8. Rules of the Workplace
(Cigar Factory)
•10 hrs make up a day's work
•No one is allowed to stop
work during working hours
•All employees to be search
before leaving the factory
•Loud or profane talking
strictly prohibited.
•All employees wasting or
dropping tobacco on the
floor will be fined for each
offence.
•Hair combing not allowed in
the factory
9. The Lead Up
3. Influenza (Flu) Epidemic
-Passed along CPR lines
-Hit Winnipeg hard (1918/19)
10. The Lead Up
4. Communist Influences
-Russian Revolution (1919)
-”Worker’s Unite!”
-No private ownership
-High Russian Population
12. Power In Numbers
O.B.U. “One Big Union” (1919)
-Represents all Canadian workers
-Main Weapon: GENERAL STRIKE!!
Strike Committee 1919
13. Power In Numbers
Collective Bargaining
-1 bargains on behalf of
the whole
e.g. Union leaders negotiate with
a company for better wages/
conditions for workers(union
members.
14. How It All Went Down
1. Metal Workers Walk Out (May 1919)
Demands:
-higher wages (85 cents/hour)
-shorter work week (60 hrs/wk -> 44)
-Right to collective bargaining
15. How It All Went Down
2. GENERAL STRIKE!
-30,000 Support Strike
-Strike Committee
-Winnipeg ground to a halt!
16. How It All Went Down
3. Citizen’s Committee of 1,000
-Business leaders,
politicians,factory owners
-Create Special Police Force
-Arrest strike leaders
-Fire civic workers
-“Sedition”
-threatening the state
22. Results
2. Some strikers were rehired, but
forced to sign a contract:
Forbidding union involvement
23. Results
3. 7 arrested leaders served
prison time
J.S. Woodsworth:
-formed the Cooperative Commonwealth
Federation (CCF) NDP
24. Summary
1. Winnipeg in a fragile state,
unhappy masses
2. Workers STRIKE to protest unrest
3. City grinds to a halt
4. Citizen’s Committee of 1000
opposes
5. Bloody Saturday – violence
erupts
6. Workers return back to work