As Friend and Foe, a National Film Board short film from 1980, is a brief look at the Canadian federal government’s relationship to workers: “as friend and foe” in shaping the architecture of Canada’s labour relations from 1900 to 1980. The film ends by observing that after 1975, the federal and provincial governments have ordered Continue readingWeekend Video: As Friend and Foe
Labour history
by Doug Nesbitt But the hardest thing I’ll ask you, if you will only try Is take your children by their hands and look into their eyes And there you’ll see the answer you should have seen before If you’ll win the wars at home, there’ll be no fighting anymore – final verse of Phil Continue readingIf we win the wars at home…
Stage production explores the struggles of the Canadian Seamen’s Union 30 years ago, Jim Green, former Vancouver city councillor, longshoreman, steel cutter, shop steward, taxi driver, academic, community organizer, and university lecturer, wrote Against the Tide: The Story of the Canadian Seamen’s Union. It’s the story of a cross-Canada union that fought some hard battles Continue readingCharles Demers talks commies, mobsters and seamen
By Daniel Tseghay British Columbia isn’t known for its black population. Only about a single per cent of the greater Vancouver area is populated by black people. Those who’ve been here have been displaced, like the members of Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley. But black people have been here. And the black experience has also been a Continue readingA glimpse of black workers’ history in Vancouver
By Brad Walchuk A recent strike at Covered Bridge Potato Chips in Hartland, New Brunswick has garnered considerable attention in the popular labour media, and, to a lesser degree, even in the mainstream media. The strike is noteworthy for a number of reasons and provides a compelling look into contemporary labour relations, especially for the Continue readingStrike Wave: The Need for Mandatory First Contract Arbitration in Canada
One-hundred years ago this week, the state of Utah executed Joe Hill, silencing the union organizer and songwriter who gave us “There is Power in a Union” and “Casey Jones — the Union Scab.” Born Joel Hägglund in 1879 to Swedish parents, Hill became a staple on picket lines and at worker rallies, belting out songs collected in the Industrial Continue readingDon’t Mourn, Organize! Remembering Joe Hill
The Graphic History Collective Unionizes By Daniel Tseghay, RankandFile.ca Writer/Organizer On September 2nd, the Graphic History Collective (GHC), a volunteer-run collective producing comic books on Canada’s labour and working class history, announced that it has joined the Canadian Freelance Union (CFU). The CFU is a Community Chapter of Unifor. This type of organization gives its members some Continue readingIllustrating the Freelancer’s Organizing Model
by Tara Ehrcke Just one year ago, BC teachers returned to class from what was the longest teacher strike in Canadian history. Teachers, upset with over a decade of deteriorating funding and particularly with large and complex classrooms, were unwilling to accept a contract offer which simply maintained the status quo. In one of the Continue readingThe rise and fall (?) of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation
By Dan Darrah Facing his death on the gallows in 1887, August Spies shouted, “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.” Spies was a labour activist and newspaper editor in Chicago. He, along with seven other Chicago anarchists, were found guilty of a conspiracy to Continue readingThis Labour Day, let’s remember five forgotten stories of struggle
In the United States and Canada, the first Monday of September is a federal holiday, Labour Day. Originally celebrated in New York City’s Union Square in 1882, Labor Day was organized by unions as a rare day of rest for the overworked during the Industrial Revolution. In Canada printers in 1872 fought for the Nine Hour Day Continue readingWeekend Video: The origins of Labour Day
By Gerard Di Trolio Noted sociology professor and long time labour movement activist Stanley Aronowitz has written a critical and accessible analysis of the labour movement in the United States. In The Death and Life of American Labor: Towards a New Workers’ Movement, Aronowitz surveys the decline and mistakes of the labour movement in the Continue readingBook Review: The Death and Life of American Labor
A documentary film from the late 1970s documenting work shortages during the Depression of the 1930s and the attempts to deal with the unemployed. The film discusses the establishment of relief camps and projects, where men were paid twenty cents per day. It covers the founding of organizations such as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), Continue readingWeekend Video: For Twenty Cents a Day