So… where do you sit: Left or Right?
Have you ever wondered where the labels “left” and “right” actually come from? The labels started as seating arrangements. During the French Revolution, legislators who favored preserving the king’s authority and traditional institutions tended to sit on the right side of the assembly, while reformers sat on the left.1Encyclopaedia Britannica, the political spectrum. Over time, that physical divide became a political statement.
In that lineage, the “right” broadly evolved to represent a preference for order, continuity, property rights, and existing social hierarchies, often emphasizing the role of markets, religion, and nation as stabilizing forces. As mass politics expanded in the 19th century, conservative parties and business interests increasingly aligned with this “right” identity, especially in opposition to the growing labor movement and the redistributive demands coming from unions and socialist parties.2Eatwell & O’Sullivan, The nature of the right, 2019.
Importantly, the right has never been one thing: it has ranged from traditional conservatism (focused on institutions and gradual change) to liberal-conservatism (markets plus social order) to nationalist movements (priority on sovereignty and borders). But the historical thread is generally formed as the political home for those seeking to defend the established economic and social order.3Eatwell & O’Sullivan, 2019 — on the varieties of the right.
National Assembly, France. https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Assembly-historical-French-parliament
As the Industrial Revolution gathered pace, that left–right divide , increasingly also became about who had power in the economy, and who didn’t. Factory capitalism created a new class of wage workers whose lives were shaped by long hours, low pay, and unsafe conditions. Unlike landowners or merchants, they had little leverage as individuals. Their answer was collective: organizing.4Horrell & Humphries, The Economic History Review, 1995.
This is one of the key reasons unions became so closely associated with what we now call the political left. From the start, unions were a practical response to inequality in bargaining power, and a vehicle for ideas that would later become central to left politics: dignity at work, fairness, and a more equal distribution of opportunity.5Rodrik, The globalization paradox, 2011.
The industrial jobs were often dangerous, exhausting, and poorly paid. Early factory workers, including men, women, and children, often labored 12-hour days amid unsafe machinery and unhealthy air. These hardships gave rise to the first organized efforts by workers to band together for mutual protection. Sadly this is not the “old work” enviroment for many developing economies.6ILO, World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2024.
At first, governments and employers opposed these early unions. In England, for example, worker combinations were banned by law, and early union organizers sometimes faced arrests or blacklisting.7UK Parliament, trade unions and the law, including the Combination Acts. Despite this resistance, workers continued to organize. Notably, the first recorded labor strike in North America took place as early as 1768, when New York journeymen tailors protested a wage cut.8New York State Department of Labor, on the 1768 tailors’ strike.
Through the early 1800s, unions grew in strength and number. In Britain, the ban on trade unions was lifted in 1824, triggering rapid growth in union membership. By the 1850s, unions had become powerful enough to win better contracts and workplace protections for their members.9Ewing, the function of trade unions, Industrial Law Journal, 2005. The idea of collective action, that workers together could negotiate with their employer or strike if necessary, was a radical shift in the traditional power dynamics.
During the 19th century, the cause of labor and the emerging political left became virtually synonymous. Unions not only fought for immediate improvements (like higher wages or shorter hours) but also inspired a broader vision of social justice and equality. Early labor leaders observed that industrial capitalism was creating “two distinct classes, the rich and the poor,” and they began advocating for a more just society to bridge that divide.10Thompson, The making of the English working class, 1963.
Thinkers and activists on the left recognized unions as essential vehicles for change. Karl Marx, writing in the mid-1800s, noted that trade unions were crucial for the working class, aiming “to prevent the reduction of wages below [their] value” and improve labor conditions. Early socialists embraced unions as a means to democratize the workplace and eventually obtain political power for workers.11On what trade unions are for.Marx, Value, price and profit, delivered 1865Read the address.
Though the labor movement began in Britain and Europe, it did not remain a Western phenomenon. From the mid-19th century onward, the movement became increasingly globalized. In 1864, unionists and leftists from multiple countries formed the International Workingmen’s Association (the “First International”) in London, the first attempt at international coordination of the labor movement. Issues like the right to organize and the eight-hour day were at the top of their agenda.12Musto, the history and legacy of the International Working Men’s Association, 2021. In the 20th century, unions and worker organizations also became part of broader anti-fascist resistance, especially as fascist regimes moved quickly to crush independent unions and replace them with state-controlled labor structures.13Encyclopaedia Britannica — on the political spectrum and the parties within it.
Strikers in 1933. https://journalistsresource.org/economics/labor-unions-income-pay-inequality-research/
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, labor activism had spread across Europe, the Americas, and beyond. Industrializing nations like Germany, France, and the United States which saw massive growth in unions and socialist parties. In Japan, some of the first labor unions were established in the late 1800s after the country’s rapid industrialization. In India, the hardships of textile mill workers led to the formation of the Madras Labour Union in 1918, one of Asia’s first modern trade unions. Throughout colonial Africa and Asia, emerging urban workforces began to organize. Often these unions became entwined with broader struggles for freedom and equality. In many colonized countries, trade unions played a critical role in movements for social and political change, including anti-colonial independence movements.
For example, in British colonies like Singapore, Nigeria, and Guyana, labor unions were at the forefront of agitation against colonial policies in the 1940s–50s, sometimes aligning with nationalist leaders. The pattern repeated across the Global South: unions became schools of democracy and engines of political mobilization.14van der Linden, Workers of the world, 2008.
A major milestone in the globalization of labor rights came after World War I. In 1919, the victorious powers created the International Labour Organization (ILO) as part of the Treaty of Versailles. It was founded on the idea that lasting peace required social justice for workers. For the first time, an international institution was charged with protecting workers’ rights worldwide. Over the past century, the ILO has helped abolish child labor, curb forced labor, and promote fair treatment and safety for workers around the globe.15ILO, Trends 2024.
The legacy of the labor movement can be seen in laws and norms worldwide. Throughout the world, action by labor activists resulted in reforms that were revolutionary at the time and are now taken for granted. Unions and allied social movements won:
- the 8-hour workday and later the concept of a two-day weekend, replacing the 12–16 hour shifts common in the 1800s.
- unions led campaigns to end child labor and to impose safety regulations in mines, factories, and mills.
- collective bargaining, unions consistently pushed for higher wages and fair pay.
- establish minimum wage laws in many nations.
- benefits such as employer-provided health care, pensions, and injury compensation for workers.
- contributed to the expansion of voting rights (as workers demanded a political voice)
- growth of public education, and the creation of social safety nets like unemployment insurance and Social Security.
- labor-backed political parties implemented pivotal welfare state policies in the mid-20th century.
Kids working in a factory in Macon, Georgia, 1909. https://www.britannica.com/story/the-rise-of-the-machines-pros-and-cons-of-the-industrial-revolution In the post-World War II decades (1940s–1960s), labor unions reached the peak of their influence in many industrialized countries. Union membership was high, and unions had a seat at the table in shaping economic policy.16Farber, Herbst, Kuziemko & Naidu, Quarterly Journal of Economics 136(3), 2021. This era saw the flowering of the middle class and the institutionalization of many labor rights. However, the late 20th century brought new headwinds for organized labor.
Globalization and economic change in the 1970s–1990s led to factory closures in high-union regions and the rise of low-wage manufacturing in places with weaker unions. Many governments also adopted free-market policies and restrictive labor laws that undercut union power. In the United States and the United Kingdom, two countries with strong union traditions, union membership declined sharply after 1980. In the U.S., the share of workers in unions fell from about 20% in 1983 to just 10% by 2024. (Private-sector unionization in the U.S. is even lower, around 6%)1710%US Bureau of Labor Statistics, union members 2024.
At the same time, there are notable counter-examples. Some nations have maintained high unionization rates. The Nordic countries (such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland) still have the world’s highest union density, often over half of all workers remain union members in these countries. This is attributed to a continued culture of labor cooperation and supportive policies. For instance, as of 2016 about 66% of Sweden’s workforce was unionized.
Today, labor unions face a different landscape than the one that shaped their rise. Economic restructuring has shifted employment away union-dense factories toward more dispersed service and tech work, where high turnover, outsourcing, and subcontracting make organizing harder. At the same time, the growth of gig and informal work has expanded forms of employment that sit outside traditional labor protections: many platform workers are classified as independent contractors, limiting access to collective bargaining.
The ILO projects that around 2.1 billion people will be in informal employment by 2026, often without secure rights or social protections.18ILO, World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2026. Unions also confront political and legal pushback, from frameworks that weaken union financing in some democracies to outright repression or state-controlled unions in authoritarian contexts; reflecting this, the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) has reported widespread deterioration in workers’ rights globally.
Kids working in a factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/dec/07/child-labour-bangladesh-factories-rampant-overseas-development-institute-study
Finally, unions must continually adapt to remain relevant to younger workers and new sectors, where they may be perceived as legacy institutions; in response, many have broadened their agenda beyond bargaining alone, engaging more visibly on inequality, equal pay, discrimination, and climate-related transitions.19ILO, Trends 2026.
The role of unions in defending middle-class and working-class wages is probably more crucial than ever in an era of growing economic disparity. Public opinion reflects this; in many nations, sizable majorities of people favor workers’ rights to organize and think that robust unions contribute to a just economy.20Rodrik, The globalization paradox, 2011.
This history matters today because many of the conditions that first produced unions are resurfacing in new forms. Work is increasingly fragmented, outsourced, informal, and mediated by platforms. Risk is pushed downward. Pay is often disconnected from productivity. And where workers are isolated, they are easier to replace, underpay, and silence. In that context, unions are one of the few mechanisms that can rebalance power where it matters most: in the workplace and in the communities that depend on it.21Rodrik, The globalization paradox, 2011 — on bargaining power.
There is also a deeper point for anyone working in development, human rights, or social impact. External actors, such as NGOs, donors, international initiatives, can help create protections, frameworks, and pressure. But they cannot substitute what happens when workers can speak and negotiate for themselves. The most durable change is rarely delivered from the outside; it is built when people have the collective power to defend their own interests, enforce standards, and hold decision-makers accountable. That is what “worker voice” really means: representation as a right.
It will depend on whether workers, across formal and informal economies, across supply chains, across borders, have the ability to organize, bargain, and shape the rules that govern their lives. Strengthening unions and other forms of collective representation is not nostalgia. It may be one of the most practical steps we have to protect decent work, reduce inequality, and build resilient communities that can stand on their own.