a leader helped put our Union at the forefront of the Labor movement in California and beyond,” the union wrote on social media.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 25, 2023

Labor movement icon Dolores Huerta took to the stage to hail Boyle’s community-building work as a response and antidote to racism, poverty and inequality, and led the crowd in a chant of “Viva.”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 2, 2022

Hawke was born in 1929 to a family with strong connections to the Labor movement.

From BBC • May 16, 2019

Both in power and numbers the U. S. Labor movement reached an all-time peak.

From Time Magazine Archive

You know, Mr Lubin, I am frightfully interested in the Labor movement, and in Theosophy, and in reconstruction after the war, and all sorts of things.

From Back to Methuselah by Shaw, Bernard