Browse "Unions & Labour Organizations"

Co-operative marketing organizations began to appear in British North America in the 1840s when British labourers attempted unsuccessfully to start stores similar to those common in Britain. The first stable store, or society, was developed in 1861 in Stellarton, NS.

Confederation of Canadian UnionsFounded in 1969 on the initiative of veteran labour organizers Kent ROWLEY and Madeleine PARENT, the Confederation of Canadian Unions (originally the Council of Canadian Unions 1969-73) is dedicated to the establishment of a democratic, independent Canadian labour movement free of the influence of American-based international unions. In 1994 the CCU contained approximately 20 000 members in 11 affiliated unions, in both the public and private sector. The CCU has been a...

The Catholic unions were reorganized at the end of WWI, stressing protection of members' rights and interests as workers. Anxious to unite their forces, they jointly formed the Canadian Catholic Confederation of Labour in 1921 with about 17 600 members.

Since 1965 the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (previously Canadian Postal Employees Association) has been involved in approximately 19 major disputes over several complex issues.

The Drumheller Strike of 1925 1925, ushered in a period of rival or "dual" unionism in Alberta's coalfields. The Drumheller miners, rejecting wage cuts negotiated by the United Mine Workers, struck in June 1925.

On 8 July 1900, fishermen for 47 salmon canneries that lined the lower Fraser River from New Westminster to the river mouth struck for a season-long, 25-cent, minimum price instead of prices which dropped as catches increased.

The Wobbly poet and martyr Joe Hill visited the camp at Yale and wrote several songs, including "Where the Fraser River Flows," still a labour standard.

The first significant attempt to organize on an industrial basis was undertaken in the 1880s by the KNIGHTS OF LABOR, which advocated unity of the producing classes and opposed employer blacklists and discrimination.

IWW propaganda was disseminated primarily in street meetings. In 1912, when Vancouver authorities tried to ban street demonstrations, the Wobblies started and won a spectacular free-speech fight.

The Knights of Labor, the leading labour reform organization in the late 19th century, played a key role in the development of the working-class consciousness in Canada. It was also an important player in the development of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada and interceded with authorities to improve living standards for the working class. The movement fell victim to internal conflict and the successes of other unions, and began fading out at the end of the 1890s.

Two days later, the 3 main UNION CENTRALS defied a municipal ban to organize a huge march in solidarity with the newspaper workers. More than 12 000 people clashed with 100 Montréal policemen. The outcome was some 50 arrests, several dozen injuries and one death from natural causes.

PreviousNext The labour force refers to the total adult population available to the labour market at a specific time; defined by Statistics Canada as "that portion of the civilian noninstitutional population 15 years of age and over who, during the reference week [in which the employment survey was taken], were employed or unemployed." Employed persons include all those who worked, part or full time, and those who would have been at work were it not...

Labour History, see WORKING-CLASS HISTORY.

 That workers should have political representatives of their own class has been a recurrent theme in Canadian labour history, but no one organization has provided a permanent home for this idea. Many union leaders have preferred to advance their cause through established political parties.

Labour relations refers to the relations between employers and employees. They are affected by a number of factors, including labour organizations, collective bargaining, labour market, government policy, the structure of the economy, labour law and technological change.