History
The organization traces its origins to the founding of the Toronto Trades Assembly on 12 April 1871, when representatives of 16 trade unions established a central labour body in the city. The assembly emerged during a period of industrialization and expansion of wage labour in Toronto. Historian Gregory S. Kealey describes the city's trade unions and central labour organizations as important institutions in the development of a distinct working-class movement during the late nineteenth century.
The assembly became involved in the campaign for shorter working hours. In 1872, it supported striking members of the Toronto Typographical Union who sought a nine-hour working day. The dispute became one of the most prominent labour conflicts in nineteenth-century Toronto and occurred at a time when trade-union organization could still be prosecuted as a criminal conspiracy. The controversy surrounding the strike and the prosecution of trade unionists contributed to a wider national debate over the legal status of unions.
During its early decades, the city's central labour organization also participated in campaigns concerning employment standards, sanitary working conditions, shorter working hours and the prohibition of child labour. The economic depression of the 1870s weakened the city's labour movement, but Toronto's central labour organization was revived during the economic recovery of the early 1880s. The Toronto Trades and Labour Council, established in 1881, became an important institution within the city's growing labour movement.
During the early twentieth century, the Toronto District Labour Council became involved in debates over independent labour political action. Most council delegates supported the formation of a labour party controlled by trade unionists, but divisions within the council hindered the development of an effective alternative political party in Toronto.
The council supported labour candidates and participated in efforts to establish independent labour political organizations, including the Canadian Labour Party. Its activities later expanded to include campaigns concerning human rights, public services, racial justice and environmental issues.
The labour council founded and continues to organize Toronto's annual Labour Day Parade. The labour demonstrations associated with the Toronto printers' strike of 1872 were among the events that contributed to the development of Labour Day celebrations in Canada.
