3.3.4 The Labour Movement

The picture is of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, an influential strike of workers in Canada.

Although many Canadians had prospered during World War I, when soldiers returned from the war, many found that immigrants had taken their jobs. For those who found employment, working conditions were often poor. Few laws protected worker safety. Few of the benefits most workers have today were available. Wages for average labourers were low. The average worker had very little opportunity to voice his or her concerns about issues in the workplace. The communist revolution had just occurred in Russia in which the workers, soldiers, and farmers had taken power from the aristocracy.

In Winnipeg, workers in the building trades negotiated for better wages and working conditions. When talks broke down, the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council called a general strike. In hours, nearly 30 000 workers walked off their jobs, closing factories, stores, and the rail lines. Government workers followed, including the police. Firefighters, postal workers, telephone operators, and utility workers joined the private sector employees, virtually shutting down business activity in the city.

Reaction was swift. The strikers were condemned as revolutionaries led by foreign Bolsheviks. The federal government and sided with the business community. Organizers were arrested, and the RCMP rode into a crowd of protesters, a confrontation resulting in many injuries and one death. The strikers went back to work, but a bitter legacy remained. It took another 30 years before the rights of workers were recognized.