November Labour History

This month in labour history

1-11-1956 At Springhill, Nova Scotia 39 men are killed and 88 are rescued after an explosion and fire in one of Canada’s deepest coal mines. [more]

3-11-1908 The Fishermen’s Protective Union is formed in Herring Neck, Newfoundland and Labrador. The union attracts strong support and achieves significant political influence. [more]

6-11-1945 Striking Ford workers and supporters use hundreds of motor vehicles to blockade the company plant in Windsor, Ontario. The strike leads to an arbitrated settlement and the protection of union security through the Rand Formula. [more]

10-11-1983 In British Columbia three months of protests against attacks on union rights and social services reach a critical turning point as teachers prepare to join the massive mobilization led by Operation Solidarity and the Solidarity Coalition [more]

10-11-1975 An iron ore carrier sinks in a storm on Lake Superior, with the loss of all 29 hands. Although the freighter and crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald are American, the Canadian songwriter Gordon Lightfoot a year later memorializes the disaster. [more]

16-11-1925 Three thousand workers at shoe factories in Quebec City go on strike when the employers announce reduced rates of pay. When the workers agree to submit the dispute to arbitration, they win a favourable result, but employers refuse to accept the decision. [more]

18-11-1929 At Onion Lake, in Northern Ontario, two Finnish-Canadian lumber camp union organizers are seen for the last time. When the bodies of Viljo Rosvall and Janne Voutilainen are found under the ice in the spring, they are buried as martyrs to the labour cause. [more]

19-11-1997 Forty-five thousand postal workers, members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, walk off the job across the country over issues of job security, wages and changes to lettercarrier routes. [more]

23-11-1921 A Maternity Protection Act, introduced by a labour member, is enacted in British Columbia. It allows women to apply for six weeks' unpaid leave before giving birth and prohibits the employment of mothers for six weeks after. [more]