= Loggers were offered deals
as “partners” with companies

a

Similar tactics tried on
Coast loggers in 1953

Today's employers may have
taken a page out of labour rela-
tions history. In 1953, to under-
mine IWA bargaining units on
the Coast, timber owners offered
to sign up loggers as “partners.”
In August of that year, Loggers’
Local 1-71 financial secretary
Fred Fieber sent out a message
to all Coast bushworkers not to
be duped. As “partners” the log-
gers would not be protected by a
union-negotiated collective
agreement. And they, as individ-
uals, (sound familiar?) would
cover the costs of their own
WCB premiums, and UI. All the
costs and expenses of machin-
ery and repairs would also be
taken off their payments by the
timber holders, who would con-
trol the books. Brother Fieber
warned loggers that they would
be working for “extremely
unfavourable working condi-
tions” as a “phoney set-up
intended intended to prevent
unionization of the camps and
secure cheap labour.” He point-
ed out that it was a “trap for
unwary loggers.” Said Fieber:
“We condemn this practice in
the strongest possible language,
and not only to warn loggers,
but to ask them to report to this
Union any attempt to extend this
trickery into other operations.”
At the 2002 Truck Loggers con-
vention Weyerhaeuser Senior
Vice-President of Timberlands
Rich Hanson, spoke of the impor-
tance of creating “alliances and
partnerships” and told the crowd
that in the future Weyco sees a
major role for contract loggers,
viewing them as “partners.”

Joe Mo’s Labour Day

notes from 50 years ago
The legendary Joe Morris, presi-
dent of the B.C. District Council
of the International Woodworkers
of America dur-
ing the 1950s,
wrote a message
of unity and
hope for a strug-
gling union. In
his 1953 Labour
Day message
Brother Morris
wrote: “We can-
not permit our horizons to be
limited by...economic conditions.
The world has a need for the
product of our labour, and will
continue to demand satisfaction
of that need.” He added: “There
is no occasion for pessimism
about the future. We have the
right to be optimistic about the
future of our Union.... From this
day onward we must equip our-
selves for continued struggle.”

Joe Morris

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

= Roy Mah, seen with his wife Lynn, was a union organizer, editor, war
hero and pioneer publisher. In June he won the Order of B.C.

There’s a real-life hero in our midst

IWA organizer in the 40s,
Roy Mah served his country

and helped win the vote

He is an extraordinary man with an
extraordinary history that links to the
IWA’s struggles to eliminate discrim-
ination against minorities in Canada.
Roy Mah, born in Edmonton in 1918,
would be contacted by IWA District
Council officer Nigel Morgan in 1943
to become an organizer for the union.

Roy was a history student at the
University of Victoria at the time. He
was also the Secretary of the Chinese
Youth Association in that city, and
assisted members with numerous
issues and problems. Even though he
was born in Canada, Roy and tens of
thousands of other Chinese Canadians
were not recognized as citizens. He went
to a segregated school in Victoria and

instinctively rebelled against inequality
and other forms of discrimination.

As an IWA organizer, Roy began
organizing workers of Chinese orig-
ine into the union in Victoria Local
118. He travelled up and down the
Coast, organizing workers in such
places as Duncan, Youbou, Nanaimo,
Comox and Port Alberni. Over on the
Mainland, Roy worked under the
tutelage of Brother Morgan and then
B.C. District Council president
Harold Pritchett, to organize workers
from Vancouver to Hope.

White workers were paid an aver-
age of 75 cents to $1.00 per hour
while “orientals,” including Chinese
and East Indians, were paid less than
half. Roy would become one of the
union’s most successful organizers,
bringing in some 1,800 of 2,000
Chinese origin workers in Local 118

alone. He was also the first editor of a
Cantonese version of the B.C. Lumber
Worker. According to Roy, learning
about the labour movement was a
great experience. “I thought that’s
exactly what the Chinese people
needed because they were working
for 25 or 40 cents an hour.”

In 1942 the IWA won equal wages
for workers, irregardless of race, ori-
gin or creed. It was a tremendous vic-
tory for all British Columbians.

World War Two called and Roy led
a faction of activists who believed that
by enrolling in the Canadian Army
and fighting overseas, Chinese
Canadians would receive the respect
and credentials necessary to be grant-
ed citizenry and the right to vote. He
and others risked their lives to prove
their loyalty to the country and for
social justice — and they eventually
won those democratic rights.

Overseas Roy would serve as a
Sargeant in the legendary Force 136
(the movie Bridge on the River Kwai
was based on 136’s exploits), which
functioned as a counterintelligence
unit behind enemy lines in Malaysia
and Singapore, organizing guerilla
warfare to successfully help defeat
the occupying Japanese Army.

Roy returned to the IWA after the
war and continued his successes as a
organizer until
1948. He attend-
ed the IWA’s
international con-
vention in 1947
where he noted
that all racial lines
had been eradicat-
ed by the labour
z movement. In

Royin1943 953, he utilized
his skills learned as an editor and
organizer to found the Chinatown
News, the first and only English-lan-
guage publication for Canadian born-
Chinese. He published it for 42 years
and was granted the Order of B.C.
this past June for that and numerous
achievements in the community.

It’s not just another
stat holiday, ya know

WHEN YOU ARE CHOWING down
this coming Labour Day weekend, take
a few moments to reflect on the his-
toric origins of this 109 year-old statua-
tory holiday in Canada.

For most of us, the first Monday in
September marks the end of summer,
a time for barbecues, picnics, family
get togethers and the occasional
parade. For others, it means the kids
are soon heading back to school.

But Labour Day, which today is uti-
lized by both trade unions and manage-
ment to get their messages out, is root-
ed deep in the struggles of the labour
movement. Recognized in both the
U.S., Canada and some Western
European countries, Labour Day’s roots
are inextricably linked to the early orga-
nized struggles of Canadian workers.

Although most American labour his-
torians recognize Peter J. McGuire,
founder and general secretary of the
American Federation of Labour’s

PHOTO COURTESY WA LOCAL 700
= Local 700 members marching in
St. Catherines on Labour Day 2002.

Carpenters and Joiners as the “Father
of Labour Day,” it is a known fact that
Brother McGuire was heavily influ-
enced by labour mobilization in the city
of Toronto.

In 1882 McGuire was invited by the
Toronto Trades Assemby (TTA) to
attend a giant demonstration and pic-
nic on July 22. The TTA had built on a
tradition it led ten years earlier when
seven unions went to Ottawa to protest
against a law which made the forma-
tion of trade unions a criminal conspir-

acy. Marching outside the home of
Prime Minister John A. McDonald, the
protest led to the striking down of the
conspiracy law on September 3, 1872.

It was in Toronto where McGuire got
the idea to push for a recognition of
Labour Day. He successfully influ-
enced the Central Labour Union of
New York State to celebrate it in 1882.

Some labour historians trace the ori-
gin of Labour Day to the Haymarket
Riots in Chicago in 1886 when trade
unionists and some Anarchists
demostrated for the 8 hour day in May
of that year. A bomb went off in the
crowd and police fired, killing demon-
strators and police.

In 1887 Oregon granted a Labour
Day holiday in the month of June.
Other states including Colorado and
New York, New Jersey and
Massechusetts followed. The U.S.
Congress declared Labour Day in the
District of Colombia on June 28, 1894,
joining 31 states. The Canadian govern-
ment passed a law recognizing Labour
Day on July 23 of the same year.

22 ] THE ALLIED WORKER AUGUST 2003