Did you know ? That the non-oper­at­ing unions of C.N.R. and C.P.R went on strike from August 22nd to August 28th, 1950 for high­er wages and a 40 hour work week. There were thou­sands of oth­er Rail­way employ­ees that were not includ­ed in this strike, and after nine days off work, they could claim un-employ­ment insur­ance. The Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment did not want that to hap­pen, so the Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment forced the strik­ers back to work by an Act of Par­lia­ment, and ordered both sides to com­pul­so­ry arbi­tra­tion. The arbi­tra­tor’s rul­ing grant­ed low­er wages than bar­gained for and imple­ment­ed the 40 hour week for the unions, start­ing in 1951. Thus, a new era began for our Cana­di­an soci­ety, and that’s how Cana­da got the 40 hour week. Thanks to our non-op rail­road­ers and rail­road man­age­ment. The non-ops were employ­ees who were not involved in the actu­al run­ning of trains such as; sec­tion­men, shop­men, car­men, yard­mas­ters, dis­patch­ers, teleg­ra­phers, agents, clerks etc. The Rail­roads in the Unit­ed States had gained the 40 hour week about three years previously.