The new industrial workforce often lived and worked under very poor conditions, and enjoyed few employment rights. Workers who left their jobs in protest could find themselves arrested by the mounted police under the terms of the Masters and Servants Act for deserting their employment, or alternatively detained under the vagrancy laws.; Although the position of organized labour was weak in Canada – the trade unions only had very limited legal rights – the number of industrial disputes grew significantly over this period.; ; The resulting lockouts and strikes sometimes required armed government intervention.; The militia was most commonly used for this purpose, but the mounted police were cheaper to deploy and were considered to be more politically reliable.
