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Prior to the Second World War, Canadian industrial relations were typified by repeated, violent confrontation between employers and workers. Armed company constables held pitched battles with striking men and women – and almost inevitably, police were actively embroiled in the disputes. Riots, mass demonstrations, violent deaths and serious personal injury and property damage were the rule of the day. In Alberta, for example, there were over 10,000 coal miners on strike in the Crowsnest Pass for over three months in 1934. Industrial unrest over poor wages and working conditions, inadequate housing and education and health care and the desperate poverty of the unemployed reached crisis proportions that threatened the social fabric and political stability of the country. The important role of unions in securing social and labour peace was finally and formally recognized by the federal government in 1944 with PC 1003 – a wartime labour act. All subsequent Canadian labour laws have been based upon the principles of PC 1003 – including Alberta’s labour code. In essence, Canadian labour laws are based upon the premise that unions and free collective bargaining are the best way to establish and maintain good labour relations and a healthy society. This was probably best described by the Federal Task Force on Labour Relations (also known as the Woods Commission) Report in 1968: "Freedom to associate and to act collectively are basic to the nature of Canadian society and are root freedoms of the existing collective bargaining system. Together they constitute freedom of trade union activity: to organize employees, to join with the employer in negotiating a collective agreement, and to invoke economic sanctions, including taking the case to the public in the event of an impasse." The purpose of labour laws across Canada was historically to protect and encourage working people’s democratic right to unionize. Labour laws were created to protect unions and to foster unionization because of the social benefits of a healthy, free labour movement. The intent of the laws was not to discourage or limit unions or legitimate union activity, but to promote unionization. Then, as now, the measure of labour laws is how well they do that job. |