1. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
Hayley, Jocelyn and Avery

2. Why did this strike break out?
The Winnipeg general strike was one of the most influential strikes in Canadian history
This took place from Thursday may 15th 1919 to June 26th 1919
This was a six week ILLEGAL strike fought by underprivileged Canadian workers
This was a time of massive unemployment
This strike broke out after negotiations broke down between management and labour in the building and metal trades.
After this the Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council (WTLC) called a general strike for Winnipeg

3. Who and when Between 25,000 and 30,000 employees took strike
This occurred on Thursday may 15th at 11am when all workers walked out of work
Factories workers, building traders, metal workers, fire fighters, police officers and many others went on strike at this time
Labor leaders from across western Canada formed the “ One Big Union” during the strike
Oppositions to the strike was organized by the citizens committee shortly after the strike took place

4. Reasoning's
The striking was agreed upon because of the dismal wages and harsh working conditions for building traders and metal workers
Many other jobs also realized these issues in the work place
Conflict between the labor movement and local employees had been brewing for many years before the strike took place
The amount of unemployment, inflation, poor working conditions and regional disparities after World War I were the main reasons for this strike
workers from both the private and public sectors joined together to shut down and reduce most services

5. Effects on Winnipeg during the strike
During the striking some things that happened to Winnipeg were
Factories shut down
Retail trades were effected
Trains stopped running
There was no mail, street cars, taxis, news papers, telegrams, gas and milk delivery
Most restaurants, stores and shops were closed

6. One Big Union & Central Strike Committee
One Big Union (OBU)
The wester labor leaders met in Calgary on March 13th 1919 to discuses the formation of the One Big Union, this took place at the wester labor conference. By June 4th 1919 the OBU was officially formed
This group was a Canadian syndicalist trade union
The Central Strike Committee
A group of people that coordinated the strike. This group was formed from elected people from each union connected to the WTLC. This group of people bargained with the employers for the workers.

7. The Citizens Committee of 1,000
The Citizens Committee of 1,000 was a group of less then 1,000 people who believed there should not have been a strike. This group consisted of manufacturers, bankers and politicians, Winnipeg's most influential people. This group had a theory that the strike was being ran by a group of “alien scums”
This group had there own news paper named “The Citizen” were they would attack strikers and their supporters as Bolshevik revolutionaries.
They implied that the strike was largely the work of Eastern European immigrants (“Alien Scums”)
One of the first actions this group took was to fire all police in Winnipeg for breaking there oath to not participate in any strikes. After they had all been fired the group hired 1,800 “special officers” recruited by the committee to control the strike. These officers were called “The Specials”
These people were also know as peace keepers during the strike
They helped out anyone who had been injured and put out the firers around the city

8. Government statuses
When the strike broke out the government had worried that other cities would also begin to strike
Because they were so worried Senator Gideon Robertson, minister of labour, and Arthur Meighen, minister of the interior and acting minister of justice went to Winnipeg to meet with the Citizens Committee
At the time the government would only listen to the citizens committee
They refused any requests from the central strike committee
The government listened to the citizens committee and supported the employers
Federal government forced everyone to return back to work or to be fired
With the immigrate act they also stated that any British-born immigrant would be deported if not returning to work
During the strike the workers were very orderly and peaceful but the government and city council was very harsh and aggressive towards the citizens, resulting in one of the major events, Bloody Saturday.

9. Bloody Saturday Took place on June 21st 1919
City started street cars up once again
Protesters got upset with this decision
Protesters stopped the street car, flipped it and set it on fire
2 strikers were killed and 30 were injured by 4pm that day
94 people were arrested with 4 of them being women
The RNMP ( Royal North-West Mountain Police) was involved and also “The Specials”. They were being used to control the out of hand crowds of people striking in the streets of Winnipeg

10. Damages
Damages to the city including the wreak of street cars and small fires being set around the city.
This was a fairly peaceful strike besides Bloody Saturday so there was not many damages
LINK

11. Why it ended
The Winnipeg general strike had come to an end after Bloody Saturday
The strikers had started to become reckless and out of hand
Workers were forced to stop striking
This became so out of hand that strikers were being beat with bats and the military and police forces had to be brought in
The strike had finally come to a complete stop after the strikers had “ gone to far”

12. The aftermath Workers were sent back with out pay increase
Many workers were sent to jail or even deported
Many people ended up losing there jobs
It was still another 20 years before bargaining was recognized in Canada
Winnipeg's economy went down after the strike took place
Winnipeg remained divided in the working classes

13. Why was this strike so important to Canadas history?
This is the most known strike in Canadian history
This strike was a turning point for Canada
This was the largest strike ever in Canada (Most people)
Canada formed new pollical parties after this strike ( New parties believed in workers rights)
Provided and shown the power of people to make a change
Discrimination against immigrants was made legal by the House of Commons