Strikes
August 13, 1946, broken windows at the Empire Mill and gathering on Dufferin Street, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, 1946.
Murielle Halley Collection.
Montreal Cotton Co. employees had an up-and-down militant history. There were great periods of activism, interspersed with periods of disengagement. The cotton industry was one of the first to have women join unions. At times, women played a major part there, being the driving force behind the first strike, which occurred almost right after the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield factory was established in 1875.
While the 1937 and 1946 strikes were exceptions (over 100 days long), strikes at the Montreal Cotton Co. were rare and short-lived until the 1980s, and the workers rarely came out on top. Indeed, management proved to be highly impervious to employee demands, nearly always having recourse to militia and law enforcement to suppress them. The 1946 strike was a historic turning point for employer-employee relations at the Montreal Cotton Co. Despite positive outcomes, the region was henceforward seen as too demanding, which inhibited the company’s recovery when faced with difficult conditions.
The Importance of Madeleine Parent
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TRANSCRIPT
In the years following shutdown and demolition,citizens came together to assess...
...the preservation and reclamation potential...
...of the industrial heritage. The move led to...
...the designation of a special place for a truly exceptional woman: Madeleine Parent.
Madeleine Parent is a key figure in the history of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield; mainly due to the role she played during the 1946 strike.
Madeleine Parent’s popularity with women was unequivocal. She encouraged them to take part in union meetings and to express their ideas and demands.
On June 1st 1946, a strike was declared. It lasted 100 days...
...and took on mythical proportions in the minds of the city’s residents.