Canadas labour movement has a long history of improving

workers everyday lives. We fought for and won many of the rights
enjoyed by all workers today minimum wages, overtime pay,
workplace safety standards, maternity and parental leave,
vacation pay, and protection from discrimination and harassment.

Today unions work hard every day to protect the rights weve
won, and to win new rights for all workers. We are social unions,
focused not just on the gains we can make in bargaining, but the
gains we can make for society as a whole, like fighting to end
child labour, or to win workers compensation, public pensions
and social programs that help people keep working, like health
care and child care.

Some highlights:

1872: The fight for a shorter work-week

1919: The Winnipeg general strike

The birth of Unemployment Insurance

1945: Windsors Ford strike

The Rand decision Everyone who benefits should

pay

1956: Founding of the Canadian Labour Congress

1965: Public service workers win bargaining rights

The right to safety at work

Maternity & parental benefits

1872: The fight for a shorter work-week

Imagine working at least ten or more hours a day. Every day.
Thats what many of Torontos print workers daily lives looked
like in 1872, when the Toronto Typographical Union demanded a
nine-hour workday from the citys
publishers.

Employers refused, and the printers walked off the job on March
25, 1872. Publishers hired replacement workers, but the strikers
had earned widespread support from other Toronto workers.
The result: a crowd of 10,000 supporters showed up for a rally at
Queens Park on April 15, 1872. In those days, union activity was
criminal, and then Toronto Globe publisher George Brown had the
strike committee arrested for criminal conspiracy the next day.
The community protested in support of those arrested.

Prime Minister John A. Macdonald no friend of publisher and

Reform politician George Brown 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 1850s
but it was this issue the need for a shorter work week that
galvanized the movement and convinced more workers that
joining unions would change their lives for the better.

1919: The Winnipeg general strike

The year 1919 saw soldiers returning home after World War I to
find high unemployment rates and inflation. They couldnt get
their jobs back and social tension was high. Workers in various
trades wanted fair wages: much like workers today, they just
wanted to earn enough to be able to support their families in the
changing
economy.

At 11:00 am on May 15, 1919, workers walked off the job and
marched into the streets of Winnipeg, leading to one of the
biggest labour actions Canada has ever seen. Strikers included
both the private and public sectors, and ranged from garment
workers to police officers. On June 21, 1919, the Royal North-
West Mounted Police and hired union busters rode on horseback
and fired into a crowd of thousands of workers, killing two and
injuring countless others.

The infamous "Bloody Saturday" marked the end of the

strike. This was the largest general strike in Canadian history
and set the stage for future labour reforms.

The birth of Unemployment Insurance

During the economic depression of 1929-39, young, unemployed
men had to work in government work camps for paltry wages in
isolated locations.

In pursuit of a living wage, workers in Vancouver abandoned the

camps, launching a strike. After striking for two months with no
relief in sight, they took their case directly to Ottawa, travelling
by rail and on foot. This journey became known as the On to

Ottawa trek.

The trek was stopped by the RCMP on orders from Ottawa and
after rioting and arrests of union leaders, the strike ended.
Mackenzie Kings Liberals won the next election and legislated
against the repressive conservative government, abolishing the
camps.
This epic strike and trip captured the hearts and minds of
Canadians and gave birth to unemployment insurance in 1940.
Canada was the last major Western country to adopt an
unemployment insurance system.

Today we refer to this system as Employment insurance (EI).

Research has shown that EI was the single most important
economic stabilizer in the past 3 recessions. (link to this.)

1945: Windsors Ford strike

In 1945, Fords Windsor complex employed 14,000 auto workers,
making it Canadas largest workplace. Times were tough. War-
time production was slowing down, and many companies,
including Ford, wanted to break some of the gains that had been
made by unions for workers since the depression. Union dues
were still voluntary meaning United Auto Workers Local 200 had
the near impossible task of collecting dues from 14,000 members
each month. The union needed more security if it was going to
survive and protect the gains it had made for its members.

Ford announced it was laying off 1,500 workers. Then

negotiations broke down over union demands that would have
made union membership mandatory, and seen dues automatically
deducted from workers pay and handed to the union, something
Ford had agreed to in another plant. Workers had also demanded
a paid two-week annual vacation.

On September 12, 1945, the union struck. It was a new and

inexperienced union, but the workers had cultivated community
support, and Fords confrontational tactics fostered even more
solidarity.

The union was able to fend off attempts to break the picket lines
with the support of 8,000 members from UAW Local 195,
employed at other Windsor auto companies, who stayed off work
without strike pay for another month. To prevent a violent
confrontation with police, the strikers parked their own cars in
streets all around the plant, forming a blockade that lasted three
days.
Thats when federal cabinet minister Paul Martin Sr., personally
intervened to get bargaining going again, and a tentative
settlement, based on the unions pre-strike offer of binding
arbitration on all union security matters, was defeated by the
locals now-militant members. The workers would only go back to
work after Martin assured the union he would appoint a
sympathetic arbitrator. That got the deal passed. On December
9, after 99 days on the picket line, workers voted to return to
work.

The Rand decision Everyone who

benefits should contribute
Six weeks after the Ford workers were back on the job, arbitrator
Ivan Rand, a Supreme Court judge, brought down his award,
rejecting mandatory union membership, but approving automatic
dues check-off.

is decision ruled that because everyone in a workplace benefits

from the union, everyone should contribute to the union.

Justice Rand believed dues check-off would foster labour peace

and a harmonious labour relations climate in Canada.

As a result of Rand and subsequent court decisions, dues check-

off can be included in the collective agreement at the request of
the union in most provinces and has become known as the Rand
Formula.
That means unions can cover the cost of bargaining, enforcing
collective agreements, and campaigns that advance the interests
of their members.

Pooling resources this way means workers have the support they
need when grievances to arbitration, or when they are forced on
strike or locked out without strike pay.

1956: Founding of the Canadian Labour

Congress
By the 1950s, the time had come for a single, country-wide labour
organization to help unions work together around common goals.
Industrial growth, the rising influence of big business and
expanding government involvement in the social and economic
life of the country demanded a strong, unified voice for working
Canadians. That led to the creation of the CLC in 1956.

1965: Public service workers win

bargaining rights
Because of unions, public service workers in Canada have decent
pay, benefits and pensions. But they had to fight to win those
gains.

Back in 1965 the Canadian Union of Postal Workers wanted the

right to bargain collectively, the right to strike, higher wages and
better management. They defied government policies and staged
an illegal, country-wide strike.

That strike would go down in history as one of the largest

wildcat strikes in Canada. It lasted two weeks and ended with
the government extending collective bargaining rights to the
entire public service, although some workers, such as the RCMP
and the military, were excluded.

Today public service unions like the Public Service Alliance of

Canada, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of
Canada and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees
continue to fend off attempts by governments to roll back wages,
pensions and benefits for federal government workers.

The right to safety at work

In the 1960s exploitation of workers especially immigrants
was still widespread. Many barely earned enough to support their
families, lived in fear of deportation, and were forced to work in
very unsafe working conditions. Many, unable to speak English,
were unaware of any rights they did have.
On March 17, 1960, five Italian immigrant workers, Pasquale
Allegrezza, Giovanni Battista Carriglio, Giovanni Fusillo,
Alessandro and Guido Mantella, climbed 35 feet underground to
continue their work on a tunnel at Hoggs Hollow, under the Don
River near Old York Mills Road and Yonge Street in Toronto.

The tunnel was just six feet in diameter, and the men had to
crawl underneath a 36 inch water main running through it to pass
each other. They hadn't been equipped with hard hats or
flashlights.

When a fire broke out, they were trapped, unable to see their way
out, blocked anyway by smoldering cables on one side and a
cement tunnel support wall on the other. Panicked rescue
workers shut down air to the tunnel, causing a cave-in, and as
compression was lost, the men suffered the torture of nitrogen
bubbling up in their bloodstreams. The floor hadnt been properly
sealed with cement, so when water was finally poured in to fight
the fire, a torrential flood of mud buried the men alive. They died
of carbon monoxide poisoning and suffocation from inhaling
smoke, sand and water.

The tragedy became the catalyst for reforms in occupational

health and safety. Unions led the fight to get the Ontario
government to take workplace health and safety seriously,
leading to the passing of the Industrial Safety Act.

The act was the foundation of the Canada Labour (Safety) Code
that passed later that decade. It clearly set out laws and
regulations for the safety of workers in Canada.

Saskatchewan then took this further passing the Occupational

Health Act, considered the first legislation of its kind in North
America.

The act is still in existence today, making health and safety the
joint responsibility of management and workers. Unions fought
hard to give Canadians three important areas of power: the right
to refuse unsafe work, the right to know about hazards in the
workplace and the right to participate in health and safety
discussions. And unions fight hard every day to keep forcing
employers to fulfill their obligations to keep workers safe.

Maternity & parental benefits

Did you know that paid maternity leave benefits have only been
around since 1971 in Canada? Before that, a new mother had to
quit work or return to work quickly if her family depended on her
income.
And while the federal government, through the unemployment
insurance program, introduced limited 15 weeks of paid
maternity leave in 1971 at 66% of a mother's previous salary, it
was only a short time later when unions began negotiating longer
paid maternity leave with higher levels of benefits for their
members that topped up the portion of salary paid by
unemployment insurance benefits. And unions also began
negotiating guarantees that women could return to the jobs they
held before their maternity leave, paternity leave, and leave for
parents who adopted children.

At the beginning of the 1960s just over 30% of women aged 20 to

30 participated in the Canadian labour force. By the end of the
1970s it had doubled to just over 60%, and in 2012 over 70% of
young women were participating in the labour force. And today,
70% of mothers with children under five years of age are working.

The labour movement pushed for changes to make maternity

leave more accessible, not only in legislation, but also by
bargaining better paid maternity leave for its members. And they
didn't stop at just maternity leave. As early as 1979, Quebec's
Common Front, representing government, education and health
workers, negotiated 20 weeks of fully paid maternity, 10 weeks
leave when parents adopted a child, and five days of paternity
leave! In 1981 after a 42-day strike, the Canadian Union of Postal
Workers won postal workers across Canada 17 weeks of paid
maternity leave. The concept of longer periods of paid maternity
leave than was available through unemployment insurance
benefits soon became mainstream and expanded across the
country.
Unions didn't stop at maternity leave. Adoption leave, paternity
leave, and parental leave available to either parent were
routinely negotiated with employers. Today, we advocate for
better access to quality and affordable child care for all workers
so families can better balance their work and family lives.
Access to childcare and early childhood education provide
economic benefits to the country, and help boost productivity.

Maternity and parental leave has given new parents the

economic stability and valuable time they need to care for their
children and support their growing families. Maternity, parental,
and other family leaves continue to evolve as the family unit
changes with our society.