Consequently the first unions of the 19th century were in the fishery and classified as craft unions. The strategy skilled tradesmen used was to keep the supply of its members low and hence demand higher rates than unskilled workers. (Gillespie).
The early 20th century belonged to industrial unions (unskilled) as industry increased with factories, mines and railway. Several industrial unions began to organize such as Newfoundland Industrial Workers Association (Billy Wheeler 1917), The Long Shoremans Protective Union (James Kavanagh/ Micheal Gibbs early 19's), Fishermen's Protective Union (William Ford Coaker 1909), Newfoundland lumbermen's Association (John Thompson 1936) just to mention a few. There were two key pieces of legislation, which also helped the labor movement. The first being the Trade Union act in 1910, which protected Unions from criminal prosecution. The second and most important was the Wagner Act (1935) which forced employers to negotiate with legitimate unions and got union minded people in Newfoundland thinking about the ties they had with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The Newfoundland federation of labor (NFL) was another significant organization in Newfoundland's labor movement founded by Alphonsus Gregory Duggan in 1936. In 1940 Newfoundland had the most organized workers in North America. After Confederation lots of new progressive labor legislation was introduced such as Trade Union Act, Minimum Wage Act, Labor Relations Act and Workman's Compensation Act. In 1958 Landon Lad instigated a loggers strike by the IWA in Badger against the AND company which resulted in the killing of a police officer. Public opinion turned against the IWA and the loggers union lost all hope of winning the strike. Premier Smallwood then set out to create a climate and send a message that unions were not going to run his government. Mr. Smallwood pushed Ottawa for new social works projects.
