The Winnipeg general strike of 1919 was one of the most famous and influential strikes in Canadian history. For six weeks, May 15 to June 26, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which at the time was Canada's third largest city. In the short term, the strike ended in arrests, bloodshed, and defeat, but in the long run it contributed to the development of a stronger labour movement and the tradition of social democratic politics in Canada.
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation ; from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada, was a federal democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Canada. The CCF was founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, agrarian, co-operative, and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction. In 1944, the CCF formed the first social-democratic government in North America when it was elected to form the provincial government in Saskatchewan.
The Progressive Party of Canada, formally the National Progressive Party, was a federal-level political party in Canada in the 1920s until 1930. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces, and it spawned the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan, and the Progressive Party of Manitoba, which formed the government of that province. The Progressive Party was part of the farmers' political movement that included federal and provincial Progressive and United Farmers' parties.
There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Party or Independent Labour Party name, backed by local labour councils made up of many union locals in a particular city, or individual trade unions. There was an attempt to create a national Canadian Labour Party in the late 1910s and in the 1920s, but these were only partly successful.
The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was a political party that existed from 1904 to 1925, led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the socialist newspaper Western Clarion.
James Shaver Woodsworth was a pre–First World War pioneer of the Canadian Social Gospel, a Christian religious movement with social democratic values and links to organized labour. He was a long-time leader and publicist in the movement and was an elected politician under the label, serving as MP from 1921 to his death in 1942. He helped found the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a forerunner of today's New Democratic Party (NDP), in 1932.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors. The union has 27 locals in Canada via CWA-SCA Canada representing about 8,000 members. CWA has several affiliated subsidiary labor unions bringing total membership to over 700,000. CWA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and affiliated with the AFL–CIO, the Strategic Organizing Center the Canadian Labour Congress, and UNI Global Union. The current president is Chris Shelton.
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.
Stanley Howard Knowles was a Canadian parliamentarian. Knowles represented the riding of Winnipeg North Centre from 1942 to 1958 on behalf of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and again from 1962 to 1984 representing the CCF's successor, the New Democratic Party (NDP).
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well. CUPE is the largest union in Canada, representing some 700,000 workers in health care, education, municipalities, libraries, universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services and airlines. Over 60 per cent of CUPE's members are women, and almost a third are part-time workers. CUPE is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress and is its greatest financial contributor.
The Confédération des syndicats nationaux is the second largest trade union federation in Quebec by membership.
The Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec is the largest labour federation in Quebec in terms of its membership. It has over 500,000 members, who account for 44% of the unionised workers in Quebec. This ratio is 60% in the private sector, in which most members work. It also has many members in government agencies.
The British Columbia Federation of Labour (BCFED), often shortened to the BC Federation of Labour, is a central organization for organized labour in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1910 and claims to have a membership of 500,000, with 1,200 local and union sections. The BCFED is the provincial affiliate of the Canadian Labour Congress and the umbrella organization for organized labour in British Columbia.
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, abbreviated CEP in English and SCEP in French, was a largely private sector labour union with 150,000 members, active from 1992 to 2013. It was created in 1992 through the merger of three unions - the Canadian Paperworkers Union, the Communication and Electrical Workers of Canada and the Energy and Chemical Workers Union. See below for some other unions that were merged into the CEP. CEP/SCEP was affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress.
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 national labour federation to be formed in Canada: it succeeded the Canadian Labour Union which existed from 1873 to 1877 and the Canadian Labour Congress which held only one conference in 1881.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is a Canadian trade union. Taken in total it is the second largest union in Canada. Most of its 425,000 members work in the provincial public service sector. There is also a large and growing number of members who work for private businesses.
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is the Alberta provincial trade union federation of the Canadian Labour Congress. It has a membership of approximately 170,000 from 29 affiliated unions.
The Manitoba Nurses' Union is a labour organization representing registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, and operating room technicians in Manitoba, Canada. It is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and the Manitoba Council of Health Care Unions.
The Hospital Employees' Union (HEU), founded in 1944 at Vancouver General Hospital, is now the oldest and largest trade union for hospital workers and health care specialists in British Columbia. The HEU represents 46,000 members across the public, non-profit and private health sectors. It is also a member in the British Columbia Federation of Labour and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Beatrice Bruske is a Canadian labour leader and the current President of the Canadian Labour Congress, an organization that advocates on behalf of three million working people across Canada.
