General Strike Dbq

On May 15th, 1919 the employees of Winnipeg called a strike. The men demanded more jobs and younger workers demanded better working conditions. The employers didn’t want to use men because women who were covering the men’s gap during the war were more efficient than using men. Women were paid less, but each person worked as well as the men did.

Employers didn’t want to negotiate with the employees. As a result, all the stores and the factories of Winnipeg had been shut down and 30,000workers were on the street protesting. The strike was planned by the Central Strike Committee and the leaders from different Unions. Out of 30,000 protesters, more than 2000individuals were not in a union. Among the strikers, there were firefighters, police officers, postal workers and employees of other public sector jobs. There were 1000oppositiong individuals who were against the strike. Their group’s name was Citizen’s Committee. They were formed by the most powerful and richest people in Winnipeg. On June 17th the Royal-North West Mounted Police arrested 10 leaders of the Central

In 1919 there were no regulations against the protesters. They made a Criminal code that the government had the permission to arrest and deport anyone who was the threat to the country. As a result, protesters were beaten, arrested and deported by the country. After the “Bloody Saturday” where 30 people were injured and 2 were killed, the laws were starting to change such as “police cannot arrest a peaceful protester,” There were more rights given to the protesters and even the for individuals who are not related to protest. Also from this event, Collective Bargaining method was discussed and finally used 20 years later of the incident. It took over a long time to reach the modern protest and a labour law, but without the strike, people living in modern Canada would be