Industries crowded into Point Douglas to take advantage of the railway for shipping and receiving. Factories produced farm implements, paints, liquor, beds, wagons and carriages. Hundreds of workers were employed.

Few of those living in Point Douglas – or in other working-class neighbourhoods – owned their homes. Families usually rented accommodation, <--caption--> and single men and women lived in boarding houses. Some of the “poorest of the poor” – mostly newcomers from central and eastern Europe – lived and worked in Point Douglas. Overcrowding and the dirt and noise of industry made for appalling living conditions.

The Vulcan Iron Works, which manufactured parts for the railways, was one of Winnipeg’s largest metalworking shops. Its buildings stretched along the railway tracks for several city blocks. Vulcan employees worked longer hours, earned lower wages, and faced poorer working conditions than the unionized metal trades workers who were employed directly by the railways. Before the First World War, metal trades workers at Vulcan Iron works, Manitoba Bridge and Dominion Bridge lost several bitter fights with these companies over the right to have a union.
Workers’ discontent escalated during the war. Employers demanded ever greater production, while inflation eroded the workers’ incomes. Skilled workers at Vulcan, Manitoba Bridge, and Dominion Bridge struck again in 1917 and 1918, demanding union recognition and improved wages and working conditions. But the employers prevailed in these disputes. They hired strike breakers and brought in a detective agency to intimidate the workers. They backed up these tactics with court injunctions against picketing of their premises.

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Determined to win union recognition, workers struck once again on May 1, 1919. This time, the strikers had the full support of Winnipeg’s powerful Metal Trades Council. The Council represented and bargained for 19 craft unions in the city’s main railway shops. Its members were determined to secure a victory for their non-unionized brothers. But once again, the employers fought hard against unionization. Neither side was willing to compromise. The Metal Trades Council <--caption--> responded with dramatic action to support the strikers. It launched a sympathy strike of all its members to win union recognition for the Vulcan and other metal shop workers. This confrontation escalated quickly. It became a key factor in the declaration of a general sympathetic strike on May 15, 1919.