Fearing that machines and unskilled labour would replace them,
skilled workers were the first to organize unions in Canada.
Shoemakers, printers, carpenters and tailors, for example, all
formed their own craft unions in order to promote common
interests. Unfortunately, as the interviews below reveal, many
were fighting a losing battle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas Crowley, a
journeyman shoemaker, Windsor, being interviewed during the 1889 Royal
Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital.
 What is the condition of
the shoe business in Windsor?
 It is in a very poor
condition, and has been for some time...
Does machinery interfere
with custom work?
Materially.
What machines do you speak
of?
Well, there is the sewing
machine, the riveting machine, and almost all kinds of machines...
I suppose in a short time
shoemaking will die out?
Well, the present race of
shoemakers will die out.
|
|
Listen to a similar interview with Richard Sommerville, a cooper.
|
|
|
|
|
|
