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Historical drama of the coal miners' strike and riot in Estevan, Saskatchewan, in 1931.
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We are apt to think of labour unions as a feature of a relatively advanced industrial society. It comes as a surprise to many to learn how long ago in Canadian history they actually appeared. Unions already existed in the predominantly rural British North America of the early nineteenth century. There were towns and cities with construction workers, foundry workers, tailors, shoemakers, and printers; there were employers and employees - and their interests were not the same. From this beginning Dr Forsey traces the evolutions of trade unions in the early years and presents an important archival foundation for the study of Canadian labour. He presents profiles of all unions of the period - craft, industrial, local, regional, national, and international - as well as of the Knights of Labor and the local and national central organizations. He provides a complete account of unions and organizations in every province including their formation and function, time and place of operation, what they did or attempted to do (including their political activity), and their particular philosophies. This volume will be of interest and value to those concerned with labour and union history, and those with a general interest in the history of Canada. --Publisher's description
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Today the giant Stelco steel mills in Hamilton are shut down, but in Canada’s turbulent labour history it was a place of protracted conflict between the stubborn, anti-union management of the company and the equally stubborn and militant Local 1005 of the Steelworkers Union. The story is a fascinating one – a microcosm of the larger labour/management struggles in Canada. Among the events the book explores includes: the battle from 1919 to 1944 to establish a union in the face of hostile management; the struggle for supremacy at 1005 between Communist and CCF factions; the 1946 strike for union recognition which became the post war showdown in Canada between unions and management; and the chaotic 1966 wildcat strike that tore the union apart. The book tells the story of Local 1005 and at the same time explores the nature of political life in a local union, and the social and economic forces that shaped the politics of the local. This is a book that describes how working people struggled to improve their lives, and in the process changed the history of the trade union movement and the nature of Canadian political life. --Publisher's description
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As Canada's most industrialised province, Ontario served as the regional centre of the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, an organisation which embodied a late nineteenth-century working-class vision of an alternative to the developing industrial-capitalist society. The Order opposed the exploitation of labor, and cultivated working-class unity by providing an institutional and cultural rallying point for North American workers. By 1886 thousands of industrial workers had enrolled within the ranks of Ontario's local and district assemblies. This book examines the rise and fall of the Order, providing case studies of its experience in Toronto and Hamilton and chronicling its impact across the province. --Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction. Part 1. Overview: The working class and industrial capitalist development in Ontario to 1890 -- 'Warp, woof, and web': the structure of the Knights of Labor in Ontario. Part 2. The Local Setting: Toronto and the organization of all workers -- Hamilton and the home club. Part 3. The Wider Experience: Taking the Bad with the Good -- 'Unscrupulous rascals and the most infamous damn liars and tricksters at large': the underside of the Knights of Labor -- The order in politics: the challenge of 1883-1887 -- 'Politicians in the order': the conflicts of decline, 1887-1894 -- 'Spread the light': forging a culture -- The people's strike: class conflict and the Knights of Labor. Part 4. Conclusion: Accomplishment and failure -- Appendix -- Notes -- Selected bibliography -- Index.