Strike paved the way for better conditions

RE: Stelco timeline

Your Sept. 22 timeline of U.S. Steel describes the 1946 Stelco strike as dividing the community and splitting families. In fact, the workforce was already divided long before this event, between older, mostly Anglo Saxon and skilled workers who enjoyed privileges and securities that the other, often immigrant and younger workers, could only dream about but rarely attained.

By solidifying the industrial union movement in Canada, the 1946 Stelco strike paved the way for legislation that would ensure more safe and equitable conditions for all workers — a major victory for Hamilton and Canada. Simon Orpana, Hamilton Co-author of “Showdown!: Making Modern Unions”