History of the Canadian Union Movement

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C h a p t e r
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• History of the Canadian Union Movement

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History of Canadian Labour Movement

• Union history in Canada has been marked by
  conflict between different cultures, classes, and
  regions
• Several distinct characteristics of Canada have
  helped shape its labour history

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History of Canadian Labour Movement

• Canadian characteristics that have shaped labour
  history
• Physical geography
• Canada's large size meant most early unions were
  local or regional
• Resource-based industries hampered union
  organizing
• Proximity to U.S. influenced Canadian unions
• Cultural mix
• Immigrants with organizing experience helped
  develop Canadian unions
• However, unions have not always responded well to
  culturally diverse workforces

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History of Canadian Labour Movement

• Economic system
• Historically based in primary and secondary
  industries, but toward the end of the 20th
  century, role of tertiary (or service) industries
  had grown
• Reliance on trade has challenged unions

• Political structure
• Division between federal and provincial
  jurisdictions has allowed for experimentation and
  reform

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Early Canadian Unionism the 1800s

• The period of local unionism
• Earliest attempts to organize were limited to
  specific geographic areas and small groups of
  workersusually in one trade known as the craft
  union model
• Two main reasons
• Size of Canada
• The need to protect wage rates for workers in
  skilled trades
• Canada's role as exporter also contributed

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Early Canadian Unionism the 1800s

• Informal workers' groups formed as early as 1827
• First formal unions emerged around the same time
  historians differ on which one was the first
  Canadian union
• Prevalence of craft unionism initially inhibited
  any wider union growth did not encourage
  alternative model, known as industrial unionism
• Industrial unionism
• Focuses on strength in numbers
• Maximizing power by recruiting as many members as
  possible, regardless of their occupation

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Early Canadian Unionism the 1800s

• Due to the dominance of craft unions, the next
  major expansion of the Canadian labour movement
  came through affiliation with international
  unions, usually based in the U.S.
• Mid- and late-1800s saw the continental movement
  of U.S.-based unions entering Canada
• Restricted primarily to Ontario and other regions
  with trade links to the U.S.
• Late 1800s
• unions began to cooperate, e.g., the Nine-Hour
  Movement (1872) employers resisted the movement,
  resulting in Toronto typesetters' and printers'
  strike

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Early Canadian Unionism the 1800s

• At the time, there was almost no Canadian
  legislation addressing industrial relations
  issues
• The British government had used criminal
  conspiracy or monopoly laws to block union
  organizing until 1871, when it passed the Trades
  Union Act, establishing the right of workers to
  organize a union

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Early Canadian Unionism the 1800s

• Similar monopoly laws were used in Canada to
  arrest and charge 24 leaders of the Toronto
  strike charges laid by George Brown, publisher
  of the Globe newspaper and an enemy of Prime
  Minister Sir John A. Macdonald
• Macdonald adopted a Canadian version of Trades
  Union Act to punish Brown while the charges were
  dropped, the Nine-Hour Movement was broken

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Early Canadian Unionism the 1800s

• The Nine-Hour Movement led to the formation of
  the first federations of trade unions, the
  Canadian Labour Union (1873) and the Trades and
  Labour Congress (TLC)
• The TLC
• Was formed in 1883
• Lobbied for reforms to labour legislation that
  would benefit all workers
• Remained a national force in the Canadian labour
  movement for the next 70 years

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Early Canadian Unionism the 1800s

• The Knights of Labor
• First international industrial union to enter
  Canada (1881)
• Organized workers in occupations that Canadian
  unions considered too challenging, such as
  railway work, mining and other resource
  industries
• Organized women and minority workers
• Denounced by a papal letter in Quebec the letter
  was rescinded in 1887

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The Industrial Age the Early 1900s

• Work in Canada continued to evolve from
  rural-based, individually controlled work to
  urban, factory-based
• U.S. union organizers came to Canada to recruit
  members
• Federal Conciliation Act (1900) created federal
  department of labour gave it power to appoint
  third-party intervenors or commissions of inquiry
• 1902 - The TLC elects a craft union member for
  president expels Knights of Labor and national
  unions

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The Industrial Age the Early 1900s

• An active economy created high demand for
  workers, allowing them to press for better wages
  and working conditions
• Railways were expanding rapidly and became a
  target for organizers, leading to several major
  railway strikes
• American unions representing railway workers in
  some cases sided with ownersan indication that
  the continental movement might have negative
  implications for Canadian workers

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The Industrial Age the Early 1900s

• Railway strikes led to passage of Industrial
  Disputes Investigation Act (1907) the act
• Required that industrial disputes under federal
  jurisdiction be submitted to a neutral third
  party
• Introduced principles that are still present in
  many current Canadian labour laws

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The Industrial Age the Early 1900s

• In Atlantic Canada, unions had been more active
  in organizing less-skilled and non-craft workers
  than in central Canada
• Atlantic Canada saw 411 strikes between 1901 and
  1914, most of them by coal miners, represented by
  the Provincial Workmen's Association
• 140 of those strikes were by associations of
  unskilled labourers

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The Industrial Age the Early 1900s

• Economic growth lasted until about 1914, when
  U.S.-based unions made up about 80 percent of
  total Canadian union membership
• U.S. domination was partly due to the Industrial
  Workers of the World (IWW), the Wobblies
• IWW was similar to Knights of Labor in philosophy
  and strategy, but had a more socialist
  orientation, advocating general strikes as a
  means of creating a new, egalitarian society

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The First World War

• The advent of the 1st World War made unionization
  more attractive to Canadian workers
• Increased production that was needed to supply
  the war effort put pressure on workers to produce
  more for the same pay
• Continuing mechanization of production further
  reduced the market value of skilled craftspeople

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The First World War

• The 1st World War
• The federal government expanded the jurisdiction
  of the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act to
  include munitions industries, which limited the
  ability of workers in those industries to strike
• Many workers felt existing unions were not
  adequately addressing workers' concerns, e.g., by
  not formally opposing conscription. This drove
  some to more radical unions, such as the
  U.S.-based One Big Union (OBU)

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The First World War

• Two events demonstrate the extreme divisions
  between workers, government and employers
• Albert Ginger Goodwin, B.C. labour organizer,
  was shot and killed by a Dominion Police officer
  his death led to a one-day general strike in
  Vancouver
• The Winnipeg General Strike (1919) was the first
  extended, large-scale general strike involving
  workers from many different occupations and unions

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The First World War

• The Winnipeg General Strike
• This strike began when 30,000-35,000 unionized
  and non-unionized workers walked off their jobs
• A committee representing employers and all three
  levels of government attempted to force strikers
  back to work
• Winnipeg mayor fired the entire city police
  force police were replaced with volunteer
  special constables
• Parliament passed emergency amendment to the
  Immigration Act allowing for immediate
  deportation of immigrants also broadened the
  Criminal Code allowing police to arrest on basis
  of suspicion, rather than evidence burden of
  proof was placed on the accused

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The First World War

• Eight strike leaders were arrested and charged
• Royal Northwest Mounted Police broke up strikers
  protest march on June 21 two people were killed
  and 30 seriously injured
• Strike ended June 25 strike leaders realized
  their objectives couldnt be accomplished due to
  opposition from government, business, and
  employers
• However, it was a turning point in the Canadian
  labour movement
• OBU began to wane as infighting rose and many
  members found themselves unable to pay dues

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The First World War Era

• In Quebec, at the end of the decade,
  unions gained strength because of
  the influence of the
  Catholic Church
• In 1921, so-called Catholic
  unions formed the Confédération
  des travailleurs catholiques du
  Canada (CTCC) the CTCC became
  increasingly militant toward the
  practised ethnocentrism of
  American-owned firms

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The First World War Era

• The CTCC was involved in several high-profile
  strikes, including the 1949 Asbestos strike,
  which was seen as a victory against U.S. firms
  and the Duplessis government
• In 1961, it became the Confédération des
  syndicats nationaux (CSN) or, in English, the
  Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU),
  which exists today

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After the War

• Canadian unions faced many difficulties after the
  First World War, including
• Widespread unemployment and wage cuts
• Disunity within the movement
• A poor agricultural market, the U.S. stock market
  crash (1929), and the subsequent Great Depression
• In contrast, some positive developments occurred
• Skilled workers were still needed and were able
  to maintain unity
• Industrial councils were formed and included
  less-skilled workers
• Communities of ethnic immigrants within
  occupations created networks for support and
  information

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After the War

• During the Depression, unemployed workers banded
  together to lobby for improved relief payments
  also demanded better conditions in government-run
  relief camps
• Two major events demonstrated the extent of
  resistance to the relief camps
• The On to Ottawa Trek (1935), which ended in a
  violent clash with RCMP in Regina
• Bloody Sunday, the Vancouver post office riots
  (1938)

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After the War

• The Canadian Communist Party became an attractive
  political alternative for some disillusioned
  workers the party promoted unionism as a way to
  transform capitalism
• In 1927, the Communist Party launched the
  All-Canadian Congress of Labour, the first major
  alternative to the TLC as a national federation
  for Canadian unions

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After the War

• Snider vs. Toronto Electrical Commission
• This 1925 ruling by the British Privy Council
  settled the question of federal and provincial
  jurisdiction over labour relations
• Federal governments jurisdiction over labour
  relations extended only to federally regulated
  industries
• Ruling hampered development of Canadian unions
  because organizing was more difficult under
  varying laws

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After the War

• The Wagner Act (1935)
• U.S. legislation introduced by President Franklin
  Roosevelt guaranteed three basic rights to U.S.
  union members
• The right to organize
• The right to collective bargaining
• The right to strike without employer harassment
• Employers were forced to recognize a union that
  had the support of the majority of workers
• Several provinces adopted similar legislation
• This act was the model on which many Canadian
  labour codes were based and contains principles
  that are still present in Canadian labour laws

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After the War

• The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
• Founded in the U.S. in 1935 to represent workers
  in mass-production industries and to organize
  unorganized workers
• Clashed with the American Federation of Labor
  (AFL)
• AFL instructed the TLC to expel Canadian unions
  linked to CIO affiliates, which it did
  reluctantly
• The CIO opened a Canadian office in 1937 and
  organized steelworkers, autoworkers, and other
  production workers
• Also during the Depression, the Co-operative
  Commonwealth Federation (CCF)a forerunner of the
  New Democratic Party, elected its first members
  of Parliament

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The Second World War

• 2nd World War stimulated the economy,
  dramatically increasing employment
• Fearing radicals and militants would disrupt
  production, the federal government expanded the
  jurisdiction of the Industrial Disputes
  Investigation Act in 1939 and required strike
  votes
• The government also introduced wage and price
  controls
• Unionization rates increased significantly with
  the war, and the divisions between craft and
  industrial unions became more formal at the
  national levels of the union movement

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The Second World War

• The All-Canadian Congress of Labour and the CIO
  joined to form the Canadian Congress of Labour
  (CCL), giving Canada two national labour
  federations
• The CCL - industrial-union based affiliated with
  the CIO in the U.S.
• The TLC - craft-union based affiliated with the
  AFL
• Strike activity increased during the first few
  years of the war and by 1943, one in three union
  members was on strike
• Following a long and bitter strike by northern
  Ontario gold miners in 1941-42, the federal
  government amended its labour legislation

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The Second World War

• In 1944, the federal government passed P.C. 1003,
  modelled on the Wagner Act
• P.C. 1003 included compulsory collective
  bargaining and the right of employee
  representatives to be certified as bargaining
  agents if they could demonstrate sufficient
  support
• Similar acts were passed by Quebec and B.C.

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After the Second World War

• The war was followed by fears that the post-First
  World War recession would be repeated Mackenzie
  Kings government tried to offset this by giving
  benefits to returning veterans
• The first major post-war strike occurred in 1945,
  at the Windsor, Ont. Ford plant
• Justice Ivan Rand decided union dues would be
  automatically deducted from every workers
  paycheque, but that individuals would be allowed
  to opt out of the union
• The Rand Formula was being used by 90 percent of
  Canadian unions by 1950

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After the Second World War

• Post-war price increases led unionized workers to
  demand matching wage increases
• Many employers, assuming P.C. 1003 had been a
  temporary measure, did not respond to union
  demands
• The result was a series of large, extended
  strikes that began in 1946 and continued for the
  next four years
• The federal government enshrined the principles
  of P.C. 1003 in the Industrial Disputes
  Investigation Act (1948) and by 1950, nearly
  every province had a similar labour code

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After the Second World War

• The Asbestos Strike (1949) in Quebec
• An illegal strike, supported by Catholic churches
  and the Archbishop of Montreal
• Quebec Premier Duplessis sent armed police to
  Asbestos strikers responded by beating company
  officials and dynamiting company property
• May Strikers, incensed that the company had
  hired replacement workers, attacked the mines and
  the police over 200 were arrested
• June A settlement was negotiated
• Served notice to the world that the Catholic
  unions were no less militant than their secular
  counterparts
• Marked the end of the formal relationship between
  the Catholic Church and the Quebec union movement

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The 1950s and 1960s

• Period of growth and development for unions
• Inter-union disputes were reduced when the TLC
  and CCL merged in 1956 to create the Canadian
  Labour Congress (CLC) the CLC affiliated with
  the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL)
• Concerns during this period included increasing
  bureaucratization and centralization of the
  predominantly international unions
• Bitter disputes
• Murdochville, Quebec (1957) violent mining
  strike ended with the union conceding defeat
• Newfoundland (1958-59) International Woodworkers
  of America (IWA) clashed with Premier Smallwood
  policeman killed during fighting and the IWA was
  defeated

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The 1950s and 1960s

• Early 1960s saw the beginning of an extended
  growth period in the labour movement, due mostly
  to extensive organizing in the public sector
• Private-sector wages and conditions were becoming
  superior to public sector
• 1965 - public sector unionization became a
  priority for the federal government, due to a
  national postal strike and the election of a
  Liberal minority government that was dependent on
  the New Democratic Party for support

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The 1950s and 1960s

• Ottawa passed the Public Service Staff Relations
  Act, which gave federal public servants the right
  to arbitration or strike action
• This act served as a model for most provinces and
  by 1975 every province and territory had some
  form of labour relations legislation governing
  public service employees

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The 1950s and 1960s

• During the same period, para-public sector
  workers also organized on a large scale
• Some joined existing public-sector unions others
  joined the Canadian Union of Public Employees
  (CUPE), a newer union that organized municipal
  and regional government workers
• Also during this period, changing technology
  affected workplaces, including railways and
  newspapers

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The 1970s and 1980s

• The early 1970s saw disruption in the Canadian
  economy
• Unemployment and inflation rose
• North America was challenged by new economic
  powers in other parts of the world
• Unions were blamed for inflation and lower
  productivity

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The 1970s and 1980s

• In October 1975, the federal government
  implemented a three-year program of wage and
  price controls collective agreements had to be
  approved by the Anti-Inflation Board
• Strike activity rose significantly after controls
  were imposed over one million workers took part
  in a one-day national strike on October 15, 1976
• When the program ended in 1978, its effects were
  unclear

42
The 1970s and 1980s

• Early 1980s
• Interest rates were increased to fight inflation,
  causing the worst unemployment since the 1930s
• Social programs were restricted
• Federal and provincial governments reduced the
  bargaining power of public sector unions

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The 1970s and 1980s

• The 70s and 80s saw numerous high-profile strikes
  in the public and private sector
• 1972 Quebec public sector strike
• 1978 national postal strike
• 1978 eight-and-a-half-month-long strike
  by Ontario steelworkers, followed by
  another lengthy strike in 1981
• In 1982, the federal government suspended public
  servants bargaining rights for two years

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The 1970s and 1980s

• The federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)
  provided new guidelines for labour relations
• The election of a federal Conservative government
  in 1984 and the emergence of major business
  alliances such as the Business Council on
  National Issues, created a hostile atmosphere for
  unions
• Several major private-sector strikes during the
  1980s

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The 1970s and 1980s

• Labour movement also saw internal dissent
• The Confederation of Canadian Unions (CCU),
  intended as a national federation for
  Canadian-based unions, presented an alternative
  to the CLC
• Construction unions broke away from the CLC to
  form the Canadian Federation of Labour
  (1982-1997)
• Canadian locals of the United Auto Workers split
  from U.S. parent union to form the Canadian Auto
  Workers

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The 1970s and 1980s

• The trend that developed toward Canadian control
  of Canadian unions has continued to the present
  day
• The demise of the CFL and the CCU has left the
  CLC and the QFL and CNTU as the major labour
  federations in Canada

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The 1990s and Beyond

• The advent of liberalized international trade was
  the major event of the 1990s
• This includes the North American Free Trade
  Agreement (NAFTA) of 1992 and Canadas
  participation in worldwide tariff reductions
  under the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and
  Trade and the World Trade Organization

48
The 1990s and Beyond

• Some employers have used NAFTA to move formerly
  unionized jobs to regions with lower labour
  costs and non-unionized workers
• Unionization rates in Canada did not drop
  significantly in the 1990s, although there has
  been a slow gradual decline since the 1970s
• The New Democratic Party, historically labours
  best friend in politics, declined during the
  1990s it remains to be seen what effect this
  will have on labour policy

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The 1990s and Beyond

• The future can be viewed negatively or positively
  for unions
• Negative perspective
• Internationalization, the slow decline in
  unionization rates, and the decline of the NDP,
  could suggest further erosion of unions power
• Positive perspective
• The relative strength of Canadian unions compared
  to those in the U.S. and the history of
  adaptability of the Canadian system suggest that
  the system will continue

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Until next week