Your search

Resource type

Results 4 resources

  • This study is concerned with the development of Winnipeg's socialist movement in the 1900 to 1915 period. It will focus on this small segment of the city's labor movement. It is evident that the mainstream of Winni­peg socialism was involved with the trade union movement both in terms of dual membership and political activity. The exception to this occurred in the four years from 1904 to 1908, when Winnipeg's Socialist Party of Canada local was involved neither in cooperative nor in independent muni­cipal and provincial politics. It existed as a set of some 150 dogmatic Marxist propagandists awaiting the inevitable collapse of the capitalist system. The dominance of this group was short-lived, and the Winnipeg social­ists reaffirmed their faith in the democratic-liberal traditions of the British working-class movement. Those European immigrants who became involved in the city's socialist movement after 1907 only helped strengthen this tradition, for their leadership preferred the parliamentary approach of the socialists in Germany to the uncompromising dogmatism of the Socialist Party of Canada.... From author's introduction.

  • This thesis examines the social organisation of longshoremen and their families and its implications for industrial relations in the Port of St. John's, Canada. The analysis focusses on effects of an extreme in casual labour markets operating against a background of chronic unemployment. Although concentrating on activities within the port it is essential to place these within Newfoundland's geographic, economic, political and legal contexts; these accordingly form the basis of Chapter 1, which also introduces the actors. Chapter 2 sets the longshore family within the context of Newfoundland's rurally based kinship system and shows how structural divisions and alliances derived from within the family are manifest on the dock. It demonstrates how physical strength and prestige are related and as men age, wives and sons assume familial authority. Religion is ezamined in Chapter 3 as providing a social bond for pious women through whom are allocated scarce resources, both economic and social. Economic resources, as collectively organised welfare payments, are offered in cases of family misfortune, whilst piety permits social mobility of children. Mothers are thus able to alleviate some disadvantages of a father's low class occupation. Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 concentrate on the longshore work gang as basic unit of work and leisure. Chapter 4 examines how gang workers cooperate and emerge able collectively to modify the foreman's apparently absolute powers in hiring, firing and discipline. The methods by which collective opposition is mounted and prior structural divisions overcome are analysed through an extended case study, the subject of Chapter 5. Chapter 6 examines how pilferage is organised in the docks; analyses alliances and dependencies involved and the institutionalised limits set. It then considers implications of limits as an aspect of longshore morality and an indication of managerial collusion. The articulation of gang organisation derived from work and that found in leisure activities is considered in Chapter 7. The gang is examined as an insurance agency parallel to women's organisations discussed in Chapter 3. Integration and membership within gangs is derived from conformity to work and sociability norms - particularly in drinking. Relationships within drinking groups are then considered in detail. Some men, outsiders to these norms, are found in the gangs; their special role as gang spokesmen against management is considered as they articulate with the Union's political life. Chapter 8 considers Union political activity and relations with employers together. Membership participation is constrained by divisive aspects of membership and Union structure. These are moveable when preconditions allow cross wharf alliances. Resulting turbulence can be focussed on Executives or through them to Employers. In the concluding chapter I briefly summarise the argument.

  • This study traces the development of union education within the Canadian Labour Congress and its predecessors. During the period when union education in Canada originated immediately after World War II, there were two large Canadian Congresses, the Trades and Labor Congress (T.L.C.), and the Canadian Congress of Labour (C.C.L.). The C.C.L., formed in 1940, and its affiliated industrial unions had a pressing need for union education to familiarize its members with union principles. The T.L.C. as a long-established (1883) affiliation of craft unions had a tradition of loyalty toward union aims and was less interested in educational programs. When the two Congresses merged in 1956 and became the Canadian Labour Congress the expansion and growth of membership increased the need for education within the unions. Before the unions organized educational programs for their own members other agencies such as the Mechanics Institute and the Workers' Educational Association attempted to provide a program of liberal arts programs. The programs contributed toward the development of the individual competencies of workers who were not necessarily union members. The peripheral organizations declined as the unions became more adept at administering union education programs. The C.C.L. with its larger affiliated unions is considered to be the originator of union education in Canada. Howard Conquergood, A.L. Hepworth, and Andy Andras, executives of the first education committee in the C.C.L., had a lasting influence on union education trends. The characteristic methods used in union education programs were week-long and weekend schools devoted to giving the student a thorough knowledge of the union as a viable organization dedicated to furthering the economic and social interests of the member. The rise in membership is identified as a factor in the development of the union education program. With the merger of the T.L.C. and the C.C.L. in 1956 to form the Canadian Labour Congress (C.L.C.), more resources could be directed to education. A description is given of the role of the labour movement in adult education through various co-operative activities such as the Labour University Conference in 1956, the National Citizens Forum, and the Canadian Trade Union Film Committee. The co-operation of the C.L.C., McGill University, and the Université de Montreal, led to the establishment in 1963 of the Labour College of Canada as an institution of higher education for trade union members. The College provides an eight-week residential program for workers of Canada and also those of foreign countries. Also pointed out is the broad interest shown by the unions in International affiliations and the study of education in emerging countries. The study concludes by identifying general trends in union education in the past and suggesting some new directions and program areas for union education in the future.

  • This study attempts to present an economic background to the Winnipeg General Strike and in particular examine in detail the wages and working conditions that prevailed prior to and during those eventful days. In the past the Winnipeg General Strike has been considered from primarily a political and social viewpoint. If we accept the views of Mr. Robson, K.C., head of the Royal Commission that investigated the strike, the economic issues are of more importance.

Last update from database: 3/13/25, 4:10 AM (UTC)

Explore