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{LABOUR AND SOCIAL HISTORY

= Harvey Landon Ladd led
the 5 month strike.

Hanover Kitchens was a

flashpoint in 1963 strike
In October 1963, IWA Local 2-500
members in Hanover, Ontario
fought off police and scabs to
win a first-ever contract at
Hanover Kitchens, a furniture
plant that still operates today.
Workers were on the picket line
for nearly 5 months. An IWA
newspaper reported in early
October: “Police intervention and
arrests of five union members
has this town astir.” Brother
George Spiesmaster, chair of the
strike committee and four sup-
porters (union drivers for a local
bread company) had been
accused of overturning a vehicle
on the picket line which “presum-
ably” carried scabs. The compa-
ny had brought in scabs from
Toronto, whom were billeted in a
nearby town. Hanover Kitchens
had first been organized in 1954
but the employer refused to
negotiate a first agreement and
the certification was lost. Workers
remembered. They rejoined in
1963 by a margin of 84%. The
victory forty years ago brought
the average wage up to $1.35 an
hour. It also established group
insurance, got employer-paid
hospital premiums (before the
days of Medicare), won two rest
periods a day, and established
call time of four hours if no work
was available.

Royal Commission 1903

addressed craft unions
A hundred years ago a federal
Royal Commission acknowledged
the impact that a fledgling inter-
national union movement was
having on craft industry workers.
At that point in time workers in
Canada and the United States
were banding together in craft
unions to share information and
secure working conditions across
industries in North America. The
5 presence of
International
craft unions was
particularly
strong in Quebec
among construc-
tion and trans-

- port workers.
Craft convention Skilled workers

in both coun-

tries, including those in the metal,
print and garment trades, were
also among those who pushed
for an 8 hour day and, between
1903-1908, there was a major
campaign by craft unions on that
very issue. By 1919 the eight-hour
day would become observed in
numerous workplaces.
Underneath craft unionism, how-
ever, masses of industrial workers
remained isolated in Canada and
not represented by any type of
organization.

IWA ARCHIVES

= In 1943, IWA Local 363 broke through with the first union agreement at
the BATCO logging company. Left to r. are Freddy Halstrom, Nigel Morgan,
manager Al Simpson Jr., Otto McDonald, Alex Armella, and Ernie Anderson.

It was a little more than 60 years ago

It took a World War for the B.C.
government to pass laws which

allowed the first union contract
Their names are emblazoned in IWA
history: Alex Armella, Otto
MacDonald, Freddy Halstrom, Nigel
Morgan and Ernie Anderson. In 1943
the newly-formed IWA-CIO Local 1-
363, led by International Executive
Board member and chief negotiator
Nigel Morgan, achieved what no
other group of woodworkers had
achieved - the first collective agree-
ment where the employer legally rec-
ognized the union - the then
International | Woodworkers of.
America — as the official bargaining
agent.

Until that point there had been
some recognition of the union but
only at the camp or plant level where
company bosses sought labour peace
with rebellious crews hungry for
decent pay and working conditions.
In 1941 IWA Local 1-80 won “Union
Camp” awards at four operations of
Lake Logging Co. Ltd operations in

the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver
Island, setting the pace for the IWA.

It took the Second World War for
the B.C. government to finally amend
labour legislation which forced com-
panies to legally recognize what
workers had fought decades for. With
the war against fascism in Europe
and Asia in full swing and an overar-
ching need for labour peace to ensure
wartime production, the provincial
government amended the Industrial
Relations and Conciliation Act on
March 11, 1943. Immediately the IWA
looked to land its first agreement and
did so in April. A fifteen clause agree-
ment, touted as “the finest in the
province” was struck between Local 1-
363 and the BATCO Development
Company at Campbell River.

The agreement recognized the
principle of seniority and established
a four-step grievance procedure
which included a final arbitration
decision within 48 hours. The 8 hour
day was agreed upon for six days a
week with overtime after 8 hours or
48 hours worked. All Sundays and

legal holidays were observed as days
off and a pay day was established on
the four day of the month with a
“drag day” on the 18th of the month,
providing advance pay.

A Joint Safety Committee was
enshrined in the contract as the com-.
pany and the union would work with
the WCB to reduce accidents and
inspect machinery and equipment. If
the committee deemed a situation as
unsafe, work would be halted.

Leaves of absence were won for
those ill or injured, serving the
National Defence Forces or called for
union business. The contract also
ensured that cook house employees
had to have a health card issued by an
approved doctor. In addition the
union negotiated that no member
would be asked by the company to
scab or handle “hot” products.

The changes to labour law, which
were opposed by the Canadian
Manufacturers Association, were
hard fought for. Nigel Morgan and
others spearheaded a huge grass-
roots campaign that saw IWA local
unions and sub-
locals in the
camps and mills
write and petition
the government.
At the time there
were between
8,000 - 10,000
IWA members in

5 29 operations. At

Nigel/Morgan BATCO a Joint
Union-Management Production
Committee was established to seek
cooperative and collective planning by
both sides to maximize production.
Both sides agreed to recognize the
success of the business as a priority.
Such committees became common-
place, first in Great Britain and then
in the U.S. and Canada to support the
war. On the Coast of B.C. the lumber
camps were short some 4,000 men
and many servicemen returned from
overseas to work in the woods.

Did you know about the
other September 11?

THIS PAST SEPTEMBER 11 marked
the second anniversary of the terrorist
attacks on innocent civilians at the
World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and
innocent airline passengers and crew
in the United States. The events of that
horrendous day have changed our
world in many ways.

For working people and trade union-
ists in the South American nation of
Chile, September 11 also has an extraor-
dinary meaning — it’s the very day that,
thirty years ago, the democratically-
elected government of Salvador Allende
was overthrown in a terrorist military
coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.
President Allende, who was inaugurat-
ed in November of 1970, lay dead with
some followers in La Moneda, the pres-
idential palace in the capital city of
Santiago. By military decree, Pinochet
immediately outlawed the Central
Unica de Trabajadores (CUT), which
was the central labour body in the coun-

= On September 11, 1973 La Moneda
was bombed, fired upon and invaded.

try. Hundred of union leaders and
activists were hunted down, tortured
and murdered. Hundreds more disap-
peared, never to be seen again.

Elected by a popular vote of only 36
per cent, president Allende lead a coali-
tion of social democrats, socialists,
communists, and disparate Christian
Democrats to reform Chilean society
and the economy under the coalition
banner of the Unidad Popular (Popular
Unity). He went about a program of
social reform and nationalized banks,

foreign-controlled corporations and
private property. The result was out-
rage from U.S. multinationals led by
ATT and the Kennecott Cooper compa-
ny, which had assets taken away.

The CIA worked directly with Nixon
administration officials to isolate and
destabilize the Chilean economy.
Widespread social unrest ensued and
wildcat strikes took place, driven by
both right wing and left wing unions.
By the fall of 1973 strikes by truckers,
doctors, shop owners and others, fund-
ed in part by the CIA, brought the coun-
try to further chaos. On September 11
La Moneda was attacked by tanks, fight-
er bombers, grenades and rifle fire.

Trade unionists from all over the
world joined governments in renounc-
ing the destruction of Chilean democra-
cy. Pinochet would rule with an iron fist
until 1990 when free elections were
once again held. A central labour move-
ment was reborn in 1988 and today the
IWA is working with the National
Confederation of Forest Workers of
Chile to assist forest unions.

22 | THE ALLIED WORKER NOVEMBER 2003