In the latter part of the 19th century, the bicycle boom was the equivalent of the “dot-com” bubble of the 1990s.
Potemkin factories sprang up, manufacturing nothing but the promise of humungous returns on investment.
Plants that did produce bicycles reflected the labour standards of the day: the exploitation of cheap labour (often poor women) and lax or non-existent worker-safety regulations.
Progress came at great cost. Workers willing to do battle with top-hatted tycoons, their hired goons and complicit officials won rights many now take for granted, or deem superfluous in our “globalized” world.
Often, it took catastrophe to sway public opinion and force legislation. In 1911, The Triangle Waist Company fire in New York City killed 146 garment workers, mostly immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three, who either died in the fire or jumped to their deaths from upper floor factory windows.
Labour Day in Canada had its start on April 15, 1872, when the Toronto Trades Assembly organized Canada’s first large demonstration in support of 24 leaders of the Toronto Typographical Union, who were imprisoned for striking.
The Canadian Labour Congress was formed in 1883.
Miners on Vancouver Island suffered deplorable conditions, while coal barons like Victoria’s Lord Dunsmuir lived in splendor. When mid-Island miners went on strike, in 1913, out came the militia. In Cumberland, union organizer Ginger Goodwin was assassinated by police.
In 2001, corporatist ideologues in the present British Columbia government had Cumberland street signs commemorating Goodwin removed, prompting outrage from the B.C. Federation of Labour.
In another dark moment in Canada’s history, depression-era unemployed were first exploited in “work camps,” then attacked by police when they tried to march on Ottawa.
It should go without saying that were it not for the labour movement, we might not enjoy such givens as the two-day weekend, paid holidays, and the eight-hour day.
In recent years, companies have found a way around these “limits” to profit by relocating manufacturing to regions unencumbered by notions of social justice.
Chinese workers can be found welding bicycle frames without any kind of safety gear … unless shielding the face with cardboard meets Worksafe standards.
A New York Times article, in 2007, reported that workers at Dahon’s bicycle factory in Shenzen were enjoying higher wages. Zhang Jingming was making 1.45 cents per bicycle saddle, up from from 1.32 cents. Therefore, if he worked fast enough, he could clear $263 a month.
This year, however, it looks like Mr. Zhang will soon be out of a job. According to Yahoo! Finance, Dahon is eyeing cheaper labour in China’s interior.
As I’ve noted previously, these “savings” rest not only on the backs of foreign workers, but also on the availability of cheap oil to transport the goods they produce.
On Labour Day, we take a break from work, relax at the beach, go cycling in the countryside, sleep in.
But let us also give thought to those who fought for the simple idea of leisure time, let alone human dignity. There are many places where people do not enjoy such basic freedoms and many yet who would deny liberties our forbears paid dearly to secure.
What does Labour Day mean to you?
Origins of Labour Day in Canada
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Interesting little history lesson. We don’t have coal mines back East but we did have all kinds of manufactures that employed women and children, especially in textiles. We should be grateful for all the advances in labour conditions, but also not rest on our laurels, as plenty of people are exploited all over the world.
Labour is a sad day for me. It marks my father’s suicide. It also used to mark back to school, but now that I’m out it feels just like another holiday.
Thanks for your comment, Anabelle. Obviously this day has a serious personal dimension for you as well.
We should mark Labour Day with mixed emotions, a little like Remembrance Day, celebrating the victories at the same time as remembering all those who suffered and died to bring us the freedoms we now enjoy.
We should also recognize that those freedoms need defending from generation to generation, because unfortunately, as Aldous Huxley noted, “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.”
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