W.C. Van Horne and the "Foreign Emissaries;" The CPR Trainmen's and Conductors' Strike of 1892

In March 1892, the conductors and trainmen's unions on the CPR's Western Division won a week-long strike and a signed contract, the first on the CPR. The walk-out was forced upon the unions by company president Van Home's decision to drive them off the CPR by administering "loyalty" oaths to company trainmen and conductors. During the strike, the company's extensive use of anti-American propaganda against the two international unions made the question of international unionism a key issue in the dispute. The unions won the strike because almost all the conductors and trainmen on the Eastern Division heeded the strike call, contrary to Van Home's expectations, and because they proved, by shutting down adjacent divisions, that they could turn the strike into a nationwide tie-up if necessary. Recognizing that breaking the strike under these circumstances would be unnecessarily costly. Van Home capitulated. The strike is historically significant, first, because it marked the beginning of modem union recognition and collective bargaining on the cpr — and subsequently on other Canadian railways — and second, because it noticeably strengthened the position of international craft unions on Canadian railways.