Who were the Knights of Labour?

One of the first international unions to operate in Canada was the Knights of Labour. The union organized members in Canada in the 1880s. The Knights organized unskilled labour as well as those belonging to particular trades and crafts. The union was also successful at organizing on a plant basis.

The Knights ultimately failed in the United States because of divisions between the craft unions and their central organization, the American Federation of Labour, and because the leadership of the Knights did not always support their members, particularly when it came to industrial action.

In Canada, the Knights had given some workers their first opportunity to belong to a union. The Knights were very popular in Quebec and eventually combined with craft unions to establish the Trades and Labour Congress.

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