The Lost Code

Worker Dependency

Workers in Québec City in 1916

Musée de la civilisation, collection du Séminaire de Québec, fonds Amédée Gosselin. Ouvriers. 1916. N° Ph2000-1946

Factory workers were dependent on their employers. They had no job security and since they were not well educated and often illiterate, they did not have any specific skills. Finding a new job was not always easy. Workers had no protection whatsoever until the appearance of unions in the 1880s and had no choice but to accept meager wages and poor working conditions. As salaried workers, they relied solely on their employment income and were less self-sufficient than they had been on the farm. In 1825, over 70% of the population of Montréal rented their homes.