The following is a timeline of the history of labour organizations in communities in and around Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Listings for incorporated townships which were later amalgamated with the City of Sudbury are noted separately.
December: The socialist Peoples' Society takes over the Finland Hall at 353 Temperance Street. Within months, the hall would be destroyed by a fire which was rumoured to be deliberate.[5]
Sudbury (306 members reported by 3 out of 5)[6]: 214
Carpenters and Joiners local listed as No. 2635.[6]: 162
1915
Sudbury (47 members reported by 2 out of 4)[7]: 209
Capreol (382 members reported by 6 out of 9 unions)[16]: 241
Sudbury (3,751 members reported by 6 out of 6 unions)[16]: 241
Branch of Lumber Workers Industrial Union No. 120 (IWW) reports membership of 3,650, meaning that an overwhelming majority of union members in the city were IWW members.[16]: 239
At its ninth Ontario district conference on October 7, the Lumber Workers' Industrial Union (IWW) decides to select French- and Ukrainian-speaking delegates to travel to lumber camps in the Sudbury area.[19]: 170
Communist Party of Canada sponsors mayor and alderman candidates for Sudbury municipal elections, receiving 69 and 56 votes respectively.[21]: 180
May Day parade is broken up by police, who arrest eighteen participants, including Amos Hill. A demonstration is made outside the police station, with the fire hose used on the protestors and more arrests made. After being convicted in local courts, the convictions are overruled on appeal, with fines of $25 plus costs being upheld.[21]: 182, 183
Lumber Workers' Industrial Union No. 120 (IWW) branch is dissolved.[21]: 231
Amos T. Hill runs under Communist Party of Canada endorsement for Nipissing (which at the time included Sudbury) in the 1930 federal election, receiving 584 votes and coming in third and last place.[22]: 168
May Day meeting at Bell Park occurs, with no arrests or disruption.[22]: 198
1935 - Joseph Levert and Amos T. Hill run as Co-operative Commonwealth and Communist Party of Canada candidates for Nipissing in the 1935 federal election, receiving 2,236 and 931 votes respectively and coming in third and fifth place.
1936
An organizer for Mine-Mill, George W. "Scotty" Anderson, comes to Sudbury.[10]
March: Mine-Mill Local 239 is chartered. By May, it has 150 members.[10]
November: Inco management creates the United Copper-Nickel Workers (UCNW), nicknamed the "Nickel Rash", a company union intended to sabotage Mine-Mill's organizing campaign.[10]
September: Sudbury Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) is formed under the Canadian Congress of Labour to unionize Sudbury workers in diverse industries.[10]
1944
April 21: Mine-Mill Local 598 is certified as representative of workers at Inco and Falconbridge.[1]
May 3: Local 598 is certified at the Canadian Industries Limited sulfuric acid plant and a contract is signed there by June 15.[10]
1946 - James Kidd wins re-election as president of Mine-Mill Local 598.[10]
1947 - On December 8, Nels Thibault wins the presidency of Mine-Mill Local 598, signalling a leftward turn in the local's politics.[10]
1948
The Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) begin to attack the leadership of Mine-Mill as a part of their anti-communist purges. Robert Carlin, then-MPP for Sudbury, falls victim and the CCF withdraws its endorsement of him as a candidate.[10]
Robert Carlin finishes in second place for the Sudbury riding in the 1948 provincial election, running as an independent after being expelled from the Ontario CCF as a result of its anti-communist purges. The resulting disillusionment in the CCF destroys local support for the party for decades.[10]
Mine-Mill's jurisdiction is granted to the United Steelworkers, which begins raiding Mine-Mill locals throughout North America, including Sudbury.[10]
Mine-Mill Local 902 has twenty-four contracts by the end of the year (seventeen with hotels) and includes grocery chain stores and taxicab drivers.[10]
1951 - Mike Solski becomes president of Mine-Mill Local 598, replacing Nels Thibault who had been promoted to regional director of District 8 (Canada) for the union.[10]
Mine-Mill holds its Canadian convention in Sudbury, which hosted the first concert performed by Paul Robeson outside of the United States after his travel ban.
Mine-Mill Local 902 holds fifty contracts in the Sudbury area.[10]
May: James Kidd is expelled for life from Mine-Mill Local 598 due to his intentional efforts to sabotage the union; by then, Kidd had become a full-time staff members with the United Steelworkers.[10]
1958 - First major mine workers' strike in Sudbury.
1960s
1961 - Riot occurs at a Mine-Mill meeting at the Sudbury Arena on September 21 over a discussion of whether or not the local should affiliate with the United Steelworkers.
1978 - Inco strike of 1978-79 begins on September 15. 11,700 workers participated in the strike, which was organized by USW Local 6500 and which became known as one of the most significant labour disputes in Canadian history.[24]
1979 - Inco strike of 1978-79 ends on June 7.
1980s
1980 - Teachers with the Sudbury Public School Board go on strike from January to March.[25]
1993 - Mine-Mill Local 598 affiliates with the Canadian Auto Workers, having been the last surviving Mine-Mill local for almost 30 years.
2000s
2000s
2000 - Mine-Mill/CAW Local 598 members at Falconbridge Ltd. go on strike for six and a half months.[26]
2004 - Mine-Mill/CAW Local 598 strikes at Falconbridge again, this time for three weeks.[26] The strike was largely focused on Falconbridge's use of contractors, especially in newly opened mines.[27]
2007 - 112 workers at eight Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) branches in the Sudbury area go on strike, the first multi-branch banking strike in Canadian history. The strike continues for one month from June to July, when the workers vote by a majority of 56 percent to accept the contract offered by TD. The contract provisions include an hourly pay raise of 35 cents as well as improved severance protection.[28]
2008
January to October: Workers at local Sudbury branches of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) go on strike under United Steelworkers representation. After nine months, the workers win an immediate 4.5 percent wage increase, as well as a 3 percent wage increase built into an eighteen-month contract.[29]
August: Full-time and part-time faculty at the University of Sudbury engage in a nine-day strike after the university administration attempted to negotiate individual contracts with faculty members instead of renewing their collective agreement.[30][31]
2011 - Support and administrative staff at Cambrian College (OPSEU Local 655) and Collège Boréal (OPSEU Local 672) participate in a province-wide strike at Ontario community colleges.[38]
A month-long strike at the SNOLAB by 52 members of United Steelworkers Local 2020 ends on June 7 with ratification of a four-year collective agreement.[40][41]
^Wilkinson, Derek (Spring 1989). "The Sudbury School Strike – The Effect on Students One Year After". Interchange. 20 (1): 27–37. doi:10.1007/BF01808329. S2CID144761182.
