Full bibliography

This thesis examines two textile industry strikes in the late 1930s and how federal and provincial labour law combined with criminal law to affect the strike outcomes. By using the 'Strikes and Lockouts' file, period newspaper microfilm and negotiation manuscripts, I reconstruct the 1936 Cornwall Courtaulds and the 1937 Peterborough Dominion Woollens and Worsted strikes. Both strikes occurred during the course of the *Royal Commission Investigation on the Textile Industry (Turgeon Report)* which provides much statistical data to supplement newspaper reports; both involved primary textile production in southern Ontario during the Hepburn administration; and both industrial conflicts involved women workers. I have used a political economy approach to elaborate on the development of the federal *Industrial Disputes Investigation Act (I.D.I.A.)*, the provincial *Industrial Standards Act (I.S.A.)*, and the provincial/municipal use of section 501 of the *Criminal Code*. I conclude that labour law does not progress in a linear fashion but is characterized in its administration by the co-existence of both voluntarist and repressive legal measures. While the broader historic political climate would influence the social acceptance of a strike, the regulation of industrial conflict is ultimately strategically constrained by the criminal law. Finally, women were active in both strikes, whether on the picketline or aiding the strike.