A thriving economy shouldn’t cost us our human rights

This month in labour history

6-12-1917 Wartime miscalculations and naval mismanagement cause unprecedented devastation for working-class neighborhoods in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When two ships collide in the harbour, one of them loaded with tons of explosives, almost 2,000 people are killed. [more]

6-12-1921 J. S. Woodsworth, a Methodist minister arrested during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, is elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre. Re-elected five times, he is a founder, in 1932, of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. [more]

7-12-1970 The Royal Commission on the Status of Women releases its report. Many of the 167 recommendations relate to the status of women in the workplace, including pay equity and access to childcare, education and training. [more]

8-12-2023 A seven-day general strike begins in Québec, led by a common front among union federations and involving more than 500,000 workers. With broad public support, the mobilization wins strong wage increases and other gains. [more]

9-12-1910 Methane gas explodes in the Bellevue, Alberta coal mine in the Crowsnest Pass. The union had warned against gas accumulations more than once that year. There are seventeen survivors and thirty-one casualties, including one rescuer. [more]

11-12-1984 The United Auto Workers Canadian Council decides to separate from the international union and form UAW-Canada, later the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). [more]

11-12-1995 Workers in London, Ontario mount the first of a series of Days of Action held across the province in response to attacks on labour and social programs initiated by the Progressive Conservative government. [more]

14-12-1965 A small group of women workers at Tilco Plastics in Peterborough, Ontario, go on strike for a union contract, only to face strikebreakers and court injunctions against picketing. The strike is lost but leads to the abolition of ex parte injunctions. [more]

19-12-1945 The historic 99-day strike at Ford in Windsor, Ontario ends with an agreement to have Supreme Court Justice Ivan C. Rand arbitrate a new collective agreement. His decision leads to adoption of the Rand Formula for union security. [more]

20-12-2001 In a union appeal against an Ontario law, the Supreme Court of Canada rules that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right of agricultural workers to trade unionism and collective bargaining. [more]

27-12-1913 Protests by members of the Industrial Workers of the World in Edmonton, Alberta, force the city to provide emergency work and housing for 400 unemployed. [more]

29-12-1958 Television screens on the French-language network go blank in Québec with the start of a strike by producers at Radio-Canada that lasts 70 days. With wide public support in the province, the producers win union recognition. [more]

29-12-1876 Grand Trunk Railway workers in eastern Ontario go on strike in support of fired co-workers. The four-day strike is broken by the use of scabs and militia. [more]

31-12-1958 In Newfoundland, members of the International Woodworkers of America go on strike against the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company. When Premier Joe Smallwood decertifies the union, the struggle draws international attention. [more]

31-12-2011 In Alma, Quebec, Rio Tinto Alcan locks out members of Local 9490, United Steelworkers, in an attempt to replace all retiring workers with non-union contract employees. This is followed by a successful six-month global solidarity campaign. [more]