The Causes : The Winnipeg General Strike ( 1919 )

The Great Strike of 1877 coming after the heels of the Civil war and in the midst of a time of economic upheaval in American society, this is not argued, this is the fact of the time. We now have many primary source documents that we can use to ask questions and make judgements about this period in American history. Perhaps most importantly is the everlasting ability of using the media specifically newspapers during this time period, to sway public opinion. The question a historian finds himself asking is, if and how are the newspapers used to form and give the general public not the strikers or the business owners, a bad opinion of the strikes and a good opinion of the railroad strikers.

On July 21, 1899, New York City was filled with the voices of the newsies. Back in the 1800s, newspapers were the only source of media, they were the only way of knowing what was going on with the world. The newsies, also known as newsboys, were the ones who sold the papers, it was how they earned a living. Every morning, the newsies would line up and pay for a bundle of papers so they could sell them and hopefully make a profit. Most newsies were either orphans or runaways. When a newsboy did sell his papers, he used that money to buy food to tide him over for a day or two, but he had to save some of that money so he could buy more papers in the morning. If a newsies didn't sell enough papers, then he wouldn't

The Boston Police Strike of 1919 was the result of the intolerable conditions under which the police officer’s worked and the refusal of key city and state officials to act to improve those conditions. On the day of September the 9th 1919, almost three quarters of Boston 's police force failed to show up to work. The police strike was a political windfall for the governor of Massachusetts and was fodder for the anti- union stance of government and business of the day. The backlash resulted in police departments across the country not to be afforded the right to organize for the next twenty years.

It is seen that frequent disagreements between the workers and their employers usually results in strikes and protests. During World War II, it was no different, as there were many strikes and protests that took place during that time in war production factories. As the War started, the government needed more weapons, machineries, tanks and other military equipment’s in order to fight and win the war. In order to meet the increased demands of war, new war production factories had to be built, along with existing car manufacturing industries being transformed for war production as well. It was seen that during this time period war production changed the relationship between the Congress of Industrial organizations (CIO) and American Federation of Labor (AFL), with their employers and the national government. As organized labor

During the Second World War, the federal government declared the state of emergency which made the Canadian government to grant the Canadians workers the same right as the American workers. It was in 1935 when the industrial unionism spread to the Canada. In 1937, Canada suffered from the great depression. This depression brought social unrest and poverty to the working class Canadians. This made the Canadian government to ignore the hard work of their labourforce for quite long time. “For example, in November 1939, the federal government introduced PC 3495, which extended the IDIA to all industries involved in war production.” Thus the order-in-council PC 1003 came into effect which granted the legal basis for the collective bargaining in Canada. The main reason for the Canadian working class to adapt to the order-in-council PC 1003 was the recognition of the union. There were many large strikes that took place before the PC 1003 was adopted. One of the significant strikes was the Winnipeg general strike that the whole world remembers. The cause that led to this strike was the employers failing to recognize a union and was under no obligation to

The Winnipeg General Strike The year of 1919 has been one of the most influential years of strikes

labor strikes of the early 1920s were fueled by wartime wage agreements. More than 3000 strikes took place, most of which failed. As a result, it caused the union membership to decline and created public fear and anger among the American people. The Red Scare spread the fear of communism into the U.S. the government tried to get rid of all the antiracists and racialists by arresting them and deporting through what they called “Palmer Raids.” As a result many people were unjustly accused of being communists. The famous “Sacco and Vanzetti” case was a highly controversial event involving two men who believed to be anarchist that were convicted and executed over an armed robbery. Much of the country argued weather they were innocent or they were

"Everyone was going on strike in the United States in 1919," Coolidge biographer, Amity Shlaes said. Earlier in the year, the telephone workers and trolley men had gone on strike.

The Winnipeg general strike was the largest strike in Canadian history; it officially began May 15th 1919, during the strike solders returned after World War 1 leaving immigrants and woman with poor jobs and terrible working conditions with low wedges. Workers were put in jail, some were deported and thousands lost their jobs and at least seven strike leaders were convicted of a conspiracy to overthrow the government and were jailed for up to 2 years. This event has shaped Canadian identity by the ability to have unions and strikes, higher wages and optional hours. The Winnipeg general strike became the platform for future labour reforms, without the Winnipeg general strike there would be no such thing as minimum wage. Some causes of the Winnipeg

How does the Winnipeg general Strike mark a rift between western Canadian employers and labour workers?

By the end of 1936 and the beginning of 1937, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union structured a strike held at General Motors, known as the Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Michigan. They called the strike, a sit-down strike that was organized to demand improvements to working conditions and job security to all employees. The strike was one of the largest during this era. The local police tried to withhold food from going into the plant that was ordered by supporters; which caused the strike to become violent. This left the Michigan’s governor, Frank Murphy no choice but to step in and decide to call in the National Guard to control the situation, however, the troops was ordered be onsite and not go inside the plant. Murphy made this decision

Nonetheless, unions were not going to allow this for very long as the Toronto Typographical Union demanded a nine hour workday from the city’s publishers. Without a doubt, employers attempted to deny any such thing from happening as they realized that they would end up losing money and as a result, the printers walked off the job on March 25, 1872. Publishers were forced into hiring replacement workers to continue their profits at the expense of human lives however, these strikes had gained widespread support throughout the city and thus a crowd of 10,000 supporters showed up for a rally at Queen’s Park on April 15, 1872 despite knowing that their actions could have serious legal consequences as union activity was criminal. This resulted in the strike committee being arrested for criminal conspiracy done by no other than the Toronto Globe publisher George Brown which only served to advocate support from those who were detained. Subsequently, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald introduced the Trade Union Act on April 18, 1872, legalizing and protecting unions. The strike in Toronto evolved into the "Nine-Hour Movement". Toronto printers led to annual celebrations of Labour Day, celebrated today in communities across Canada every year. Workers movements had begun to develop as early as the 1850’s but it was the issue of requiring a shorter workday that galvanized the movement and convinced more workers that joining unions would change their lives for the better. After the tremendous effort and victory by Canadian soldiers in World War I, they were brought back to an immense amount of unemployment and inflation. The fearless war veterans could not get their once previously obtained jobs prior to the war. Workers in various trades

This event had influenced the whole Canada. Winnipeg strike was one of the most famous event in Canada. The rising unemployment and inflation was the main cause of the strike event. In order to get the minimum pay and rights to negotiate with employers, workers in construction and those in machinery manufacturing division hoped to have a better working conditions. However, their claims were refused by the employers' and the workers demonstrations supported by the Winnipeg Trade and Labor Council.

The revival of strike activity increased in 1916. Existing social peace ceased, stopping the cooperation of workers and increase of productivity during the

In return they were promised that the old arrangements would be resumed after the war. It was only a voluntary agreement, but in July 1915 the Munitions of War Act legally banded unions and the government and it outlawed strikes. In many ways, trade unionists made important gains during the war. The fact that government controlled so much of the industry led to a national, as opposed to local, wage agreements. However, after the war had ended, privatization was introduced again, and the staple industries were the ones who suffered more. This was followed by a wave of strikes. This industrial unrest worried the government which a feared a Bolshevik-type revolution.