Winnipeg General Strike
- In March, 1919; Calgary western labour leaders met to discuss the creation of one big union. In Winnipeg; management and labour broke down on the negotiations for the building and metal trades, so the trades and labour council called a general strike.
- They were fighting for better wages, and working conditions and the principle of collective bargaining.
- About 30 000 had left their jobs and the unanimous support closed the city’s factories, retail, and stopped trains.
- Public sector employees also joined the strike.
- It was organized by the Central Strike Committee with delegates elected from each union affiliated with WTLC.
- The committee bargained with employers.
- The opposition to the strike was formed by influential manufacturers, politicians and bankers, (about 1000 people), they thought that the strike was initiated by European workers and Bolsheviks.
- The Federal Government intervened and sided with the employers and ordered employees to go back to work. They arrested leaders of the Central strike Committee.
Ebb & Flow of Liberal Economic
At this time the government refused to give in to the workers demands and threatened to fire those who would not return to work. They also revised the immigrant act, making it possible to deport British born immigrants. The refusal of unionization and giving in to worker demands represents a shift right on Canada's economic spectrum. Siding with employers rights to run their companies how they choose, rather than protecting the workers by granting them unions.