Canada’s unions applaud the federal government for introducing regulations to ban the import, export, manufacture, sale and use of asbestos and asbestos-containing products. The regulations, announced in December 2016 will come into force on December 30, 2018. “This is a critical step on the long road to banning asbestos, and will, without a doubt, save lives for generations to come,”…
On the afternoon of August 10, 1966, a 160-foot span of a new bridge being built over the Rideau River and Canal gave way, dropping hundreds of tons of half set concrete about 60 feet into the river valley. Nine workers were killed and another 55 injured in the disaster – Ontario’s worst workplace “accident” It’s not listed among the…
On May 9, 1992, just eight months after opening with federal and provincial government support, an underground methane explosion killed all 26 miners working in the Westray coal mine. An official inquiry into the disaster discovered profound “stupidity and neglect” on the part of the owners, but all attempts to prosecute the company and its officials failed. It took 11…
The hogg’s hollow disaster killed five workers, galvanized a community, and changed workplace health and safety laws for the better.
March 17, 2018
On March 17, 1960 five Italian-born workers were killed while building a Toronto water main tunnel under the Don River. The deaths of these five immigrant workers shocked their community, mobilized unions and resulted in badly-needed changes to workplace health and safety laws. Working conditions on today’s construction sites and factory floors, in schools, office buildings, warehouses, restaurants – any…
Rideau canal workers riot in the streets to protest poor wages and working conditions
March 2, 2018
On March 2, 1829, hundreds of canal workers threw down their tools and took to the streets of the country’s future capital to protest low wages and brutal working conditions. In an era before workers had unions, the only means available for them to protest unfairness was to riot in the streets. Today, the rights to union membership, collective bargaining…
On midnight February 14, 1949, workers at four Quebec asbestos mines walked off the job and with that action started a major political and cultural shift not only in that province but the history of Canada. It was, as Pierre Trudeau later wrote, “a violent announcement that a new era had begun.” “What I found [at Asbestos]… was a Quebec…