Click on an event in the calendar to see more information about it.
On June 27, 1890, Local Lodge 103 in Stratford, Ontario received its charter as the first Canadian local in the National Association of Machinists, founded only two years before. After Local 103 joined, the union changed its name to the International Association of Machinists, or IAM.
A. R. Hopper, James Dunn, A. Clark, T. Egan, J. Archibald, William O’Neil and W. McKellar were the charter members of Pioneer Local Lodge 103, working as machinists at the massive Grand Trunk Western Railway shops in Stratford. As the shops expanded, the IAM membership grew. The union spread to other Canadian railways: Canadian Pacific in 1899, the Algoma Central and Hudson Bay in 1912, the Canadian National and later the Cape Breton Coal Railway in 1940.
Although the railway shops in Stratford have closed and fallen into decay, Local Lodge 103 lives on in the festival city, albeit without railway membership. The creed of justice on the job and service to the community remains as strong today as it did in 1890.
IAM Local Lodges chartered in June
June 9: LL692, Vancouver BC (1919)
June 10: LL1542, Arnprior ON (1964)
June 20: LL1953, Winnipeg MB (1950)
June 27: LL103, Stratford ON (1890)
June 29: LL1148, L’Assomption QC (1968)
June 30: LL2922, North Bay ON (2012)
June 1: Gainers strike begins, 1986
In one of the most acrimonious strikes in Canadian history, 1,100 members of the UFCW were off the job for more than six months. More than 400 union members and supporters were arrested as they protested brutality and the support of scabs by the police.
After months of strikes and protests against conditions in work camps set up by the government of Tory Prime Minister R.B. Bennett, hundreds of camp workers boarded boxcars in Vancouver to travel to Ottawa and make their point in person. RCMP later surrounded and charged a peaceful rally in Regina and surrounded the protestors' camp with barbed wire and machine guns. Read more about the On To Ottawa trek in Wikipedia.
June 4: Vickers workers support Winnipeg General Strike, 1919
Machinists at Vickers walked off the job to support the growing movement that became the Winnipeg General Strike. For more information on Canada's largest and best-known general strike, see this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
J.S. Woodsworth, a Methodist minister who was to become the first leader of the CCF, forerunner of today's NDP, was arrested and charged with seditious libel for writing editorials in support of the Winnipeg General Strike. More information in this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
June 11: Sydney Steel strike begins, 1923
Members of the United Mine Workers at the British Empire and Steel Corp., began an epic months-long strike that also spread to Alberta. UMW President John L. Lewis eventually sent the members back to work. More info in this article from Cape Breton's Magazine.
June 11: Alberta Federation of Labour founding convention, 1912
Born out of a convention resolution the year previous from the United Mine Workers, the Alberta Federation of Labour held its founding convention in Lethbridge. For more on the roots and history of the AFL, see this page on the AFL's website.
June 14: Trade unions legalized in Canada, 1872
The Trade Unions Act, passed in 1872 by the federal government, made it legal for unions to exist. But it wasn't until the 1940s that unions began to make real gains. For more info, see this article on labour history in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Construction of what was to have been a new bridge spanning the Second Narrows in Vancouver ended at quitting time on June 17, 1958, as two spans of the structure collapsed and sent 79 workers falling into the water. For more information, see this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
June 19: Occupiers at gov't buildings in Vancouver evicted by police, 1938
When the federal government cut relief projects in 1938, thousand of the unemployed converged on Vancouver and Victoria. In Vancouver, they occupied the Post Office, the Hotel Georgia and the Vancouver Art Gallery. While negotiations ended the occupations of the hotel and art gallery peacefully, the RCMP led a charge against those in the Post Office. Read more in this article from Wikipedia.
Hundreds of security screeners at Toronto's Pearson International Airport joined their Machinist counterparts in British Columbia when they voted to leave their small, ineffective union and join the IAM.
June 21: Two workers killed in Winnipeg General Strike, 1919
As support for the Winnipeg General Strike spread, city leaders appealed to the federal government for help. The government sent in the army, militia and the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, who rode into a crowd of strikers, beating them with clubs and firing their weapons. At the end of Bloody Saturday, two lay dead. For more information, see this Wikipedia article.
June 26: Winnipeg General Strike ends, 1919
With their leaders jailed, their newspaper shut down and Winnipeg a city under military occupation, strike union decided to end the Winnipeg General Strike. For more information on the general strike, click the link above or see this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Stratford, Ontario – a major railway hub at the time – was the scene as Lodge 103 got its charter from the new National Association of Machinists. The railway shops where IAM members once worked are long gone, but Lodge 103 lives on in the Festival City.
June 30: Feds enforce sedition laws against unions, 1919
A wave of labour unrest, culminating in the Winnipeg General Strike, prompted the federal government to draft new sedition laws aimed at workers who belonged to "unlawful" associations. Leaders of the Winnipeg strike were arrested under its terms. For more information on the law, see this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia.