Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mitchell, John

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, John, 1870–1919, American labor leader, b. Braidwood, Ill. He became a miner at the age of 12 and in 1885 joined the Knights of Labor. When the United Mine Workers of America was formed (1...

Schwellenbach, Lewis Baxter

(Encyclopedia)Schwellenbach, Lewis Baxter shwĕlˈənbäk [key], 1894–1948, American cabinet officer, b. Superior, Wis. After serving (1935–40) in the U.S. Senate, he was appointed (1940) U.S. district judge in...

Arch, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Arch, Joseph, 1826–1919, English labor leader, a Primitive Methodist preacher. He founded the National Agricultural Labourers Union in 1872 and became its president. In 1873, Arch visited Canada and...

vocational education

(Encyclopedia)vocational education, training designed to advance individuals' general proficiency, especially in relation to their present or future occupations. The term does not normally include training for the ...

Wirtz, William Willard

(Encyclopedia)Wirtz, William Willard, 1912–2010, U.S. secretary of labor (1962–69), b. DeKalb, Ill. A professor of law at Northwestern Univ. (1939–42), he served (1943–45) with the War Labor Board and was (...

Donahue, Thomas R.

(Encyclopedia)Donahue, Thomas R. (Thomas Reilly Donahue) dŏnˈəhyo͞oˌ [key], 1928–2023, American ...

Jouhaux, Léon

(Encyclopedia)Jouhaux, Léon lāôNˈ zho͞o-ōˈ [key], 1879–1954, French Socialist labor leader. He headed the Confédération Générale du Travail from 1909 to 1947, when he resigned in protest against its al...

Hawke, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Hawke, Bob (Robert James Lee Hawke), 1929–2019, Australian statesman. A Rhodes scholar at Oxford, he gained a reputation as a skillful labor mediator during his tenure at the Australian Council of T...

Gale, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)Gale, George Washington, 1789–1861, American educator and clergyman, b. Stanford, N.Y., grad. Union College, 1814, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1819. In 1827 he founded Oneida Institute at Wh...

Change to Win Federation

(Encyclopedia)Change to Win Federation, coalition of seven labor unions representing primarily American workers. It was founded in 2005 as the Change to Win Coalition by five American Federation of Labor and Congre...