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Western Labor Conference
The Western Labor Conference was a radical Canadian labour convention held March 13-15, 1919, in Calgary. It is known for being the convention at which One Big Union was formally proposed. Two hundred and thirty-nine delegates from five Canadian provinces attended the event. Alberta sent the largest number of delegates at 89, British Columbia sent 85, Manitoba sent 46, Saskatchewan sent 17, and Ontario sent 2. The British Columbia Federation of Labour, which was viewed as the most militant of any of the attending groups of delegates, proposed several resolutions. They included a six-hour work day, the end of Allied interference in Russia, severance of ties to international unions outside of Canada, the end of the political imprisonment of Canadian citizens, and the acknowledgement of the impediment of labour movements under the capitalist economic system. If these demands were not met by the Canadian government by June 1, 1919, the newly formed One Big Union would call for a gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Big Union (Canada)
The One Big Union (OBU) was a Canadian syndicalist trade union active primarily in the western part of the country. It was initiated formally in Calgary on June 4, 1919, but lost most of its members by 1922. It finally merged into the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956. Background Towards the end of World War I, labor activism in Western Canada became more radical. Western Canadian radicals protested the management of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC), the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the governments in power. Western unions were represented by only 45 of 400 delegates at the September 1918 TLC convention. Their resolutions to condemn Canada's efforts for World War I were defeated easily. Moreover, the socialist TLC president James Watters, who had had this post since 1911, was replaced by the conservative Tom Moore. In those radical times, the federal government clamped down on radical publications and organizations, outlawing 14 different organization ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
