Winning the Rand: autoworkers and the struggle for union recognition during WWII

 
As a result of pressures on workers’ productivity during World War II, Canada experienced two major strike waves that swept the industrial sector between 1941 and 1943, and again between 1945 and 1946, including a strike in 1945 by Ford workers. By 1943, one out of every three unionized workers in Canada had been involved in strike action. In response, the Canadian state implemented a series of legislative measures intended to stabilize labour relations and maintain wartime production. The series culminated in two key legal directives: Order-in-Council PC 1003, implemented in February 1944, compelling employers to recognize and bargain with the union, and the January 1946 arbitration decision establishing the formula for automatic dues check-off. Together these measures constituted the framework for Canada’s labour relations regime and set the table for rising union membership over the subsequent decades. But these legislative changes would not have been possible without the struggle, solidarity and independent action of rank-and-file union members.
 
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