HIS 404

Unit 2 Notes 11

The 20th Century Begins

1. Farmers began to pour into the city, looking for
work in the new factories. This is called
URBANIZATION.
Urbanization:
cities grow
quickly when all
the people move
there from the
countryside.
Working conditions
were very poor.
Factories were dirty
and unsafe.
Map of Montreal, 1702 / Population : 3 000
Map of Montreal, 1892 / Population : 250 000
2. To help improve working conditions,
UNIONS started to protect workers.
Q: What does “bad working conditions”
look like?
No Union

Union
Most of these were
American unions.
The biggest one was
called the “Knights of
Labor”.
Before long, Unions were able to achieve real success
in the workplace:
a) The Workmen’s Compensation Act (1909)
This paid workers who were hurt on the job.
b) Employment Bureau Act (1910)
This helped workers find jobs.
c) Work hours were dropped from 60 hours/week to 55
hours.
Q: What did workers/unions do to
pressure the employer and government
to adopt these protection laws?
3. Strikes were the union’s strongest
weapon.
If all the workers in a factory went of strike,
the factory would shut down and make no
money.
This put a lot of pressure on the boss to
keep good relations with the workers.
4. At first, the federal government did not
accept strikes, even though they were legal.
They could use force to repress strikes.
The employers could also hire “scabs” to
replace the workers who were on strike.
These scabs were so despised they required
police protection from the striking workers.
Question (submit by the end of the class)

How did unions protect the workers?

HINT
- Group > Individual
2-5 sentences - The Workmen’s Compensation
Act (1909)
- Employment Bureau Act (1910)
2 pt for right answer - Working hours

2 pt for using evidences effectively

2 pt for grammar