Written By John Bradley
Nearly 30% of Canadian workers belong to unions, including nurses, teachers, journalists and professional athletes, as well as the more traditionally unionized occupations like retail store clerks, manufacturing workers, miners, electricians and other construction trades workers. All in all, about four million Canadian workers belong to a union.
Unions in Canada are regulated by federal and provincial legislation. They are required by law to be democratic and financially accountable to their members. All unions have constitutions that must be registered with government labour boards. There are well over a hundred different unions in Canada.
Unions contend that historians attribute unions to the rise of Canada’s middle class and the general prosperity of the country. By helping more workers make decent wages with more job security, unions are largely responsible for stabilizing the economy and stimulating its growth.
Unions in North America started nearly two hundred years ago as “mutual aid societies.” They are still like that today. Everyone who belongs contributes a small portion of their income in return for the protection of the group as a whole. That’s what union dues are. Every union member contributes to a common fund of money that is used to protect the interests of all.
Unions stand up for their members - the people who pay all the bills. Yes, unions can cooperate with governments and employers, but where their members’ interests are at stake, unions side with their members.
The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was the largest strike in Canadian history. Between 15 May and 25 June 1919, more than 30,000 workers left their jobs. … The strike resulted in arrests, injuries and the deaths of two protestors. It did not immediately succeed in empowering workers and improving job conditions.
Strike action, also called labour strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage, caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines. In most countries, strike actions were quickly made illegal, as factory owners had far more power than workers. Most Western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th- or early 20th-centuries.
Occasionally, strikes destabilize the rule of a particular political party or ruler; in such cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance. Notable examples are the 1980 Gdansk Shipyard, and the 1981 Warning Strike, led by Lech Walesa.
