Timeline of labour issues and events in Canada

This is a timeline of labour issues and events in Canada.

1880s

• 1883 - The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC), a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions, is formed.

1910s

The Winnipeg General Strike in 1919

• 1912-1914 - Great Coal Strike on Vancouver Island, aka Vancouver Island War^[1] - Joseph Mairs martyred - memorial cairn in Ladysmith, BC
• 1917 - Creation of the Canadian Labour Party
• 1918 - The shooting death of Albert "Ginger" Goodwin sparks the Vancouver General Strike, the first general strike in Canadian history.
• 1919 - Western Labour Conference in Calgary leads to creation of One Big Union
• 1919 - Winnipeg General Strike

1920s

• 1924 - An informal coalition of progressive MPs forms the Ginger Group in the House of Commons to fight for labour and social issues.
• 1925 - One coal miner was killed and many injured during a protest as a result of a major strike at the British Empire Steel and Coal Company (BESCO) in New Waterford, Nova Scotia. Davis Day was established in the memory of Bill Davis, the miner who was murdered by company police. The labour dispute resulted in the deployment of 2,000 soldiers during the largest peacetime deployment of the Canadian Army for an internal conflict since the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.
• 1929 - Murder of Rosvall and Voutilainen

1930s

• 1931 - Estevan Riot
• 1932 - Creation of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
• 1935 - On-to-Ottawa Trek
• 1935 - Battle of Ballantyne Pier
• 1938 - Bloody Sunday

1940s

Female shop stewards at the Burrard Drydock, North Vancouver, British Columbia. The company hired more than 1000 women during World War II, all of whom were dismissed after the war to free up jobs for the men returning from armed service.

• 1949 - Asbestos Strike
• 1949 - Controversial American labour unionist Hal C. Banks comes to Canada to assist in a labour dispute between rival shipping unions.^[2]

1950s

• 1952 - First Peace Arch concert by Paul Robeson
• 1956 - Creation of the Canadian Labour Congress
• 1956 - The Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers hold a national convention in Sudbury, Ontario, at which singer and activist Paul Robeson gives his first concert outside the United States since being placed under a travel ban by the United States government in 1950.

1960s

• 1961 - The CCF becomes the New Democratic Party
• September 10, 1961 - A Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers meeting at the Sudbury Arena, regarding the union's controversial proposal to merge with the United Steelworkers, erupts into a riot.^[3]
• 1963 - Reesor Siding Strike
• 1967 - The international Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers merge with the United Steelworkers. Local 598 in Sudbury, Ontario is the only Mine Mill local in the world to reject the merger, instead continuing operations as an unaffiliated union organization until 1993.
• 1969 - Murray-Hill riot

1970s

• 1975 - Grace Hartman is elected head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, becoming the first woman to lead a major labour union in North America.
• September 15, 1978 - The Inco Strike of 1978 begins in Sudbury, Ontario. Workers are out on strike for almost nine months, until June 7, 1979.

1980s

• 1985 - The Canadian Auto Workers become independent of their former parent union, the United Auto Workers. This process is later documented in the film Final Offer.
• 1986 - Six-month-long strike at the Gainers meatpacking plant in Edmonton

1990s

• 1992 - A bomb at the Giant Mine in the Northwest Territories kills nine replacement workers. Striking mine employee Roger Warren is eventually convicted on nine counts of second-degree murder.
• 1993 - Local 598 in Sudbury, Ontario, which was the only Mine Mill local in the world not to join the United Steelworkers when the two unions merged in 1967, joins the Canadian Auto Workers.
• 1998 - Teenagers Jennifer Wiebe and Tessa Lowinger successfully unionize a McDonald's franchise in Squamish, British Columbia. However, the union is decertified in July 1999.

2000s

• November 22, 2000 - A McDonald's restaurant in Montreal is unionized. The location is closed down on August 31, 2001, with the owner claiming economic pressures due to a rent hike. This is later documented in the film Maxime, McDuff & McDo.
• 2004 - CN Rail workers strike
• 2005 - Wal-Mart closes its Saguenay, Quebec store which became the first store of its brand in Canada being unionzied.
• May 29, 2006 - Toronto Transit Commission workers stage a one-day wildcat strike.
• April 26, 2008 - 2008 Toronto Transit Commission strike
• September 19, 2008 - A fire destroys the historic Sudbury Steelworkers Hall in Sudbury, Ontario.
• December 10, 2008 - OC Transpo drivers and mechanics strike
• June 22, 2009 - 2009 City of Toronto inside and outside workers strike
• July 13, 2009 - Workers at Vale's operations in Sudbury embark on a yearlong strike over contract concessions.^[4]
• July 5, 2010 - A tentative resolution of the Vale strike in Sudbury is announced.^[4]
• September 11, 2012 - Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal party pass Bill 115 'Putting Students First Act 2012', thereby eliminating the rights of all teachers in Ontario to go on strike for the next two years. Bill 115 also freezes wages, grants ten sick days per year (down from twenty) and eliminates banked sick days from previous years. Unions state that this bill is a violation of their members' rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that the bill violates the Ontario Labour Relations Act of 1995.

References

1. "Vancouver Island War", Knowledge Network preview/summary video (3 minutes)
2. Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks - NFB - Collection
3. "Fighting the good fight: Homer Seguin tells his story", Northern Life, October 15, 2008. northernlife.ca
4. "Vale reaches deal with workers at Sudbury nickel mine". The Gazette, July 5, 2010.

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