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In 1981 the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) staged a strike in Ontario Hospitals. This dissertation is an exploratory case study of the causes and effects of that strike. The dissertation employs elements of the labour process theory to evaluate the hospital worker's action and in so doing provides an opportunity to contribute to the on-going debate concerning this theory. The study is centred on the hospitals of Greater Hamilton and Burlington Ontario. It assesses the role of political environment, union structure and action, and gender in creating and sustaining the conditions for strike action in the public sector. The economic and political situation leading to the strike is analyzed with a view to understanding how the fiscal crisis in Canada led to the strike. Labour legislation and the fiscal policies of the federal and provincial governments had an impact on hospitals and their workers. Labour legislation in the hospital sector destroyed collective bargaining at a time when changes unpopular with the workers were taking place in the hospital. This encouraged the decision to strike. The majority of hospital workers in 1981 were women. The dissertation explores, through interviews and archival data, a possible link between gender and the decision to strike. Some changes in the organization of hospital work broke an important care-giving link between women workers and patients. The repercussions of the strike include charges for the union, for women, and the wider political consequences such as the further undermining of the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act. The dissertation concludes that the strike was caused by labour process changes made by management faced with government cost cutting measures. These changes were particularly upsetting to the majority of workers who were women. The illegality of the strike did not deter the decision to strike because the government labour legislation had destroyed the 'normal' bargaining process. Therefore workers felt that there was no real choice but to strike

This thesis examines the race and ethnic relations between migrant seasonal agricultural workers in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada, from the turn of the century to the present. This analysis includes Chinese, Doukhobor, Japanese, Indian, and French agricultural workers. The research problem is one of determining the nature of race and ethnic relations between these groups and the predominantly English host community, where it was hypothesized that racism, ethnic prejudice, and ethnic discrimination would be prevalent. Historical research was conducted using existing local literature and archival data from local museums and newspaper companies. Survey research was conducted on contemporary migrant seasonal agricultural workers and consisted of a questionnaire. The thesis begins with a description of the Okanagan Valley and a literature review of agricultural labour in Western Europe, the United States, and Canada. Segmented labour markets and, race and ethnic relations provide the theoretical framework for the study. The secondary labour market explains the concentration of racial and ethnic minorities in agriculture. A theoretical model of French-English ethnic relations explains the ethnic discrimination of French migrant seasonal agricultural workers. The historical research findings show that racism was experienced by Chinese and Japanese workers, and ethnic discrimination was experienced by Doukhobor workers. The survey research included a general documentation of demographic and social data for current migrant workers, and these data indicate they are similar to workers elsewhere. The housing and working conditions of these workers are poor. Workers are exposed to dangerous chemical pesticides. The main survey research findings centre on the ethnic discrimination experienced by French migrant workers. This discrimination occurred primarily in their leisure activities, and to a lesser extent, in the area of employment. There was no evidence of a split-labour market on the basis of wages alone. The thesis ends with a discussion on the possible legislative and social policy implications of the findings in the areas of health and safety, and racial/ethnic prejudice and discrimination. There is a discussion of discrimination and the law, educational programs, and the necessary changes in community processes and structures.

This case study examines a labour relations issue which initially involves teacher employees of the Sagkeeng Education Authority of the Fort Alexander Band on one hand and the Sagkeeng Education Authority and the Fort Alexander Chief and Council on the other. The events of the issue transpire between 1981 and 1986.Teacher employees, concerned with working conditions and job security, organized as a local of the Manitoba Teachers' Society which was certified under the Canada Labour Code. The Chief and Council of the Fort Alexander Band rejected the formation of the local and the applicability of the Canada Labour Code to labour relations on the reserve. Teachers were fired for union activities. Hearings were held by the Canada Labour Relations Board. Orders were issued by the Labour Board and a collective agreement was imposed by the Labour Board. The Chief and Council refused to follow the Labour Board's orders, and contempt of court hearings were held by the Federal Court. Fort Alexander officials, including the Chief and Council, were initially fined and subsequently jailed. The Minister of Indian Affairs, David Crombie, promised to initiate Department studies to examine the possibilities and implications of changing the labour relations regime to reflect Indian self-government. The dispute was eventually settled out of court but the issue of Indian government jurisdiction over labour relations remains unresolved.Conceived and sanctioned by the Manitoba Teachers' Society, the Canada Labour Relations Board and the Federal Court as a labour dispute, the researcher argues that the issue is more readily understood within the context of Indian self-determination and self-government. Concepts concerning philosophical, socio-economic, cultural, legal, political and historical aspects of the relationship between Indian peoples and the Canadian state are brought to bear on the issue. Concepts of group rights versus those of individual rights are examined.It is argued that the current labour relations legal regime is inconsistent with Indian self-determination and self-government. The researcher suggests jurisdiction over labour relations should be determined by First Nations' governments as consistent with the goals of self-determination and self-government. Conceptions of Indian labour relations jurisdiction are suggested.

This thesis is an examination of the Industrial Workers of the World and its relations with capital, organized labour, and the socialist movement in British Columbia before the First World War.

The purpose of this study is to examine CCF-CCL relations in the Saskatchewan public service during the early years of the government of Tommy Douglas. While much has been written about the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL), both as separate organizations and as political 'allies', little has been said about their relations in Saskatchewan. Yet, the CCF formed the government in Saskatchewan for five consecutive terms between 1944 and 1964, and it was in this agrarian province that the true test of the CCF-CCL relationship occurred. Saskatchewan was the one location where unions that supported the CCF were faced with a social democratic government which was also their employer. The difficulty the two sides encountered while trying to reconcile industrial relations with their political relations forms the subject of this study.

From the seventeenth century on, deforestation due to the abusive use of wood by the iron industry, excessive naval construction and the extraordinary demand for timber for reconstruction following the Great Fire of London in 1666 led increasingly to the construction of British merchant ships in her North American colonies. Following American Independence, vessels built in the thirteen colonies were no longer entitled to British Registry, and shipbuilders in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces were able to take full advantage of the British demand. When Napoleon blockaded the Baltic, thereby endangering the British supply of timber from northern Europe, a fast-growing Canadian timber trade served as a tremendous stimulus to local shipbuilding. This is a study of the construction of square riggers at Quebec between 1763 and 1893, as revealed principally by the shipping registers of the port, notarial records, Lloyd's Survey Reports, newspaper advertisements and reports, city directories and census reports. It describes the historical background of the trade and local conditions affecting it, identifies the Quebec shipbuilders, pinpointing when and where they worked, describes the shipyards and various aspects of the shipbuilding business, takes a look at the workers and the specialized shipbuilding trades and outlines the techniques they used. It describes and classifies the vessels that were built giving details of their materials and equipment, and looks briefly at their purchasers. The writer concludes that the production of the Quebec shipyards filled a specific need for spacious, light, fast carriers, until the third quarter of the nineteenth century when improved metallurgical technology allowed their place to be taken by metal-hulled ships. The main appendices contain a collection of plans of shipyard sites and lists of the sixteen hundred and thirty vessels of over one hundred tons built at Quebec and four hundred and sixty-seven others built elsewhere on the river, all of which were registered at Quebec. No complete plans of ships built at Quebec were uncovered during the research, but a number of drawings of construction details and mid-ship section plans form another appendix.

The story of the Newfoundland Industrial Workers' Association (NIWA) is one which has largely been passed over in the writing of the island's labour history. Yet this organization figures prominently in the events which helped shape the labour-capital relationship during the World War I years. As the Canadian and international record will testify, these years were critically important to the development of modern working-class organizations, while maintaining a direct link to the previous struggles of an earlier era. Centred in St. John's, but exerting an Island-wide influence, the NIWA arose out of a pressing need for working people to confront the economic and political realities of their class in a manner intended to redress the subservient and exploitive circumstances to which they were subjected. This thesis examines the NIWA in terms of its structure, membership, and mandate and attempts to place this movement into the larger context of the international labour revolt of 1917 to 1920. In doing so, it argues that class formation, development, and conflict is central to history.

Between 1880 and 1914, when Winnipeg experienced its first era of urban and industrial growth, the building industry shaped the contours of the city's economic, social, and political environments. Architects designed, contractors supervised, and workers built the infrastructure that was necessary for commercial and industrial expansion. Residential neighbourhoods, warehouses, office buildings, and factories provided the housing and workplaces for thousands of immigrants who settled in the city in the late nineteenth century. The various trades of the building industry were essential to the conversion of Winnipeg from a pioneer town in the 1870s to the west's major transportation and distribution center in 1914. Skilled building trades workers were vital to this dynamic transformation. In particular, the carpenters, bricklayers, painters, and plumbers who came to Winnipeg in the 1880s were the first of thousands employed in the mass production of buildings for modern commercial and residential use. Together with typographers and railway employees, who also possessed a great deal of craft skill, these were among the most important workers involved in the emergence of Winnipeg's early labour movement. Industrial capitalism transformed the building industry after 1880, and the lives of thousands of skilled workers. The entrepreneurs who came into the city from eastern Canada, the United States, and Britain brought the logic of general contracting to the local industry. Soon it was the dominant form of business, characterized by ferocious competition and mass production. To survive and prosper in such an environment employers adopted new methods of production and corporate organization which had a severe impact on the workplace and the skilled worker. As industrial capitalism matured in the 1890s and took hold with greater intensity in the 1900s, the workplace became more important as the object of change. Despite extensive business re-organization and the use of machines, the entire transformation from 1880 to 1914 was possible because of employers' manipulation of the labour market, the cheapest and most accessible of all resources...

This dissertation addresses the articulation of class, ethnic, and gender relations among the working class in Vancouver during its formative period, between 1900 and the eve of the Second World War in 1939. The historical development of a labour market segregated by ethnicity and gender is traced, and the effect of labour market segregation, ethnic relations of white domination, and patriarchal relations of male domination on the political practices of the working class is assessed. It is shown that the economic and political marginality of Asian and women workers in British Columbia affected their involvement in the Vancouver labour movement. Although many Asian and women workers played an active role in labour struggles, both were in a much weaker position than white male workers. Moreover, the practices of the predominantly white male labour movement reinforced the marginal position of Asian workers through exclusion, and women workers through the perpetuation of relations of dependence. Political divisions within the labour movement reflected the salience of ethnicity and gender in defining workers' lives, while at the same time reproducing the subordination of Asians and women within the labour market and throughout civil society. Conditions facilitating solidarity within the working class began to develop during the severity of the economic depression of the 1930s, when socialist politics were strengthened, and when Asian worker's and women workers began to place their own issues on the political agenda of the Vancouver labour movement.

The Port Alberni and Prince George districts of British Columbia experienced the beginnings of an extensive forest industry at about the same time, the second decade of the twentieth century, and both regions were destined to become substantial lumber centres. Yet in their early period of development, before the major changes of the 1940s, the two communities had distinct growth patterns: by 1939 the Port Alberni district had emerged as a prosperous lumber-producing centre housing an active, coordinaed working class while the Prince George district remained an economic backwater with a weak forest industry base, an ill-formed class, and quiscent labour movement. Simple economic or geographic explanations do not begin to address the complexity of the histories of the two regions. Only by closely examining the lumber companies, the sawmill workers, the loggers, and the broader community can the local historical contexts be understood. Further, exogenous factors such as western Canadian working-class initiatives, the role of the provincial state, and the shifting international lumber trade must also be taken into account. Business decisions, union drives, strike action, and political structures were all intertwined in shaping the velopment of these fringe areas of the province. By comparing the two forest districts this thesis not only highlights the various elements that interacted in creating the forest economics and forest-based communities, it also sheds light on the development of British Columbia's most important industry and the history of the western Canadian working class.

Most recent studies of the relationship between technological change and mining labour in the western metal-mining regions of North America have concentrated on the impact of the mechanization of the industry that took place during the second half of the nineteenth century. The distinct impression is left that the increased use of machinery — especially the machine drill — was the chief factor in reducing the skill levels associated with mining as a craft tradition. Preoccupation with machinery has led to the assumption that by the beginning of the twentieth century the transformation to modern forms of mining was essentially complete and the traditional miner an anachronism. Mining as practiced prior to 1900 differed qualitatively and quantitatively from the subsequent period of "modern mining;" but the introduction of machinery per se was less important to the reorganization of the patterns of work in the mines than the redesigning of the engineering systems in which workers and machines were employed — a process which gained its full momentum in the decades after 1900. This transformation involved the gradual abandonment of low-volume, high-value, selective mining methods in favour of higher volume, non-selective methods which emphasised the quantity rather than the quality of the ore mined. The change redefined the nature of work in and around the mines, putting an end to a tradition of mining practice that was at least as old as the methods described in Agricola's De Re Metalica, something the initial mechanization of mining had never been intended to accomplish. Under selective mining practices, machinery was used to assist the skilled miner in his traditional task. Under non-selective or mass mining techniques, a new generation of engineers trained in the applied sciences redefined the miner's work as solutions were sought to the problems of an increasingly complex geology in a climate of rapid economic expansion, chronic over-production, generally declining metal prices, and ever increasing production costs. The efforts and successes of these engineers were amply demonstrated in the fields of mining, metallurgical, and human engineering. The impact of the change is evident in varying degrees throughout the metal-mining community; but by focusing on copper mining — the technological leader from 1900 to 1930 — the full impact of the industrial sciences on mine labour is evident.

British Columbia's economy is heavily reliant on electrical processes, yet little is known of the electrical workers.... A major purpose of this thesis is to analyze the electrical workers through a sixty-year history of an important and often controversial union: Local 213 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). ...Three themes characterize the history of Local 213: the first is the union's struggle for better wages and better working conditions against recalcitrant employers. The second is the relationship between Local 213 and different varieties fo socialism in British Columbia. Electrical workers generally supported cautious social democratic practices, but there have been important exceptions. The third theme is the intervention of outside forces, in particular the international office of IBEW, whenever the electrical workers appeared to support either radical leaders or radical proposals.... From author's abstract. Contents: The structure of the electrical industry in British Columbia to 1961 -- Boomers, grunts and narrowbacks: the radical tradition, 1901-1919 -- The defeat of radicalism, 1919-1922 -- The Morrison years, 1922-1939 -- Radicalism renewed, 1939-1953 -- Unholy alliance, 1953-1955 -- Towards militancy at Lenkurt. Bibliography (pages 280-89).

Contents: Introduction -- The Congés de traite as a method to control the fur trade, 1681-1715 -- The institutionalization of the Congés, 1715-1768 -- The trade licences: a new instrument to control the fur trade, 1760-1790 -- The notorial contracts and private contracts, 1680-1821 -- A conservative estimate of the labour force -- Conclusion. Appendix: The diet of the Engagé.

The firat half of the nineteenth century witnessed the graduaI integration of Montreal garment production into the developing exchange economy, which resulted in the dismantling of the traditional artisanal organization of production and ushered in production for both retail and wholesale distribution,so that by 1860 a fledgling ready-made garment industry existed in the city. Between 1871 and 1901, the garment industry was the largest employer in the city, and one of the most important industries in terms of the of the value of' its production. Furthermore, Montreal held the position of Canadian garment capital throughout our period. Focussed primarily on the manufacture of men's wear, the garment industry in Montreal was heavily dominated by the largest wholesale manufacturers, who specialized in the production of low-priced, cheap quality garments which were aimed essentially at the rural labouring population and at shantymen of every province. The success of the city's ready-made garment producers can be explained both by tremendous expansion of the market for their goods, which occured in the second half of the nineteenth century, and by their ability to exploit a vast reserve of of essentially rural, semi-skilled labour. This situation of labour abundance made possible the organization of labour known as contracting or putting out, which remained the dominant mode of organization well into the twentieth century, and created dismal working conditions of long hours at extremely low wages for which the industry will always be remembered.

This study is an analysis of the changes in the social formations of the Inuit and Innut populations of northern Labrador as a consequence of interaction with Western capital, from approximately 1500 to the present. It is concluded that the significant changes which have taken place can only be explained'if they . are placed within a unified theoretical framework that combines both macro and micro levels of analysis. This requirement stems from the impact of the global nature of capital, and from the specific characteristics of the indigenous social formations in northern Labrador. To facilitate the analysis, the history of the penetration of capital into northern Labrador has been divided ioto political-economic periods: mercantile: 1500-1926, and welfare state: 1926-present. The former is further subdivided into two phases: the competitive phase: 1500-1763, during which no one European power held sway; and the monopoly phase, 1763-1926, during which either Britain or one of its colonies was jurally the sole European authority. Finally, the welfare period, 1916-present, which includes a transitional period, 1926-1942, is characterized by the increasing importance of wage labour and state agencies. Each of these periods is examined in terms of the internal and external relations between and amongst the European and native social formations which led to mutual modifications.

The task of this thesis is to show that from the nineteenth century to the present Catholic Scoial Teaching recognized increasingly the need for social justice in the areas of labour and society. In order to do this, I propose to research carefully the major official Church documents on Catholic social teaching on human labour from Pople Leo XIII’s Enevelical, Rerum Novarum (The Condition of Labour), 1891, up to Pope John II’s Enevelical Laborem Exercens (On Human Work), 1981. I will also attempt to define what Catholic Social Teaching is and explain what are the principles which make up the social teaching of the Catholic Church—principles which are drawn from scripture, concepts of natural law and the sciences. Reference will also be made to Karl marx where his philosophy on labour is applicable. To support the position of the Catholic Church in its teaching on social justice in the workplace while at the same time given that position clarity from my own point of view, I will speak briefly on my evolution as a worker, a union steward, and Catholic layman. I believe this is necessary because what I am today and how I feel about social justice (or the lack of it), especially in the workplace, has its roots in my early tradition and gradually evolved. Just as the Catholic Church in its writings down through the ages has consistently recognized the plight of the worker, I, too, as a worker, gradually became aware of many visible injustices in the workplace, although I was relatively powerless to do anything about them. In developing my thesis, I will draw upon my thirty-eight years’ experience as a member of Canada’s work-force, thirty-four of which were spent in the telecommunication field. By referring to specific work-related problems I encountered over the years, I will demonstrate why there is such a need for social justice in the workplace, and why I as both Catholic and worker ultimately became a strong advocate for some form of legal machinery to help resolve these problems. I will briefly touch on some incidents that immediately preceded the majority vote for the Communication Workers of Canada (CWC) as the bargaining agent for the Phone Company’s craft and clerical employees in place of the Employees’ Association. As one of the first union stewards and Chairman of the Political Action Committee for the CWC, I will relate a few of the many cases I resolved for fellow workers, in contrast with what the Association has been able to do for this group of workers. I will show why I agree wholeheartedly with the Catholic Church’s present position on and support of the trade union movement as a vehicle for social justice in the workplace. All of the Popes with whom I will be dealing, Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, called for social justice in the workplace and advocated unions as bargaining agents for the worker. Their writings and those of other brilliant Catholic churchmen and laymen demonstrate how the Catholic Church has evolved in the area of social justice and labour. It is this broader Catholic support which has allowed me to find my proper place as a worker advocate. Thus, autobiographical reflection will provide the impetus which inspired me to analyze the papal enevelicals of the Catholic Church.

The thesis addresses the problem of Arthur W. Puttee's 1918 breach with the Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council after twenty years of work within the labour move¡ent as a journalist and politician. The breach is accounted for through an exploration of the ideology that underlay his political decisions. Structured biographically, the thesis uses various primary sources, most notably Puttee's weekly newspaper, the Voice, and his speeches as a labour member of parliament, to trace a continuity in his beliefs from the beginning of his career in the 1890s to its end in 1918. The concept of "labourism", recently elaborated by Craig Heron to describe the ideology of Canadian craftsworkers who worked for independent political action by labour, is used to characterize Puttee's beliefs. The study reveals a central contradiction in Puttee's labourism. He challenged many aspects of the emerging system of monopoly capitalism and demanded for labour the right as producers of wealth to full democratic representation in government. He was opposed to monopoly, the crude exploitation of workers, and government by "special interests" rather than the "people". But Puttee had no systematic critique of capitalist social relations and believed that labour constituted only one segment of a businessmen, and "fair" employers. He viewed the state as ideally the instrument for the will of the "people" and the defender of the "public'' interest. This contradiction in Puttee's beliefs became most apparent in the radicalized la­bour atmosphere of 1918, when, as a labour member of Winni­peg City Council, he opposed a general strike of unionized city workers in the name of the broader public interest he sought to represent broader community of producers that included farmers, small businessmen, and "fair" employers. He viewed the state as ideally the instrument for the will of the "people" and the defender of the "public interest." This contradiction in Puttee's beliefs became most apparent in the radicalized labour atmosphere of 1918, when as a labour member of Winnipeg City Council, he opposed a general strike of unionized city workers in the name of the broader public interest he sought to represent.

This thesis studies the changing work of women during the Second World War and examines their life outside of work in the Ottawa community. Nine women were interviewed to understand the transition experienced by women during the war. The experiences of these women are placed within the context of the political and social developments of the 1930's and 1940's. Through these women's lives we can examine the transition from domestic service to clerical work and the impact this had on women's lives. It was during the war that women emerged as the majority of clerical workers in Canada and accelerated a growing trend of women working in the paid labour force. While the trend towards women working had begun in the post World War I era, the national mobilization during the war was unprecedented in Canadian history and opened new job opportunities for women.While the new job opportunities for women represented an improvement in wages and working conditions from domestic service, clerical work soon emerged as another job ghetto for women which did not allow women the opportunity for advancement. In these jobs women, especially married women, faced many barriers and the conditions at work and outside of work are explored.

The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor was the most significant labor organization in nineteenth century North America. Part trade union, part social reform movement, the Knights organized hundreds of thousands of workers across the continent, and initiated countless major strikes, particularly during the 1880's. The Knights were the first major union to attempt to make unions accessible to a broad range of workers. At a time when most unions were the preserve of highly skilled, white, male workers, the Knights organized blacks, some immigrants and women. This thesis examines the relationship between women and the Knights of Labor in Ontario in the 1880's. The Knights organized women workers, and they also supported an impressive 'feminist' platform of social reform. They endorsed every major feminist demand in the nineteenth century, from suffrage to temperance to equal pay. In Canada, they campaigned successfully for the first sexual harassment legislation. This platform is particularly significant when set next to prevailing restrictive notions of femininity and 'true womanhood'. Yet the Knights were also a male dominated organization. While the 'space' they opened for working class women was important, it was not without its own set of limitations and restrictions. Within the context of contemporary debates about the intersections of class and gender, this thesis examines the contradictions and tension in the Order's feminist ideology.

This thesis examines textile workers, unions and their strikes at Cornwall, Sherbrooke and St. Gregoire de Montmorency from 1936 to 1939. Via a community study approach, several themes important to textile unionism in particular and industrial unionism in general will be covered. All three places were mill towns. How did this affect political, financial and moral support? How did the corporate structure of the firms involved influence the outcome of the strikes? Were there differences between workers in terms of militancy and their reactions to unionism? What was the role of women at the rank-and-file and leadership levels in the union? --Excerpt.