STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS IN CANADA DURING JANUARY, 1926 THE The record of the Department includes lockouts as well as strikes, but a lockout, or an industrial condition which is undoubtedly a lockout, is rarely encountered. In the statistical table, therefore, strikes and lockouts are recorded together. A strike or lockout, included as such in the records of the Department, is a cessation of work involving six or more employees at its commencement and lasting more than one working day. Disputes of only one day's duration, or less, and disputes involving less than six employees, are not included in the published record unless at least ten days' time loss is caused, but a separate record of such disputes is maintained in the Department, and the figures are given in the annual review. The figures printed are inclusive of all disputes which come to the knowledge of the Department, and the methods taken to secure information practically preclude probability of omissions of a serious nature. Information as to a dispute involving a small number of employees, or for a short period of time, is frequently not received until some time after its commencement. Four disputes, involving 194 employees were carried over from December. One of the strikes and lockouts commencing prior to January, and one of the strikes and lockouts commencing during January, terminated during the month. At the end of January, therefore, there were on record four strikes and lockouts as follows: fur workers, Montreal; women's clothing factory workers at Montreal; boot factory employees at Toronto, and moulders at Owen Sound. The record does not include minor disputes as described in the previous paragraph, nor does it include disputes as to which information has been received indicating that employment conditions are no longer affected thereby, although the unions or organizations concerned have not yet called them off. Information is available as to four such disputes, namely, cigarmakers, Montreal, commencing March 24, 1925; moulders at Galt, August 2, 1922; moulders at Guelph, June 2, 1924, and upholsterers at Montreal, June 27, 1925. During the month information reached the Department that the strike of moulders at Sarnia, which commenced March 3, 1925, had elapsed. One of the strikes and lockouts commencing during January was against a reduction in wages, and for shorter working hours, while the second one was to secure and maintain union wages and working conditions. Of the strikes and lockouts which terminated during January, one ended in favour of the employees, and the second one was indefinite. Information was received in the Department, too late for the January issue of the LABOUR GAZETTE, of two strikes of clothing workers in Montreal, which commenced November 26, and December 9, and remained unterminated at the end of December, and are included in the table as commencing prior to January. A dispute, possibly to be regarded as a strike or a lockout, occurred at Campbellford, Ont., on January 4, involving 26 spinners, who were dismissed because they failed to report for work on January 2. It had been previously arranged that the mill would be closed January 2, but owing to a rush order being received, the notice was removed, and orders were given that the spinners were to report for duty unless excused by the foreman. This, however, they failed to do and on reporting for work on January 4, were informed that they had, under the factory rules, automatically forfeited their positions and that they had been replaced by other workers. The employer reported that the spinners were being gradually reinstated. A dispute was reported at Toronto between the carpenters and hoisting engineers' unions and the employers in the construction of a building, in which ten men were alleged to have stopped work on January 6, when the officials of the union told the men the job was "unfair." The allegations appear to be that the employer was not observing union rules as to wages and working conditions, as he had agreed, but this was denied and it was reported that all the men desired were available. The following notes give particulars in regard to certain disputes in addition to information given in the tabular statement. FUR WORKERS, MONTREAL, QUE.-This dispute, which resulted in a cessation of work on April 1, 1925, at Montreal, arose out of the failure of the parties to renew an agreement which expired at the end of 1924, remained unterminated at the end of the year, but the majority of the workers secured work in other factories, and the employers replaced the strikers to a great extent. The union had demanded better wages and working conditions than in the previous year. Some employers agreed to this but others proposed individual agreements with the employees and discharged those who would not sign them. The union then called a strike. MEN'S CLOTHING FACTORY EMPLOYEES, MONTREAL, QUE.-Twenty-five men's clothing workers were involved in a dispute alleged to be a lockout on November 26, 1925, owing to the dismissal of employees for attending a union meeting. Negotiations were carried on which resulted in work being resumed January 18, the employees being free to join the union, and securing an increase in wages. WOMEN'S CLOTHING FACTORY EMPLOYEES, MONTREAL, QUE.-On December 9, 40 clothing workers ceased work against alleged violation of the agreement when the employer opened a non-union branch in the factory under separate management. Pickets were placed on duty and four employees were reported to have been injured and police protection was secured. The dispute remained unterminated at the end of the month. MOULDERS, OWEN SOUND, ONT.-The strike of moulders which began January 19, 1925, against a reduction in wages, remained un terminated, there being still nine strikers out with strike pay, but the company reported the strikers had been replaced. COAL MINERS, MINTO, N.B.-A strike occurred on January 4, of 290 coal miners against a reduction in wages of about $1 per day, and making a demand for shorter hours. On January 18, work was resumed at the rates and hours in effect prior to the strike pending an inquiry by a Commission appointed early in February by the provincial government. BOOT AND SHOE WORKERS, TORONTO, ONT.A strike of 67 boot factory employees occurred on January 13, against change in wages and working conditions alleged to be in violation of the agreement. In connection with the picketing of the factory, one man was taken into custody for obstructing traffic. An arrangement was made with the authorities whereby two pickets might walk along the street near the factory and inform people of the dispute, but were not to block the sidewalk or molest any person going in or coming out of the factory. This dispute remained unterminated at the end of the month, although the employer claimed to have replaced the strikers. STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS DURING JANUARY, 1926 Number of Time loss in Industry, occupation and locality employees working involved days (a) Strikes and lockouts commencing prior to January, 1926. Remarks 3,000 Commenced April 1, failure to renew agreements and proposed substitution of individual agreements. Unterminated. 325 Commenced November 26, against dismissal of employees for union activity. Settled by negotiations and work resumed January 18. Employees won their demands. 1,000 Commenced December 9, against alleged violation of agreement. Unterminated. 9 225 Commenced January 19, 1925, against a reduction in wages. Unterminated. (b) Strikes and lockouts commencing during January, 1926. THE STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS IN CANADA, 1925 HE number of strikes and lockouts in Canada recorded in 1925 was slightly greater than in 1924, but less than in 1923 and 1922, which in turn were smaller than in any year since 1916. The number of employees involved was smaller than in 1924, but about the same as in 1921 and in 1916. The time loss or number of man-working days lost, however, was about the same as in 1924, being approximately one and threequarters million days. This was larger than the figure for 1923, but smaller than in 1922, when the total was nearly two million. Each year since 1921 has been marked by disputes involving large numbers of coal miners for relatively long periods of time, resulting in great time loss, but also by a relatively smaller number of other disputes and by relatively small numbers of employees involved in such disputes. From 1918 to 1921 disputes involving coal miners were relatively unimportant, and although strikes in other industries involved large numbers of employees the time loss was relatively small. Prior to 1919, the year of the Winnipeg strike, which alone with metal trade strikes caused a time loss of two million days, the years of great time loss, 1903, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, and 1917, were marked by coal mining strikes of considerable magnitude. The record of the Department includes lockouts as well as strikes, but a lockout, or an industrial condition which is undoubtedly a lockout, is rarely encountered. In the statistical tables, therefore, strikes and lockouts are recorded together, the term dispute being used with reference to either. A strike or lockout included as such in the records of the Department, is a cessation of work involving six or more employees and lasting one working day or more. Disputes of less than one day's duration and disputes involving less than six employees have not been included in the published record unless a time loss of 10 days or more is caused. A separate record of such disputes involving less than 10 days time loss is maintained in the Department. During 1925 there was one such dispute, involving 7 employees for 4 hours, making a time loss of 28 hours, or about 3 working days. The figures in this report are inclusive of all strikes which come to the knowledge of the Department, and the methods taken to secure information practically preclude probability of omissions of a serious nature. So far as concerns figures given with respect to duration of strikes. numbers of employees concerned, etc., it is impossible always to secure exact information, but the estimate made in such cases is the result of painstaking methods in the collection of data, and, with increasing experience in dealing with the subject it is believed that the statistics indicate the conditions with reasonable precision. The estimate of time loss is reached by multiplying the number of working days during which each strike lasted by the number of employees involved in the dispute from time to time so far as known. The accompanying chart of the time loss in working days by groups of industries for each year back to 1901, shows that in mining considerable time loss occurred in 1903, 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1913, and again in 1917, 1919, 1922, 1923 and 1924. In metal trades no great time loss appeared except in 1919, when the strikes in the metal trades in various cities and the general strike in Winnipeg in sympathy with the metal trades' strike there, caused a time loss of about two million days. In 1918, 1920 and 1923, however, the time losses (in these trades) were larger than in other years. In building and construction considerable time loss appeared in 1903, 1907, 1911 and 1919. In transportation there was considerable time loss only in 1901, due to a strike of trackmen, in 1908, due to a strike of railway shop machinists and in 1918 and 1919 due to numbers of strikes in street railway operation, as well as among freight handlers, in local transportation, cartage, etc. From the chart showing results of the settlements arrived at it appears that the majority of employees were successful or substantially successful in 1905, 1906, 1915, 1917 and 1918, periods of steadily rising prices and expanding business, but were unsuccessful in 1908, 1919, and 1920, years of uncertainty in industry. The following notes deal with the chief features in strikes and lockouts during the year 1925. Disputes in Mining The mining industry accounted for most of the time loss for the year, about 90 per cent, and also for the largest proportion of the number of employees involved, approximately 80 per cent. This was chiefly due to a single dispute in coal mining in Nova Scotia from March to August. Out of the 14 disputes in the mining industry all were in coal mines, except one, a strike of gold miners in Ontario involving eleven employees for two days. General reductions in wages of coal miners were made not only in Nova Scotia but in Alberta and British Columbia, both in the Crow's Nest Pass field adjoining Alberta and in Vancouver Island. The coal mining industry has experienced considerable depression since 1923, and though the union in the United States renewed the contract for 1920 wage rates at Jacksonville, Florida, in the winter of 1924 to be in effect till March 31, 1927, the non-union fields in the United States and all fields in Canada experienced strikes in 1924 and 1925, with wage reductions in many in stances. 1924, p. 576). Mediation of the Minister of Labour, the provincial government and various persons, including the International President of the United Mine Workers of America, failed to bring about a settlement. Following a provincial general election the new government proposed an arrangement which was accepted and work was resumed August 10. The wage scale of 1923, 6 to 8 per cent lower than that for 1924, was accepted for six months, pending an enquiry by a commission appointed by the provincial government to make a thorough investigation of the coal relations with other industries. Early in January this commission recommended that the wage reduction of 10 per cent should be made, but that wages should be adjusted according to the financial results from the coal mining operations and not according to the proceeds from all the industries related. Recommendations were also made as to housing for miners and other conditions. The report of the commission was printed as a supplement to the LABOUR GAZETTE for January, 1926. The Nova Scotia Coal Mining Dispute, mining industry in Nova Scotia including its March 6-August 10.-The most important dispute was that involving about 12,000 coal miners in various parts of Nova Scotia in a cessation of work from March 6 to August 10, resulting from a proposed reduction in wages of 10 per cent. The four employing companies involved, operating mines in Glace Bay and its neighbourhood, at Sydney Mines, at Stellarton and Thorburn in Pictou county, and at Springhill in Cumberland county, were constituents in one holding company and on the refusal of the employees to agree to a reduction, when the agreement should expire in January, 1925, applied for a Board of Conciliation under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, 1907. The Board was established, but found that it could not proceed, as the statute had recently been declared ultra vires by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The Board attempted to settle the dispute by conciliation, but failing to do so recommended a thorough investigation by a competent authority. Various proposals were made by the parties to the dispute and by the Provincial Government, but none were acceptable. The cessation of work on March 6 was precipitated by the reduction in operations in certain mines and by the withdrawal of credit at company stores for employees in such mines. The organization of the miners called a "100 per cent strike," as authorized at a district convention at the commencement of the dispute, that is, maintenance men were called out. This was contrary to the practice in coal mining disputes as the parties usually agree that maintenance men shall take care of the mines as long as strike breakers are not employed, and in some cases development work or mining of coal for the mine boilers is provided for. Maintenance work was carried on by officials for some time, but later the mines were picketted and disputes arose, accompanied by disorders resulting in the calling in of the militia by the provincial authorities as provided by the amendment to the Militia Act, following disturbances in 1923. (LABOUR GAZETTE, July, 15134-24 Coal Mining Disputes in Alberta.-The other principal disputes in coal mining were in Alberta and resulted from general reductions in wages. The signing of the agreement of October 10, 1924, between the Western Canada Coal Operators' Association and the United Mine Workers of America, District 18, terminating the strike of some 7,000 miners in Southern Alberta and South Eastern British Columbia from April to October, 1924, on the basis of a 12 per cent reduction in wages, was followed by the closing down of some of the mines affected in the winter months, the operators stating that the mines could not be operated as the wage scale was too high. Certain operators and their employees then broke away from the Association and from the union respectively and entered into separate agreements providing for lower wage scales, the movement spreading eastward from the Crow's Nest Pass field and northward. Negotiations to amend the agreement failed and the disintegrating movement spread during the spring and early summer. (LABOUR GAZETTE, June, 1925, p. 510). In June the district officers of the union entered into an agreement with the operators in the Red Deer Valley, still parties to it, to reduce the wages about 15 per cent. A large number of miners refused to accept this arrangement, broke away from the union, organized an independent union, and picketted the mines which began to work under it, June 1, 1925. Whether these miners were on strike or not is not clear as the mines in which most of them were employed had not been operat ing for some time and did not attempt to operate. There is, however, little doubt that the dispute curtailed mining operations for the summer. Towards the end of September, the mines opened and the miners returned to work, the new scale going into effect but without an agreement. Subsequently, on November 30, some of them again struck for an increase in wages but returned to work by December 23, without an increase. In the meantime the miners under the United Mine Workers' agreement received an increase of 5 per cent, some receiving 50 cents per day, the agreement being again amended. The coal mines in the city of Edmonton and its immediate neighbourhood had been operated under an agreement between the operators and a miners' union affiliated with the Canadian Federation of Labour since September, 1923. These agreements had been renewed in 1924 following an inquiry by a Board of Conciliation under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, 1907, (LABOUR GAZETTE, September, 1924, p. 744 and November, 1924, p. 937), and these agreements expired at the end of June, 1925. A cessation of work occurred involving 400 miners as the operators proposed a wage reduction between 10 and 20 per cent for various classes. The Fair Wage Officer of the Department mediated and secured an agreement for a settlement between some of the operators and their employees at a wage cut of 13 per cent for the contract miners and 10 per cent for the day miners. This was not accepted by a vote of the miners and the strike continued. During the summer there is little demand for coal and as it cannot profitably be stored there is little mining. In August, when the demand for coal increased, the miners accepted the settlement previously rejected and returned to work on August 26. Disputes in Vancouver Island-Wages of coal miners in Vancouver Island had been adjusted according to changes in the cost of living since 1917, the bonus rising from 50 cents per day in the spring of 1918 to $2.10 at November 1, 1920, and being down to about 90 cents by November, 1924, when the arrangement was abrogated, the bonus becoming fixed at about 90 cents. The agreements between the principal operators and the committees of their employees provided that this bonus should be altered according to changes in competitive conditions (LABOUR GAZETTE, December, 1924, p. 1090). In May, 1925, some of the operators stated that competition from other miner operators compelled them to reduce the bonus by 60 cents per day. At some of the mines this was accepted, at others a modification was made for employees below $4.20 per day, but at Nanaimo the miners went on strike June 5, returning to work on June 13, at the reduction proposed. This cessation of work involved 1,090 miners for seven working days. Disputes in Manufacturing of Clothing A large number of the disputes occurring in the various sections of this industry were owing to alleged violations of union agreements, or to maintain existing wages and working conditions. Both in the men's clothing factories and women's clothing factories in Montreal and Toronto a number of strikes occurred to maintain union wages and working conditions or to secure recognition of the union or union conditions as to wages and working conditions. In most cases these resulted in favour of the employees. The two most important of these were strikes to secure recognition of union, with union hours and wages, involving 115 factories and 1,350 employees in Montreal, and 60 factories and 1,200 employees in Toronto, beginning in February and ending in the spring, both being successful. Another dispute causing considerable time loss was in Montreal to maintain union conditions in a men's clothing factory, where the employer after a disagreement with the union alleged to be a violation of the agreement, operated under open shop conditions, replacing the strikers. This strike beginning in August was not called off by the union until the end of October and involved 181 employees for 51 days. In hat and cap factories three disputes occurred to secure or to maintain union wages and working conditions and resulted in favour of the employees. Disputes in Manufacturing of Boots and Shoes The three disputes in this industry were against new wage scales, containing piece rates which the employees stated would seriously reduce their earnings. In the first, that at Montreal, at the end of January the employees were successful. A similar dispute in the same city shortly after was settled by a compromise. The third occurred at Quebec toward the end of the year and involved over two thousand employees while many more were reported to be indirectly affected. arrangement was made after two weeks' cessation of work to resume at a partial reduction, the new wage scale to be settled by arbitration. An |