Working in Steel

Working in Steel

Author: Craig Heron

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780771040863

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Here is the story of how mass production came to Canada and what it meant for Canadian workers. Craig Heron's Working in Steel takes the reader inside the huge new steel plants that were built in Sydney, New Glasgow/Trenton, Hamilton, and Sault Ste. Marie at the turn of the century. Amid massive fire-breathing machines, we meet the steelworkers, many of them migrants from southern and eastern European villages or Newfoundland outports, who braved the smoke, noise, and heat in gruelling twelve-hour days, seven days a week. And we watch the inevitable conflicts that developed when these workers began to make demands on their bosses. Professor Heron presents a stimulating new analysis of the Canadian working class in the early twentieth century, emphasizing the importance of changes in the work world for the larger patterns of working-class life. He examines the impact of new technology in Canada's Second Industrial Revolution, but challenges the popular notion that mass-production workers lost all skill, power, and pride in the work process. He shifts the explanation of managerial control in these plants from machines to the blunt authoritarianism and shrewd paternalism of corporate management. His discussion of Canada's first steelworkers sheds new light on the uneven, unpredictable, and conflict-ridden process of technological change in industrial capitalist society.


Steel City

Steel City

Author: M.J. Dear

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 1987-12-15

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 144263815X

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From its establishment nearly 200 years ago as a village at the centre of an agricultural district, Hamilton has grown into one of Canada's biggest industrial centres, at the heart of a highly developed regional municipality. The story of its changing landscapes, both physical and human, is presented in the nineteen essays that make up this volume, all by geographers associated with Hamilton's McMaster University. Change is the essence of the story. Each contributor focuses on one aspect of the past, present, or future landscapes of Hamilton, and places it within the context of change in the region. The first series of essays explores physical landscapes – geology and relief, climate, soils, vegetation, and hydrology – and shows how human activity has moulded them. The second group charts the evolution of human landscapes in the region, paying special attention to contemporary Hamilton with its rich and diverse combination of people and cultures, and also to the political intrigue that surrounded the introduction of regional government to the area. Finally a third series focuses on the functioning of the Hamilton region. Within a highly complex system, the city and region balance a broad range of often contradictory trends and activities. The contributors examine the difficulties facing agriculture in a rapidly urbanizing region; the importance of Hamilton in caring for welfare-dependent populations; the future of steel in Steel City; the challenges posed by energy requirements in the region; and the hard choices facing policy-makers. The last two essays discuss the role played by McMaster University in the life of the region, and the landscape of Hamilton today: a remarkable complex of historical interest, great natural beauty, and modern city life.