The Winnipeg General Strike : A Rift Between Western Canadian Employers And Labour Workers

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.

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

Before the 1930s, labor unions had little to no voice in the contracts of industrialized companies. Labor Unions “are organizations of workers whose primary objectives are to improve the pecuniary and nonpecuniary conditions or employment among their members” (Ehrenberg & Smith, pg. 451). The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) and the United Automobiles Workers (UAW) are different unions in Canada and the Unites States. Even though they have some similarities, the two groups have many differences as well. Some similarities include how they bargain and negotiate. However, they differ in the type of union, what they stand for, how large they are, why and when they started, and what they negotiate for.

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

According to this weeks readings and lecture, I learn more about the history of Canada’s labour movement in the 19th and 20th century. As a developed country, I did not realize that there are such uneven developments in Canada. Canada is a well developed country and doing well about social welfare on my mind. Compare the wages of labours between Canadian and Chinese, Canadian labours have higher paid and minimum wages ensure their basic cost of living. In China minimum wages does not exists and labours do not have movement because of the state system and polity. Canadian labours dare to protect their interests by movements. These movements show that problems exists between the poor and wealthy in Canada. The problems come from different classes

With over 30% of the working population of Canada being members of unions, meaning over 18 million Canadian citizens are working in unionized conditions, there’s no doubt that unions have an influence on our society and workers. But, is their role valuable? There are many aspects about union memberships that facilitates life for it’s workers. Unions are designed to create fairness and equality between all of it’s members, creating a just and healthy environment for everyone. They support and defend members who are struggling or suffer from an injury which prevents them from working. Unions also create job security to it’s members, something very valuable especially to lower-class and family providing members. Unions seem to be able to provide

As a leading union and voice of workers employed in 26 sectors of the Canadian economy, at UFCW Canada we believe that respecting each other’s cultural traditions and ethnic identities is pivotal to supporting the rights and freedoms of all workers in Canada. By taking a stand to support the human rights of all workers in the workplace, we support diversity through inclusion. By better understanding the historical injustices endured by First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples in Canada today and supporting Aboriginal issues locally, provincially and federally, we support the human rights of all Canadians.

Before world war two union organizations where small in numbers two and late during world war two where union organizations doubled in number. Many factors played a role in development of strengthen the trade union organization. These circumstances forged to make union organization in Canada deep rooted labor unions in Canada’s political and economic structure.

Advocating for these migrant workers has been done through referencing the UDHR, and other international laws (Basok & Carasco, 2010, p. 354). Through litigation and the support of certain judges, the UFCW Canada has delivered tangible results for supporting migrant workers by invoking section 15 of the Canadian Charter. The Charter was seen to exclude agricultural workers from joining unions, along with the separation of migrant workers from protections of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Basok & Carasco, 2010, p. 357). The UFCW played a large role in giving migrant workers the right to collectively bargain following the Fraser case in November of 2008, although the ruling still falls short of providing justice to TFW’s (Walchuk, 2009, p. 158). Migrant workers still face inequalities in the health system, facing many housing issues and prohibiting workers from education while in Canada (Walchuk, 2009, p. 158). The UFCW has faced hardship organising the temporary migrant workers due to the lengthy process of the legal system such as appealing and litigation. The efforts of UFCW Canada are essential for the further advancement of the rights of these workers. The UFCW has created tangible results for the rights of migrant workers within SAWP, and this debunks the statement that unions have ignored these workers. Although plenty more work is ahead for UFCW

This essay will answer the three essay questions put forward. Firstly, it will briefly explain what is meant by employer militancy. It will outline the main features of the aggressive approach adopted by employers in their relations with trade unions since the 1980’s. Secondly, this essay will describe the changes in employer actions towards unions. It will outline the different phases that have

In the year 1945, as the second world war was coming to an end the 99-day Ford strike occurred on September 12, 1945 Windsor, Ontario. Due to the end of the war, thousands of soldiers were returning back home and actively searched for opportunities to rejoin the workforce. Despite all the outrageous effects of the battlegrounds, the end of the war brought forward Canadian’s mixed emotions and actions. For example, it caused a slowdown in the wartime production and brought forward self-assured Canadian unionists. This quickly triggered a significant increase in union memberships and the number of strikes during the time. Ford being one of Canada’s largest workplaces was struggling in maintaining and meeting its worker’s demands. Before the end of the war, Union Auto Workers productively collected union dues directly from its members. However, with thousands of members coming back from the war, it was more challenging to collect the union dues, making it a full-time activity (Canadian Labour Congress, n.d.). The United Auto workers local 200 wanted union security and demanded that Ford approve both union shops and dues check- off. After the second world war many companies including Ford decided to layoff 1,500 worker at Windsor, which also triggered the “Windsor’s Ford strike”. The worker’s necessities and wants lead to there overpowering decision to go on strike (Pryke, 1997). Although, the strike lasted 99-days it significantly influenced and changed labour relations in

Canada falls short in many areas, primarily in the basic international standard that “all issues that influence worker well-being should be negotiable” (Adams, 2008, p. 58). Constitutionally, Canada continues to enforce collective bargaining as an economic right, giving no credence to how social and political decisions in the workplace affect workers (Adams, 2008, p. 51). Even though the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed collective bargaining’s human right status in 2007’s BC Health Services Decision, it did not embrace the ILO’s standards fully (Savage, 2008, p. 72). There has been no tangible change in legislation or within the labour movement to denote any progress since that decision (Savage, 2008, p.

The Labor unions and disputes against the employers of 1919 also known as Winnipeg General Strike was one of the most tense and significant of all previously recorded General Strikes throughout history. A strike is defined as a strike by workers in all or most of the businesses in a country at the same time. Of which the Winnipeg General Strike managed to kill the city in a few hours where movement was delayed because of the lack of workers Strike was a stand against the employers and the government in order to ask for better work conditions, mainly collective bargaining, and an agreement to allow all strikers back to work after their terms have been met. The united action of all workers was very threatening towards the society. The strike was generally a very successful protest to the state it was a success and they had managed to stop the strikers.

In 2005, social, economic, and political conditions in Alberta were ideal for the labour dispute that mushroomed at Lakeside Packers in Brooks, Alberta between workers (and their union) and management. The primarily Caucasian, conservative, change-averse community of Brooks had a long history of farming, family, and church life that hadn’t changed much in generations (Inkster, 2007). The multimillion-dollar beef processing and packing plant (a division of American megacorporation Tyson Foods) was one of the largest slaughterhouses in North America, with a reputation of treating workers badly and being confrontationally anti-union, and had been hiring a large number of immigrant workers who flooded the community. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union had been striving for years to become the bargaining unit for Lakeside workers, and with the influx of immigrant workers, recruitment and advocacy efforts were ballooning. As well, the long-entrenched Progressive Conservative government in Alberta was a supporter of big business and labour laws did little to protect workers.

During 19th or early 20th centuries, most Western countries had partially legalized striking .and in most countries they made strike quickly illegal. Strike define as a work cessation that caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. Usually strike occurs in because of employee grievances. In today’s world, Strikes became common. And are not specific to a particular workplace or workers community. Strike arises due to wants for better wages and living conditions. The first recorded labor strike was during the construction of the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Rodrigues, N.D) According to the historian Herodotus (Herodotus, Historia, Book II, 124-126), the workers received an amount of garlic everyday to increase their stamina and to maintain their over-all health and when a ration of garlic did not turn op on time they made a work stoppage. In the private sector for employees, the right to strike is guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act, whereas public employees are generally prohibited from striking, making the right to strike a major issue for public-sector unions (Carrell, 2013 p.102).