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
Labour history
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
By Daniel Tseghay Despite the mayor’s ban on street meetings in January of 1912, thousands of unemployed Vancouverites gathered to hear Richard Parmeter Pettipiece of the Socialist Party of Canada speak at the Powell Street Grounds. When the police ordered their dispersal, the crowd remained on the Powell Street Grounds, later renamed Oppenheimer Park, after Continue readingBook review: Vancouver Working Class & Labour History Walking Tours
Unpaid work | PIPSC convention | Canadian Hockey League | Ontario colleges | Campbellton, NB lockout | BC public sector bargaining | Saskatchewan privatization | Temporary Foreign Workers Program | Federal sick leave | Marikana massacre | San Francisco minimum wage Encouraging youth to engage in unpaid work is a recipe for exploitation Jerry Dias, Continue readingRankandfile.ca Labour News Update: November 10, 2014
The Graphic History Collective has published a new comic about the Ontario Days of Action: the major protests and strikes against the right-wing Harris government in the 1990s and a major turning point for labour and social justice movements in Ontario. The new comic is another great addition to the Graphic History Collective’s growing list Continue readingThe Ontario Days of Action: A Graphic History
by Christo Aivalis Earlier this month, the benefits of the Good Jobs Summit were overshadowed by a return of tripartism as a strategy for Canadian unions and workers. In simple terms, tripartism is a system in which labour, business, and the state cooperate to address issues affecting the economy, including investment, wages, pensions, labour laws, Continue readingTripartism: A Dangerous Mix
Although May 1 is the workers holiday declared by workers themselves, Labour Day is the government-sanctioned holiday for workers. In this week’s video, RankandFile.ca presents “As Friend and Foe”, a National Film Board short film from 1980. It is a brief look at the Canadian federal government’s relationship to workers: “as friend and foe” in Continue readingWeekend Video: As Friend and Foe
Dave Bush speaks with Kyle Buott, President of the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council, about trade unionism and worker activism. Kyle addresses the political importance of local labour councils in regional labour movement struggles and building solidarity between workplace issues and social movements. [audio:https://www.rankandfile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/kyle_buott_final.mp3|titles=Kyle Buott, Halifax-Dartmouth District Labour Council]
by Doug Nesbitt On June 14 1872, the Trade Union Act, introduced by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, became law. Unions were now legal in Canada. How did this happen and what did it take for unions to achieve legal recognition? Was it enlightened and benevolent politicians looking out for the masses? Backroom deals between Continue readingThe Nine-Hour Movement: How civil disobedience made unions legal