Simoneau: On Labour Day, a tip of the hat to Canada's union movement

Strikes were a new phenomena in mid- to late 19th-century Canada. Unions have won many fundamental rights for workers since then.

Published Sep 02, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Manitoba strikers try to overturn a streetcar on June 21, 1919, one of the seminal images of the six-week Winnipeg General Strike. POSTMEDIA

My hometown, Murdochville, Qué., is a former copper-mining town in the interior of the Gaspé Peninsula.

It was like many others across the country: unembellished, tight-knit. Back in the 1970s, conversation centred on shift work, what’s-under-the-hood, Bobby Orr, and often occurred over glasses of tavern draught.

Murdochville evolved from the Canadian labour and trade union movements. The mine was the centre of a much-publicized strike in 1957, an event that later led to stronger rights for the workers.

Article content

The first Canadian body of organized labour was the Canadian Labor Union (the CLU) of 1872. It evolved in Toronto from 46 Ontario-only unions. A decade later, the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada included representatives from Québec, and it and Ontario were for a time the voices for Canadian workers. In 1873, a world economic depression affected the thrust of the young labour movement, but Canadian unionism persisted.

Daniel (D.J.) O’Donoghue is usually considered the father of the country’s labour movement. As a teenager in Ottawa, he apprenticed as a printer. He took part in organizing a seminal trades body, the Ottawa Typographical Union, in 1867, and also promoted the Ottawa Trades Council. In 1873, O’Donoghue was elected to the CLU, and by 1874 he sat in the Ontario legislature as an independent worker. At the very beginning of the 20th century, O’Donoghue became the country’s first federal fair-wages officer. Later, politician and activist Tommy Douglas, would align the “Co-operative Commonwealth Federation” with organized labour. This further highlighted the need for fairness and justice for Canada’s workers.

Article content

Strikes were a new phenomena in mid- to late 19th-century in Canada. The Toronto printers’ strike of 1872 was an early and notable one, with the printers pushing for a nine-hour working day. They weren’t successful, but soon all unions were pressing for a 54-hour work week based on six days. Eventually the Trade Unions Act recognized (somewhat obliquely) the right to strike, but not the complementary right to picket.

Canada’s best-known strike, and one marred by violence, was the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, called by the Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council. Collective bargaining, a bedrock principle, was at the forefront. The union also demanded better wages and working conditions, which were reputed to be horrible in the building sector.

Thousands of workers walked off the job. Public sector workers such as postal workers, policemen and utility workers joined in. Many returning First World War soldiers were unemployed, and they, too, took part. Winnipeg stopped functioning.

The city’s elite declared the strike a “conspiracy.” The federal government ordered its public service workers back to work. Key union leaders were arrested. The Royal North-West Mounted Police charged into a massive crowd of strikers and protesters, with 30 casualties and two deaths. “Bloody Saturday” left its mark on the country’s labour movement.

Article content

All labour movements have diverse needs, but many share benchmark goals such as the right to strike, safe working conditions, and reasonable pay with reasonable working hours.

This Labour Day long weekend, and on every Labour Day, we recognize all fair and fundamental worker rights. We honour past workers, their steadfastness and sacrifice, and we pay attention to the stories and history that define Canadian labour today.

Mel Simoneau‘s writing has appeared in the Literary Review of Canada and Arc Poetry Magazine.

Recommended from Editorial

1. 

   Pellerin: City of Ottawa has work to do – and fall is the season for it

2. 

   Adam: Cutting OC Transpo train service now makes very little sense

Article content