Pc 1003

The Labor Movement’s number one concern is to address problems associated with social inequality. The labor movement was created in order to fight for the rights of labor workers. The goal was to have better wages, safe working conditions, and reasonable working hours. Unions were formed in order to achieve this. However, this was always enough. Workers reached a point where they came together and participated in strikes which the main goal was to have their employers listen to them and come to an agreement.

This article talked about the general things of the National Labor Union back in the 1800’s. It mostly talked about the negative effects of the NLU such as exclusion of women, racial prejudice, and failing to enforce the eight-hour labor law. The article did mention about groups of skilled, unskilled, and farmers were unable to share and participate in united political views unless they were intensely focused on labor union. After William Sylvis death in 1869, the NLU suffered politically and dealt with the Depression of 1873, where the NLU finally collapsed.

Every Canadian citizen can enjoy living in a country today where everyone has equal rights and freedom. Canadians today have many rights and freedoms that they take for granted. The rights and freedoms we have today were only made possible are many struggles that people in the past have faced. Various groups, specifically, Chinese workers, African Canadians, natives and women dealt with discrimination daily. Their battle for equal rights and freedoms amongst everyone has contributed greatly to the development of our nation to what it is today.

The general strike of May 1926 was not a success for those attempting to force the government to act to prevent wage reductions and worsening conditions for coal miners. Had the TUC been more prepared to strike and followed through with what the miners wanted them to do, the government would have been faced with a much tougher challenge. Despite this, even if the conservative government were faced with a tougher challenge, the preparations and subsequence actions taken by them were more than enough and the main reason for the failure of the strike.

The Winnipeg General Strike happened from May 15-June 25, 1919. This strike is Canada’s best known strike in its history. Massive unemployment and inflation, the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and rising Revolutionary Industrial Unionism, all were contributions to the postwar labor unrest that put the strike in motion.

After the war, Canadian factories that manufactured war supplies were permanently closed. This produced a lot of unemployment and bankruptcy. The cost to live was increasing dramatically and many people (who were still employed) could not compete with the inflation.(CBC, N/A, 1). WW1 veterans who had returned home after the war found that the wages were far too low.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 1). Some people wished to be employed, while others wished for better working conditions.(CBC, N/A, 2). On May 15, 1919, metal and building workers and the trades and labor council declared a strike. In a few hours, 30,000 left their jobs to participate in the strike.(Reilly, 2006, 3). One Big Union (OBG) was designed to speak for the workers.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 1). The House Of Commons had modified the Immigration Act so that any individual who was not born in Canada would be deported.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 2). The government feared that this strike would create a revolution, so they interfered. Workers were told to either go back to work or be fired.(Reilly, 2006, 6). On June 21, 1919, otherwise known as Bloody Saturday many people engaged in a silent protest. 2 people were killed that day and many sustained injuries. Several of the union leaders were arrested.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 2). Strike leaders were afraid that more people would be killed so on June 25, they went back to work.(Reilly, 2006, 3).

In Canada’s government responded in control of labor in quest of collective bargaining and huge wages which counted the rising popularity in legitimate demands of organized labor in order to access guaranteed collective bargaining. Collective bargaining brought conflicts in Canada as unions incited for strikes just after war. Governments committed itself in adopting monetary and fiscal policies to maintain consumer demand. This prolonged growth duration

Canada's contribution on the home front played a significant role in the war effort. The federal government transformed the Canadian lifestyle by introducing rationing which limited the quantity and type of goods we consumed. On September 3, 1939, Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s government established the Wartime Prices and Trade Board (WPTB) which introduced rationing and controlled prices to avoid inflation. Every Canadian was issued a ration card to buy essentials such as sugar, meat, gasoline etc. Even though the cards restricted the number of goods it ensured the limit was enough to fulfill an individual's need. Special permits were required to purchase cars, appliances, and other resource consuming. Overall, rationing was a

Over the past 200 years, there is an emergence and existence of the working class in Canada which has initiated the capitalist infrastructure (comprising the wage earners and the entrepreneurs) in Canada and also involving the struggles of the Canadian workers to claim their necessities and distress. Being the most difficult parts of the twentieth century, there had been very few people who had not been affected by the Great Depression. The working class in Canadian Society had been adversely affected during the time of Second World War and had even faced the repercussions of the War. With

Canada entered into the Great War as a result of their paternalistic ties to the British Empire. Over the course of the strife, Canada developed significantly in terms of national identity and autonomy. The war forced the Canadian government to solidify its stance on a myriad of of economic and social issues by increasing their capacity for national identity development and routing them on the course to greater independence and a more recognizable stance on the international stage. Domestically, the war threatened citizens’ rights through the use of conscription and other legal restrictions on civil liberties, advanced the economy, and led to a series of social changes

Early skilled workers feared they were losing their status among the forced workers, so they formed unions to help protect themselves. In the beginning unions dealt with serious legal problems, they were accused of unlawful conspiracies like trying to petition pay raises. In 1842 Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in Commonwealth vs. Hunt that forming a union was not illegal, and that workers could strike if their employer hired non-union workers.

The war united many Canadians in a common cause even though the war widened some divisions and took a great toll on Canada. Few had expected the long struggle or heavy death toll. Even though the war was one it came at a cost; compulsory military service, broken promises to farmers and organized labour, high inflation, deep social divisions, and the suspension of many civil liberties. Some women had received the right to vote, but other Canadians recent immigrants associated with enemy countries had seen this right rescinded. Directly after the war Canada was hit by the cost of the war, riots divisions plagued the country for years to come.

In Wayne Roberts and John Bullen’s A Heritage of Hope and Struggle: Workers, Unions and Politics of Canada 1930-1982, Roberts and Bullen’s outline the struggles and hardships Canadians endure post WWII on their path to prosperity with their employers. The journey begins late 1940s; conflicts emerge regarding union security which results in strikes, the 1945 Ford Windsor strike occurs as the organization’s employees demand the stability of the union. In an attempt to resolve the issues, Justice Ivan Rand urges a formula to “check-off dues” from employee paycheques to invest in the union, regarding finances and its activities. The fifties include the creation of the Canadian Labor Congress 1956 and the New Democratic Party. The sixties introduce

The National Labor Union was the first labor federation in the united states and it paved the pathway for the Nights of Labor and the AFL. The National Labor Union was led by William H. Sylvis and was in response to unsuccessful efforts to form a national coalition of local trade unions. The National Labor Union wanted instead to bring together all of the national labor organizations, as well as the "eight-hour leagues" which pressed for the eight-hour day, to create a national federation that could call for labor reforms and help found national unions in those areas where none existed. The NLU was made mostly up of construction unions and other groups of skilled employees, but also invited the unskilled and farmers to join. However, they

With the creation of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961, this put an emphasis on orderly collective bargaining at the workplace. While communist-led unions continued to educate their members about the conflict between workers and capitalists, they were very much a marginal presence in the Canadian labour movement during these deepest years of the Cold War (Taylor, 143). In the wake of a 1965 national postal workers strike and with the NDP in power, the federal Parliament passed the Public Service Staff Relations Act in 1968 granting federal civil servants the right to arbitration or strike action to settle