Brief Encounters: Italian Immigrant Workers and the CPR 1900-30

From 1900 to 1930, thousands of Italian immigrants found employment in the CPR work sites throughout the Montreal metropolitan area. After analyzing the most significant socio-economic traits of that labour force, the article investigates some of the major patterns of that employment experience in the context of Montreal's evolving labour market, as well as in relationship with the Italian immigration in Montreal. The study brings out the unstable and volatile relationship of most Italian workers with the CPR — a result of both the workers' own strategy in the urban labour market, and the extremely limited possibilities for occupational advancement the company offered.