Winnipeg General Strike Background to the Winnipeg General Strike At end of World War I, the situation for working people was difficult the cost of living.

Winnipeg General Strike

Background to the Winnipeg General Strike

• At end of World War I, the situation for working people was difficult

• the cost of living had risen by over 50% from 1913

• wages had only risen by an average of 18%

• Therefore, it was harder for those Canadians who did have jobs to support their families.

Also…• Drop in demand for

goods; factories lay off workers

• Soldiers returning have no work waiting for them, AND

• They are pretty sure that big business has been making lots of money from the war that they’ve risked their lives in…

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Anger

Enter…

• Labour Movement– Which means

organizers who are trying to get a fairer deal for workers

– They form One Big Union (OBU)

Now, remember…

• Back in Russia, in 1917, the Bolsheviks had revolted against the Czar (like a Russian king) and killed him and taken over the country’s government – a “people’s” government

• For Canadian businessmen and government, this…

Tsar Nicholas II

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Yikes!!!

They really thought

• That the union leaders might want a similar revolution, overthrowing the government and big business:

• a “Communist” revolution.

All in all…

• There was an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion

What did the workers really want?

• The Metal Trades workers, in Winnipeg, wanted:• a raise of 85 cents an hour• a decrease in their work week from 60 to 44 hours• the acceptance of the collective bargaining

process by their employers – that the union would be able to negotiate a contract on behalf of all of the workers, instead of each worker bargaining for themselves

And they wanted it badly enough• That they would go on STRIKE for it.

• Approximately 30 000 people walked off the job on 15 May 1919• Strike spread from industry to industry and Winnipeg shut down (mail, streetcars, newspapers, garbage collection, phones, milk delivery, etc.)• Central Strike Committee organizes strike• Citizen’s Committee of 1 000 opposes strike as a communist conspiracy• Sympathy strikes started across the country

Which resulted in riots and death.•“Bloody Saturday”, June 26, broke the strike, 6 weeks after it started

Impact of the Strike

• In short run – disaster for workers (leaders jailed, workers “blacklisted” from work)

• Union organizers were discredited (called Communist) – union movement took awhile to recover

• BUT, on the other hand• Union workers had learned to become

political and work within government