The Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) was founded in 1940 and merged with

Trades and Labour Congress of Canada The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1886 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor. It was the third attempt at a nat ...

(TLC) to form the

Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated. History Formation The CLC was ...

(CLC) in 1956.

Founding

In 1939, the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

(CIO) supporters were expelled from the TLC, due to the demands of the American-based

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

(AFL). This split had to do with the CIO unionizing industrial trades, and the AFL organizing craft trades. The expelled unions included the

Steel Workers Organizing Committee The Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was one of two precursor trade union, labor organizations to the United Steelworkers. It was formed by the CIO (Committee for Industrial Organization) on June 7, 1936. It disbanded in 1942 to become the ...

, now called the

United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...

(USW); United Auto Workers of America, now

Unifor Unifor is a general trade union in Canada and the largest private sector union in Canada. It was founded in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions, and consists of 310,000 workers an ...

; and the

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...

(UMWA). They negotiated with the All-Canadian Congress of Labour and founded the Canadian Congress of Labour in 1940 to rival the TLC. At its founding, it had 100,000 members, and grew to 250,000 by 1943. The Congress' founding executive included Aaron Mosher ( Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees), Silby Barrett, Sol Spivak, and

Charles Millard Charles Hibbert (Charlie) Millard (August 25, 1896 – November 24, 1978) was a Canadian trade union activist and politician. Early life He was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, the son of a railroad repairman, and first trained as a carpenter. Mi ...

(Steelworkers). They were all members of the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

(CCF) political party. They were united in the belief that labour should be involved in politics. In 1981 a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

, depicting Mosher flanked by two railway workers, was issued to commemorate the centenary of Mosher's birth.https://postagestampguide.com/stamps/16178/aaron-r-mosher-1981-canada-postage-stamp Aaron R. Mosher 1981

Notes

References

* * {{Authority control Congress of Industrial Organizations Canadian Labour Congress Economic history of Canada Trade unions established in 1940 Trade unions disestablished in 1956 1940 establishments in Canada 1956 disestablishments in Canada National federations of trade unions