Trade Unions in Canada 1812-1902 / / Eugene Forsey.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: Forsey, Eugene,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2019]; ©1982
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (616 p.)

We are apt to think of labour unions as a feature of a relatively advanced industrial society. It comes as a surprise to many to learn how long ago in Canadian history they actually appeared. Unions already existed in the predominantly rural British North America of the early nineteenth century. There were towns and cities with construction workers, foundry workers, tailors, shoemakers, and printers; there were employers and employees – and their interests were not the same. From this beginning Dr Forsey traces the evolutions of trade unions in the early years and presents an important archival foundation for the study of Canadian labour. He presents profiles of all unions of the period – craft, industrial, local, regional, national, and international – as well as of the Knights of Labor and the local and national central organizations. He provides a complete account of unions and organizations in every province including their formation and function, time and place of operation, what they did or attempted to do (including their political activity), and their particular philosophies. This volume will be of interest and value to those concerned with labour and union history, and those with a general interest in the history of Canada.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Part One. The Early period of Unionism -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The period of local unionism 1812-59 -- 3. The entry of the international unions 1859-80 -- 4. Local and regional unionism 1860-80 -- 5. Local central organizations before 1880 -- 6. The first national central organization -- 7. The Knights of Labor 1875-1902 -- PART TWO. The international unions 1880-1902 -- 8. The revolutionary, railway, and building trades unions -- 9. The International Typographical Union, the Cigar Makers International Union, and the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees -- 10. The metal and clothing trades unions -- 11. Other international unions and the American Federation of Labor -- PART THREE. Local, regional, and national unions, 1880-1902 -- 12. Local unions in the Maritimes and Quebec 1881-i 902 -- 13. Local unions in Ontario and the West 1881-1902 -- 14. Regional and national unions 1881-1902 -- PART FOUR. Central organizations 1880^1902 -- 15. Local central organizations 1881-1902 -- 16. The conventions of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada 1883-1902 -- 17. The institutional development of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada 1883-1902 -- APPENDIX. Number of international locals in Canada 1880-1902 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index