A Brief History
On June 21, 1919, the reactionary establishment of the city of Winnipeg, the province of Manitoba, and the federal government of Canada overreacted to a peaceful labor strike and attacked striking workers (largely war veterans) with the Royal Northwest Mounted Police.
Digging Deeper
While World War I raged, many Canadian young men left their families and jobs and went to fight in the war. Upon their return, they found businesses had profited immensely from the war, and a flood of immigrants had taken their jobs. Compounding the problem was the “Spanish” Influenza epidemic that made huge portions of the population sick.
In an effort to organize workers into a labor union to include all sorts of trades, the One Big Union was formed with a labor committee of 8 men. A general strike was declared in Winnipeg, resulting in a huge percentage of workers walking off the job, even police and firemen. (Firemen soon returned to work with the blessing of the labor committee.) The police were given an ultimatum to return to work and sign a pledge not to join any union. Most of them stayed off work and were promptly fired, being replaced with untrained “constables.”
When about 25,000 of the striking workers peacefully demonstrated, the Mounties were sent in to attack in a cavalry charge, killing 2 workers and injuring many others. Mass arrests were made, including some eastern European men accused of being Bolsheviks. It seems the business and government people were afraid the union and strikers were revolutionaries in the model of the Russian Bolsheviks(communists) and presented a threat to the status quo if not the stability of the country.
These fears of revolution were unfounded, but that did not stop the rich and powerful from calling the protesters names such as “Bohunks” and “alien scum,” which was done in an effort to sway the other citizens against the labor force. The 8 labor leaders were arrested, with 5 of them being convicted and jailed from 6 months to 2 years. One was deported, and another had his deportation cancelled on appeal. Even the publishers of the strikers newspaper were arrested for reporting on the events!
After the state initiated violence and arrests, the strikers (some of them) got a slightly reduced work week with no pay raise and lost pension benefits. Workers taken back on the job were started over at bottom salary and seniority. Obviously the violence and unsatisfactory outcome deepened the division between owner/management and workers. With a fourth of the workforce being women, the local female population was fiercely on opposite sides as well, with strikers on one side and “scabs” willing to take their jobs on the other side.
Somehow Canada and Winnipeg survived and workers rights are no longer cause for alarm. In almost all countries where a labor movement has taken place workers have had a hard struggle to get protection under the law. Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think about unions? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Klyne, C.M. The Silent March. FriesenPress, 2013.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2656 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2656">52 Comments
I never knew about this after WWI. It’s definitely interesting to see how society has changed after the war ended.
Unions could be used as a good or bad depending on what the union stands for. I believe that unions are everywhere. Any group of people could be considered a union right?
Its interesting to see how things have changed over the years. good read
Canadian people are supposed to be the nicest on the planet!
Wow. I didn’t know Canadians wanted to get involved in the war.
I’ve never been involved in a union so even though I know about them, the most knowledge I possess is about professional sports’ players unions (which probably is very limited knowledge compared to other unions).
I think unions can be good and bad. When they are effective they are great, but when they aren’t they can sometimes make issues of negotiation more complicated. For the most part I think they are built on the positive idea of representation for large groups of employees. Just like any representative body, effectiveness comes from involvement in the organization.
I worked in a union factory at one time. It seemed to me that it didn’t function very well. They only seemed to care about were job descriptions. Making sure each individual was not doing one thing more than what was in the books about that job.
I am not in a union job so I do not much about what the Unions do for their workers but from what I have learned, they seem to be very important.
The only people who seem to speak poorly of Unions are people who lean a little right. The only experience I’ve had with Unions is watching coverage of the teacher’s strike that happened a couple years but from readings I believe Unions to be an important thing in they’re limits.
just like just about anything in society, a union is only as good as the people who run it
Amen
I’m in a union at Giant Eagle, and I love it! They have some super nice benefits and protection. I don’t mind paying about $15 a month towards it. When I’m done at Kent Stark and become a teacher, I hope to become a part of the teacher’s union, too.
I have never been a part of a union… but the knowledge I have from family members who are or have been… makes me think highly of them. — DAVID WARDLE
…um, go Canada!
On unions: unions are terrific…for union members. For any other group, a union tends to skew the market, generally by increasing the labor costs associated with the products or services involved (higher prices); this, like a minimum wage hike affecting the least skilled workers disproportionately compared to the population in general, will affect the poor disproportionately compared to the population in general. There is also the problem of entry barrier; closing certain industries to open labor (that which is not unionized) favors established firms and decreases total overall competition (which can be argued to also contribute to higher prices).
In the US, where unions only comprise about 11% of the total labor force (notably, only 6.7% of the private sector [where the price mechanism still has an effect {labor is affected by prices the same as any other service}] is unionized, compared to a little over 1/3 of the public sector [for which market price mechanism hold little, if any, sway]), it’s difficult to make the case that unions are a net good (or bad) for any group outside of the union’s members.
As Heather H. previously mentioned, “…a union is only as good as the people who run it.” This could be said for just about any group (especially programs enacted by politicians); the problems with enshrining into law entities such as unions (such as the situations that exist in non-right to work states) are manifold; not all leadership is benevolent, and not all members of a forced association are going to have similar beliefs and opinions.
Forced association is especially important when considering the problem of donations; political beliefs and philosophy among members of a union will vary (to at least some degree), but donations to political campaigns are almost completely one-sided (in the US, anyway).
For union representation, there exists recourse, though the rules for such are convoluted (and can be argued to have been written in such a way as to ensure perpetual representation); a union may urge for or hold elections among workers to discover if 50%+1 of the labor force in a particular organization wish to become unionized. If 50%+1 of the labor force within an organization wish to reject current unionization in its entirety (such as if the force has changed, or if union leadership is deemed subpar, or whatever the reason), the same could be accomplished through decertification; this can only be done if a year is between the original election and attempted decertification, or, if after a contract (usually 3 year) is signed, within a small window (usually 30 days) at a set time before the contract becomes up for renegotiation.
I personally have no love or use for unions (and especially detest public sector unions), and, given the history of unions in the US and attempted revisionist histories that attribute to unions things for which unions were not responsible, such as the 40 hour work week [thanks, Henry Ford!], as well as the financial impact they make in some industries (think automobiles and die-making) that disproportionately affect the poor, I do not hold them in high regard.
Unions can be a grest thing but they can also turn nasty when the head of certain unions become greedy.
the amount of workers coming home from war vs the available jobs caused this strike to fail
I had no idea Canadians wanted to be in a war ! You hardly ever hear anything about them .
This has to be more people that are killed than a typical year in Canada
I personally have never been a part of a union. However from family members I know who have it seems like the trades that have both union and non union workers it is more beneficial to be in the union.
Many people who commented on this laughed at the fact that Canada wanted to be involved in the war. I think that speaks volumes about a nation when people laugh at the thought of them wanting ot fight.
It’s scary. This is similar to how the revolution in Russia started that ended up with them becoming the Soviet Union. Imagine if Canada played a bigger part in the war and the strikes were larger. Imagine if Canada became Communist! The US would not have been so friendly to our Northern neighbors then surely.
I have never been part of a union, however they can allow individuals within a group to have a larger voice, have their rights protecting, and not be taken advantage of by a more powerful entity. I don’t know the logistics or laws behind unions but that’s what I believe them to be….although I’m sure they aren’t as great as I believe them to be.
Also, I can’t believe Canada wanted to be in a way!
It is really sad to think that the government would not consider that soldiers coming home from WWI would be without jobs. I have to agree with Craig since the United States would have been in bigger trouble had Canada become communist. It is also interesting to see that Canada even played a part in WWI.
I can’t imagine being a soldier fighting at war and coming home to no jobs. The soldiers created the union because they wanted to be treated fairly in there work environment. It was the government who made it into a violent act by killing and injuring many. I understand that the government would be nervous because of the war but that is no reason to treat people, especially those who fought in the war.
The workersd couldnt come to an agreement. Its part of being in a union. There was no need to attack the workers. They’re probably never coming back now.
Yet another perfect example of why the law abiding citizens of the United States need to gracefully protect our 1st and 2nd amendments.
Wait you mean at some point in time this happened in Canada? It seems like even in The United States people are either pro or against unions.
Unions are some times good depending on the circumstances. But no need to punish someone that has no control over it.
I think that Unions can be good but sometimes they can protect people that don’t deserve protection. But it was also very messed up tha† they fought their war and then they came home to no jobs….
I find it pretty messed up that these people came home from fighting in a war only to find out that there jobs had been taken. I don’t think it was necessary to use violence against them for protesting peacefully.
I think unions had their place in the days of sweatshops when companies took significant advantage of workers. In the US today, however, laws prevent employers from having g unfair and unsafe working conditions. Unions now can cause us to be uncompetitive and lose business to other countries. They have their own political system and staff that seems inefficient and unnecessary.
If you have ever served in a war for your country, you deserve to have a job waiting for you when you get back, whether you left one or not.
war veterans, deserve a job when they come home. not fair this is so hard for them.
Vets. should be put on a petastoll they just risked theyre lives for your freedom
I believe Every single veteran should have a job waiting for them when they return home. That’s just a small thing to give back to someone who risked their life for us.
Displacement of veterans is a very serious problem and them not having a job to come home to is rough to comprehend
I do not believe that unions are as needed as they were even 50 years ago as far as the U.S. is concerned, but they still have their place. Also I believe that vets deserve many benefits and employment is one of them.
Unions are necessary because with no consequence heartless and/or careless people who run or own businesses will do what they want at worker expense
Can you imagine how pissed you would be coming back home and seeing businesses profiting off the war that was hell and killed so many and on top of that you now have no job no wonder they rebelled.
Unions back in the day were not treated as well as they are today. I mean they had the Mounties charge them for heaven sakes
Hmmm…, Idk if i would kill still and destroy or go on riot instead of strike. I wouldve been pissed but they handled it better than i would have.
I always thought strikes were bad!
No wonder we have unions! So things like this don’t continue to happen!
I think unions are a good ides because they protect so many people from being fired for minor reasons and help with getting the members benefits and retirement.
I think it should be mandatory veterans get their jobs back after they return home from war.
I agree with matt that only seems right!!
I agree with Matthew and Drew as well. If a veteran returns home and don’t have their same job thats just cruel. Why would they take that away from them. When they’re doing us a favor.
I think it’s just wrong not to give jobs to veterans who risked their lives and fought for your country. That’s just not how a country should repay them.
People are supposed to be able to strike when they need to. They make change happen themselves.
That would be hard to go to War and come expecting to have your job back and find that it was given to someone else.
That’s very unfair to lose your job because you went to fight for ALL of our freedom….