The Longshoremen's Strike in the Port of Montreal, 1880.
Along with the printers, the longshoremen had the most highly organized union in the nineteenth century. Longshoremen's strikes were often spectacular, as can be seen in this illustration from the Canadian Illustrated News (May 29, 1880). The longshoremen in MontrΘal had to work very long hours; ship owners often forced them to work non-stop until a vessel had been completely unloaded. In busy periods, this could mean seventeen-hour days. The QuΘbec City longshoremen had a much stronger union and succeeded in getting an eight-hour work-day, which was exceptional in the 1880s.
