Labour Unrest
On the
Grand Trunk Pacific
A component of…
The
Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway in Rivers, Manitoba
A Project
of The Rivers Train Station Restoration Committee
2014
Labour
Unrest on the Grand Trunk Pacific
The presence of a large-scale employer such as a railway brings a
variety of changes to a small rural community. Labour unrest is not a
copy many small towns are likely to experience, but with a national
operation such as a railway, what happens in one part of the country
affects the staff across the land..
The First Strike
The Grand Trunk Pacific had been in operation on the prairies for only
a few years when a widespread strike hindered operations.
The strike against the G.T.P. was declared on Oct. 10, 1911 by
machinists and boilermakers who sought parity to CP. and CN workers.
Objectives included a 9 hour day and a minimum of 45 ½ cents per hour.
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Winnipeg
newspaper , “The Voice” covered the strike in detail on Oct. 3.
After a few months, the effects of the strike was beginning to have its
effect on the community. There were reports of skirmishes at the river
between strikers and strikebreakers. A leading official of the
international association of machinists addressed a mass meeting at
which local professional men spoke. G.T.P. general manager E. J.
Chamberlin briefly visited the scene, and then departed.
Rivers was created by the railway. The workers who came here to work
were not entering an established town so much as creating a town. They
were part of it from the beginning, not outsiders brought in to work.
For that reason it is likely that the non-railway townspeople would
tend to side with the workers rather than the management.
That indeed was the opinion of G.T.P. general assistant C. Warman, who
was not too happy about it. He had this comment (or threat) published
in the local paper: "If the railway is in trouble, the town usually
sides against it. If there is rioting, they are more likely to consort
with the rioters than with the railway and the authorities endeavoring
to preserve the peace...Retention of the shops at Rivers or at any
other terminal of the Grand Trunk Pacific may depend in no small
measure upon the attitude of the people who inhabit these terminal
towns."
There were bound to be some disputes. IN one case some striking workers
took alternate work painting and that was not well received by those
already engaed in that work.
But he more damaging effects of the strike might never have reached
this small town except for the introduction of strike breakers from the
outside.
The Brandon Sun on Oct. 18 reported that 100 strike breakers from
Montreal had reached Rivers and the the new workers would replace those
out at various points. It notes that, “The strikers here are orderly,
but the bringing in of strike breakers is strongly resented.” The
report was an exaggeration as only about ten boilermakers and two
machinists were sent to Rivers, but as one might expect there were a
few incidents.
'One of the Strikers' in the local press commented that, "we could not
have called a strike at a better time. The Company's power is now in
deplorable condition. Of course, the public is suffering and we are
sorry for the public. . .Strike-breakers do not know the meaning of
truth. . . "
These sorts of exchanges were to be expected, but the small close-knit
community no doubt expected little more in the way of drama. That made
it all the more shocking when one altercation between a strike-breaker
and a striker escalated into gunfire and death. It seems that a
strike breaker, when confronted by a striker, produced a pistol, and in
the scuffle that followed shots were fired killing on and injuring
another. (See The Alston Murder Trial).
But that was certainly the exception, and for the most part the town
weathered the storm by waiting it out.
Brandon
Sun, Oct 18, 1911
The Voice, Oct 13, 1911
It took some time, and over a year had gone by before the end was in
sightr. In December of 1912 representatives of the G.T.P. strikers,
including William Renton from Rivers, met with the Minister of Labour
in Ottawa about the strike, which had now lasted 14 months. It was
settled shortly afterwards, with the strikers gaining most of their
demands.
The Winnipeg General Strike
In 1919 at the time of the Winnipeg General Strike the neighborhood
railroaders quit work in a body. Another ex-minister of the gospel and
now a labor leader, James Woodsworth, spoke at a meeting arranged by
local unions - this just prior to a riot in the provincial capital. No
violence, however, marred the Rivers scene and the dispute was settled
quickly.
The 1950 Strike
In 1950, for the third time in the community’s history a nation wide
strike shut down the shops, freight shed, depot and station restaurant
and telegraph. In the roundhouse lay idle a solitary locomotive, the
yard engine: and while highway conveyances delivered the necessities of
life. The strike lasted nine days.
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