Although it never won an election or legally represented workers, it was part of an important movement among Canadian unions in the 1980s to break away from their international American counterparts.
The two unions fought for control, but in 1917 joined forces and formed the Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia.
The Nova Scotia miners were angry that UMWA was unable to support their strike, but nevertheless remained on the picket line.
[5] Three federal mediators attempted to negotiate an end to the strike, and three times the miners rejected tentative contracts (the last one proposing a 50 percent wage hike over three years).
Roughly half the Cape Breton miners joined the CMU, forcing a federally supervised union election.
Member anger over the level of service given by UMWA remained high, and CMU forced a second election in March 1984.
[7][11][12][13] The Canadian Mineworkers Union elected Donald MacLellan its national president at its founding convention.
Dave Odo was elected vice president, Joe MacNeil the general secretary, and Allan MacDonald the treasurer.