Chapter 3 Labour History

1
Chapter 3 Labour History

• Considers how the organization of work evolved as
  we know it
• Merchant capital profit made by
  traders/merchants buying cheaply and selling at a
  higher price elsewhere
• Started with Hudson Bay Co. and beaver pelts
• Unit of work employees stayed in small workshop
  hoping to advance to masters

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Chapter 3 contd

• Industrialization changed the organization of
  work
• Workshops become factories (mechanizations)
• Farmers left the land due to high debt
• Towns sprang up
• Mostly women and children worked in factories,
  only option

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Chapter 3 contd

• EE/ER relationships in factory
• ER provided site, materials operated the plant
• The jobs were subcontracted to skilled craftsmen
  who in turn employed the EEs
• No direct relationship between Er and Ee
• Easy for ER to adjust workforce due to
  fluctuating demand
• Similar to contingent workers today?

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Chapter 3 contd

• This system of work organization changed
• EEs felt squeezed by contractors who wanted to
  keep wages low and get more productivity
• ERs were upset with contractors making high
  profits and controlled the labour
• ERs wanted greater control
• How did they get the control over labour?
• Set up employment departments

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Chapter 3 contd

• Foreman were introduced and tended to direct the
  production to the extent possible given they
  relied on the skilled craftsman
• In this process craftsman dictated the rate of
  pay, no negotiations

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Chapter 3 contd

• Craft unions evolved organized by craft, i.e.
  ship builders, pressmen, hatters
• Sources of power of craft unions
• Skill of its members (limited entry to
  apprenticeship programs) Ers had to follow rules
  or no labour supplied
• Solidarity through craft pride (generally
  organized locally, separated by geography

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Chapter 3 contd

• Industrial unions organized by entire
  industries
• Railway meant workers could travel, more
  difficult for unions to control supply
• 1st International union was British Amalgamated
  Society of Engineers, established in Hamilton,
  Toronto and Brantford
• American unions proceeded to organize craftsman
  between both countries to control price of labour

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Chapter 3 contd

• Impact of Toronto Printers Strike in March 25,
  1872?
• Trade Union Bill legalized trade unions
• Criminal Law Amendment Bill provided right to
  strike, provided peaceful action
• Who were the Knights of Labour?

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Chapter 3 contd

• Knights
• Organized along industrial lines and religions
• First Canadian assembly formed 1867 in Hamilton
• International Workers of the World (Wobblies)
• Differences in Knights and Craft unions?
• 1902 Berlin Convention of TLC expelled Knights

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Chapter 3 contd

• Taylorism Frederick Taylor
• Discovered workers could restrict output and
  control their earnings
• Decreased Er reliance on skills and transferred
  knowledge to management
• Broke tasks down into simplest form (component
  parts)
• Therefore Ers didnt need skilled craftsmen
• Scientific management (plan work process)

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Chapter 3 contd

• Fordism further refinement on Taylorism
• Workers stayed in one place and parts come to
  them
• Standard parts used so deskilling continued
• Downside a few workers could shut down the
  process (industrial unions excelled)

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Chapter 3 contd

• Comparison craft and industrial unions
• Know CIO, AFL, CCL
• 1939 AFL pressured TLC to expel CIO affiliates

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Chapter 3 contd

• Conflict between craft and industrial unions
  helped create
• Wagner Act 1935 US
• Privy Council Order 1003 (1944)
• Right of EEs to belong to a union of their choice
  and prohibited certain unfair labour practices
• Obligation on ERs to bargain in good faith