3-09-1894 Labour Day is observed for the first time as a statutory public holiday, under a law introduced that year by the Conservative prime minister Sir John Thompson. [more]

8-09-1886 The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Saskatchewan Division No. 322, is formed in Medicine Hat. It is the first union chartered in what later becomes Alberta. [more]

11-09-1916 A second disaster strikes the huge cantilever bridge under construction at Quebec City. Another 13 lives are lost in addition to the 75 deaths in the first collapse in 1907. The bridge, completed in 1917, is still standing today. [more]

12-09-1945 In Windsor, Ontario, the United Auto Workers launch a strike against the Ford Motor Company that lasts for 99 days and leads to the Rand Formula for union security. [more]

15-09-1933 A general strike begins in the factories in Stratford, Ontario and spreads across the city. Troops and armoured cars are called out. [more]

16-09-1912 Vancouver Island coal miners begin what becomes a two-year strike for workplace safety and union recognition. To defeat the miners' union, the companies bring in strikebreakers and the province calls out the militia. [more]

16-09-1913 The New Brunswick Federation of Labour is organized at Saint John, New Brunswick. Today it is the provincial federation in Canada with the second longest continuous history. [more]

23-09-1873 The Canadian Labour Union is founded in Toronto. This first attempt to organize a Canadian labour central finds limited support, mainly from skilled workers in Ontario. [more]

24-09-1963 The Canadian Union of Public Employees, now Canada's largest union, is founded in Winnipeg through a merger of two earlier organizations and soon becomes a major force in the union movement. [more]

25-09-1995 Unions supporting the Liverpool Dockers Solidarity Campaign participate in national actions using the internet. This is believed to be the first time the net was used to organize an international labour solidarity action. [more]

26-09-1888 Canada's first independent labour Member of Parliament is returned in a by-election in Montreal East. A printer by trade, Alphonse-Télésphore Lépine is a leading figure in the Montreal Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labour. [more]

29-09-1931 A strike by coal miners from Bienfait, Saskatchewan comes comes to a head with the fatal shooting by police of three strikers during a protest on the main street in Estevan. [more]