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Charles H. Millard, Architect Of Industrial Unionism In Canada, Jeffrey L. Wilson

Jeffrey L. Wilson

In 1937 the strike at General Motors in Oshawa resulted in the first major victory for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in Canada. The president of the Oshawa local was Charles Millard (1896-1978), who subsequently played an influential role in most of the major developments in organized labour between 1937 and 1956. He was the first National Director of the Canadian branch of the United Steel Workers of America in 1943, a position which he retained until his retirement in 1956. Under his leadership the steelworkers’ union became a dominant force in the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL), taking …