Industrialization

How was Industrialization Changing the Workplace

Working in Factories
Many jobs available in the city were factory jobs
The employees working in factories were either immigrants or the working class
Most of the employees of factories tried to live close to their job (factory) which
was often in overcrowded neighborhoods

What were the safety concerns working in factories?

Long hours and low pay and conditions were often dirty and very dangerous
Accidents and factory fires happened often
In 1880, laws were passed to have inspections/safety conditions of factories to
ensure workers are kept safe
These were often ignored by owners

What were the working conditions in factories?

Was dangerous and dirty, employees had many injuries from working, but never quit
because they needed the money, even if is was low
Forced to work overtime without pay

Women in the Workplace

Women were expected to work in the home: raising children, making meals, making
clothes, and caring for animals = they never received money for this work, even
though everything they did was for the goodness of their families quality of life
In the late 1800s: Women began working outside of the home
The city provided new opportunities for women to have jobs and to earn income
Young woman often worked as domestic servants ( someone who is paid to keep
another’s house clean, make meals, and teach the children), 40% of women did this
type of job
Some women worked in stores and offices
When the typewriter and telephones were adopted, many women were hired to be
telephone operators and secretaries
Often employed in the clothing industry
Women worked the assembly lines in factories
Women made 34% of the manufacturing workforce in Ontario
Paid less than men for doing the same job working the same conditions

Children in the Workplace

Machines were brought in to make life easier, but they needed A LOT of people to
operate them, including children
Unskilled workers (a person who hasn’t been trained properly on the equipment) was
the cheapest type of labour
Children were the cheapest to hire
Weekly average pay: Man $8.25, Woman $4.50, Boy $3.00
Laws were passed to try to abolish child labour

Powering the New Industries

Growing cities needed power to run the factories, streets lights and to improve
living conditions
Main source of power in Canada was steam engines fuelled by gas, coal and wood
These were very expensive
Electricity developed more cities moved to electric versus gas run (i.e., street
lights, streetcars)
To meet the demands of wanting electric power, Toronto Electric Company was created
and started selling electricity
Price of power was very high since there was no competition for Toronto Electric
Company
Hydroelectric power was created
This is when electricity is generated from the force of moving water
Questions: What were the intended and unintended consequences of the rise of
factories in the cities?

How did People Respond to the Challenges of Industrialization?

Demanding Workers’ Rights

As business began to flourish and owners were making a good profits, owners/wealthy
economic statue continue to make money while employee/working class still faced low
wages, poverty, unemployment.
This sparked a demand from the working class to have everyone benefit from
industrialization not just the “rich”
This caused conflict between workers and owners
Workers wanted a change, but owners wanted to still make a profit
Some people in the working class believed the only way to make a change was to band
together which is what we call today UNIONS

Demanding Workers’ Rights Cont.

Unions could apply pressure to employers while an individual worker could not
Example: If an individual worker refused to not work overtime for no pay, they
would be fired. This would not happen with the support of the union as all
employees would refuse working overtime for no pay leaving the owners with no one
to work overtime forcing the owners to pay for overtime. This is also known as a
STRIKE
In 1872, the federal government passed The Trade Union Act making unions legal in
Canada
This was an organization that working class men in the same trade (same
industry/job) could join together to support one another
Only skilled employee can challenge employers through strike actions, not unskilled
workers (which excluded women and children)

The Knights of Labor

This was an organization that took a different approach than the unions
It was open to all workers regardless of their skills
They wanted to bring everyone together to form one big union rather than separate
unions based on skill set
It wanted to raise wages and improve working conditions like the trade unions
It wanted laws to protect workers’ rights and have income tax and cap off work days
to 8 hours
Only union during this time to include women

Strike Action in Canada

The London Streetcar Strike (London, Ontario)
1899, streetcar workers walked off the job
Refused to work until their American employer raised their wages and shorten their
hours
Employer refused to these conditions and locked all the employees out and replaced
them with new, non-unionized employees (strikebreakers)
Many stood behind the unionized workers in support in the forms of rallies and
protests and refused streetcar service. This is known as boycotting
Boycotting the service wasn’t successful and didn’t get the employer to change his
mind
Violent riots took place: where people threw rocks at streetcars and ransacked and
burned them as well. This still didn’t get the employer to budge
Eventually, streetcar workers were unsuccessful to get the employer to meet their
demands, and people began to take the streetcar again, and employees had to find
other jobs.
As strikes grew, employers started to put more pressure on the governments to step
in to stop unions and strikes
When provincial governments tried to step in, it caused things to get worse

Demanding Rights Outside of the Workplace

Women’s Rights
WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union campaigned for the right to vote
The Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association (DWEA) petitioned the Ontario
premier to introduce legislation to extend voting rights to women
Premier was in favour of this, but the public was not
The WCTU & DWEA organized a mock parliament in Toronto
This was done to imitate and ridicule the workings of the governments
It featured different discussions by women about men’s rights
For Example, one scenario was women had the right to vote and men did not, and
whether men should be given the same right to vote as women
It was still not until 1910 that women got the right to vote in Ontario

How were trade unions significant to the working class in Canada?

Create a list of the positive and enegative impacts of industralization

Demanding Rights Outside of the Workplace Cont.

Children’s Rights
Some were opposed to children working in factories
Concerned about children who were neglected or abandoned by parents
Children should be protected
People believed children who were on the streets instead of school would eventually
turn to crime
1893, a new Children’s Protection Act was passed also known as “Children’s Charter”
It was to protect children from abandonment, mistreatment and neglect