winnipeg general strike 1919. economic causes inflation – prices high but wages low cost of living...
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Economic Causes• Inflation – prices high but
wages low• Cost of living up 75-80% from
1914-1919 but wages up only 18%
• Cost for a family of 5 = $136 per month or $1632 per year
• Building worker earns $915 per year
• Veterans from the war wanted $2000 benefits
• Factories changed to peacetime production and so there was unemployment
• Women lost their jobs due to returning men
Union Spread
• One Big Union• Formed in Calgary and
spread• Wanted all workers
together in one union• Collective bargaining• Wanted improved hours
and working conditions• Call for a general strike
Immediate Causes
• Machinists in Winnipeg were on strike
• Wanted collective bargaining under the metal trades council
• Employers refused to negotiate with a joint union
• Trades and Labour Council of Winnipeg called a GENERAL STRIKE
Events
• Massive walkout• 30,000 off work• Paralysis of Winnipeg• Anti-strike citizens called
strikers communists• Special “citizen patrols”• Federal gov’t threatened
to fire striking officials
Violent Response
• Bloody Saturday• Royal North west
Mounted Police and army move in
• Strike leaders arrested• Strikers smashed a
streetcar run by ‘blackleg’ workers
• Mounties charged• 2 strikers killed, dozens
injured
Immediate Results
• Strike collapsed due to resistance from army
• Leaders jailed for “plotting to overthrow the government”
• Government created a Royal Commission to investigate
Royal Commission Results
• Causes are:• Unemployment• Cost of living & wages• Long work week• Denial of right to form
unions• Denial of collective
bargaining
Commission Recommendations
• Minimum wage for women & unskilled labour
• Maximum 8 hour work day and weekly rest of not less than 24 hours
• Right to organize & form unions
• Payment of a living wage• Right to collective
bargaining
Final Results
• 20 years before collective bargaining was actually implemented
• No pay increase• Leaders jailed up to 2
years• 1920 4 strike leaders won
seats in MB provincial elections (William Ivens)
• 1921 minimum wage for women in MB = $0.25
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