Join Us! Annual General Meeting

It has been one year since the Workers History Museum’s founding membership meeting and we have made enormous advances. Our first exhibit, The Struggle for Family Leave, is almost complete, we participated at Heritage Day and Col. By Day, sponsored film evenings and a story-telling session, worked on oral history and video projects, advocated on behalf of workers history and heritage and boosted our membership to more than a hundred, twice our original target.

To hear more details about the museum’s successes and achievements and to help steer us on the right course for our second year, attend our next Annual General Meeting.

Workers History Museum
Annual General Meeting
7:00 pm
Monday February 27, 2012
PSAC National Office
233 Gilmour Street, Ottawa

For more information please contact info@workershistorymuseum.ca

100 years and 1 year: A week of Anniversaries

This week marked the 100th Anniversary of the Bread & Roses Strike, also known as the Singing Strike, which began on January 12, 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. On this day thousands of textile workers began a walkout after a new law reduced the maximum working hours per week for women and children, significantly reducing the household incomes for those families.

The strike gained national media attention after the Lawrence City police and militia forcibly prevented striking textile workers from sending their children to cities offering safe shelter and care. Dozens of mothers and their children were arrested, and some injured, while boarding trains heading out of town. This garnered national sympathy for the strikers and resulted in a federal investigation.

The strike also built strong multicultural support networks in the labour community. Striking workers represented 24 nationalities speaking 20 different languages worked together on the strike committees and marched side-by-side on the picket lines.

The Zinn Education Project has put together a fabulous virtual exhibit on the Bread & Roses Strike at http://exhibit.breadandrosescentennial.org/

This past week also marked the 1 year Anniversary of the founding of the Workers History Museum.

On January 10th, 2011 the Workers History Museum held its first Annual General Meeting, electing 11 members to the Board of Directors, establishing 3 working committees, and adopting its mandate and by-laws. As we enter our second year, the WHM continues to dedicate its efforts to bringing you stories like the Bread & Roses Strike and developing exhibits and preservation initiatives on labour and workers history in the National Capital Region.

Happy New Year from the Workers History Museum!!!

If you are still looking for your 2012 calendar then why not start each day this year by celebrating labour's rich history. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 2012 Calendar: An Agenda for Social Change is a calendar project championed by Erika Shaker for the past few years. The result is a wonderful educational tool that informs daily through key dates, stories and facts on the history of the struggle for social justice in Canada. For more information click here:

This year also marks the centenary of the founding of the Alberta Federation of Labour. To find out more about the yearlong celebrations and commemoration projects and initiatives in Alberta check out www.project2012.ca.