Acts of Union

The labour historian and former elementary teacher Andy Hanson’s well-researched account of the rise of union consciousness in the ranks of Ontario’s primary school teachers, Class Action, is a compelling and readable, if flawed, narrative. Through a progressive lens, this one-time labour activist traces a history of increasing militancy, over several decades, and many victories — with more than a few bumps in the road along the way. He also shows how gender played a dominant role in this history, almost unique in Canada’s labour movement, from the very beginning.

Bringing together a number of local associations, female elementary school teachers formed their own union in 1918: the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario, or FWTAO. Their male counterparts — mostly teaching higher grades or occupying senior administrative positions, at better pay — followed suit in 1920, when they founded the Ontario Public School Men Teachers’ Federation, or...