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The following article was written by Henry Nokes and appeared in the 1974 edition of the Labour Review. Mr. Nokes was, for many years, closely involved in labour circles in Peterborough and was the area representative of the Canadian Labour Congress.

The Local Labour Council Throughout The Years

It has been suggested that I write a history of the Peterborough Labour Council. I am going to exercise literary license and choose to write something less comprehensive in nature. It is my choice to journey through the years in a more disconnected fashion.

There is ample evidence of active trade unions in the Peterborough-Lindsay area in the late 1880's and 1890's. In the Gainey collection of labour records which were unearthed by Mr. Cameron Wasson, a former Treasurer of the Peterborough Trades & Labour Council, and Mr. John McPhee, a former President of the Council, is a minute book of the Moulders Union, Local 191. This Union was chartered in October, 1873. The particular set of minutes in question ran from August 18th, 1882, to January 15th, 1892.

On August 17th, 1888, the Local Union appointed a Committee to co-operate with "other Labour unions in town" for a "demonstration". This took place September 3rd from the Knights of Labour Hall. (The Knights had two Local Assemblies in Peterborough at that time).

Four International Unions paraded. They were Carpenters, Local 375; Bricklayers, Local 12; Moulders, Local 191, and International Typographical Union, Local 248 (still in existence), besides six other organizations. These unions were either purely local or part of the Knights of Labour. They were Masons, Shoemakers, Tailors, Machinists, Hod Carriers and Painters. It should be noted that I gleaned the above information from a letter with respect to the collection from Dr. Eugene Forsey, who spent a great deal of time going over the collection for his history of the Canadian Trade Union movement.

It is significant that the "demonstration" took place in 1889 because the Peterborough Examiner of December 26th of the same year reports the founding of what was apparently Peterborough's first Labour Council. It reads as follows:

"An adjourned meeting of the Trades and Labour Unions of the town was held in the Labour Hall last night and a Trades and Labour Council, similar to those in other large towns and cities was formed The Unions represented at the organizational meeting were the Bricklayers, Carpenters and Joiners, and Knights of Labour. The object of the Trades and Labour Council is to deal with matters of municipal and national politics, (discussion of which is prohibited in individual unions) and labour interests in general.

"The following officers were elected: President R. McCregor, Vice-President John Miller, Recording and Corresponding Secretary W. J. Hogan, Treasurer R. Sheehy, Warden, John Gibson.

"A committee composed of Messrs. W. Ringer, George Rose and R. Sheehy was elected to appoint Legislative, Municipal and Organizing Committees-Standing Committees. The Council adjourned to meet December 28th."

Dissolution of sorts must have overcome the original Labour Council because there is material in the Gainey collection on the Peterborough Trades and Labour Council formed in March, 1902.

In the Gainey collection the Minute Book of Bricklayers Union, Local 17, gives record of a letter received by the Local from another Peterborough Local, American Federation of Labour, Federal Labour Union, Local 9240, asking Local 17 to appoint three delegates to discuss forming a Trades and Labour Council. The Local Union agreed to do this and on April 1st two delegates were appointed.

In this period organized labour was making strides in Peterborough as the following article in the Peterborough Examiner of March 3rd, 1902, indicates. The article was headed "Labour Matters"- "Important Visit of Two Official Labour Representatives to Peterborough", and it went on to say: "The great importance at present attaching to the labour movement in Peterborough has justified the visit of two of the best informed Canadian labour representatives to town to confer with the Federal Labour Local, whose membership has grown to such a phenomenal extent. Mr. R Glocking, Secretary of the Ontario Labour Bureau, and Mr. J. A. Flett, Vice-President of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada, arrived in town yesterday and are stopping at the National Hotel. Mr Flett has cancelled a number of other engagements to confer with the officers of the Peterborough Local on matters affecting the welfare of the organization here.