val Bs

& _ for a living wage as the cornerstone of a
productive equitable society;
: * which recognizes the need to create jobs as

those who benefit;

EDITORIAL”

an anti-inflation program-
name of those who suffer most only
them a second time with social cut-
any society which can suspend the
Aalis oF ordinary people with impunity;
p society which can lead a government on
| an anti-control platform only to be subjugated
, . controls requires change.
“What is required is change in the way that
. portant economic and social decisions are
made. Business and government must now
‘share their power with labour. If labour’s co-
operation is required to lead us out of our
economic diffuculties then it can only be on
‘the basis of a programme;
*. * which recognizes the right to employment

es the first economic priority;
f * which contains a commitment to protect
those who suffer from inflation by taxing

a * which includes a comment to redress this

uting income;

country’s unacceptable record in redistrib-

* which recognizes that an equitable society
can only be achieved if the power of cor-

porations to set prices is constrained to
match the constraint which is imposed on
the price of labour by the collective bar-

gaining process;

* which recognizes that private investment
decisions must serve the people.

“Organized labour is committed to these

objectives and principles. The only guarantee

that they will be honoured in our national

economic and social decisions is if organized

= Jabour is a full partner in making those

o decisions.”

“LABOUR SUPPORT”

___ FROM PAGE ONE
:

ing the resolutions all of which
were approved and called for:

e Full Federation support
for any affiliate ignoring or
resisting back-to-work orders
under Section 73 (7) of the
provincial Labour Code.

© All affiliates to develop
active political education pro-

grammes for support of the
New Democratic Party.

e The Executive Council of

FROM PAGE ONE

of 81 a an hour effective

na Saree

general increases will

_ raise the base rate to $6.95 an
hour this ad and to $7.76 an

hour July 1, 1977.

In to these in-

creases, several ny

revised

upwards 15
i ee. ‘

the Federation to adopt a
general policy of ignoring
Labour Relations Board orders
to remove or restrict the ‘“‘hot’’
declaration and to remind all
affiliates that non-observance
of a “thot” declaration consti-
tutes a violation of Federation
policy.

© The Federation to pledge
full support for the CLC’s
proposal of instituting a nation-
wide general strike.

“TOP AGREEMENT”

e Vacation qualification of
200 working days reduced to
180 working days.

Other items agreed to were
on Technological Change, a
Sub-Contractor clause and
First Aid Tickets.

Negotiations were conducted
for the Union by the Local
officers ably assisted by Vic
Schwartz, Plant aaicien:

and Mike Negrey, Plant
Secretary.

rose to the top of the B.C.

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER, 1976

NEW TRADE UNION BUILDING
NAMED AFTER EARLY UNIONIST

By LARRY RYAN

Secretary, Victoria
Labour Council

Victoria’s newest trade
union office building opened on
May 1, 1976. The building was
named for a man who has
almost been forgotten despite
his role as an early leader of
the Canadian trade union
movement.

The three-storey structure
was named in honour of J. G.
Watters who came to Van-
couver Island as a coal miner
and remained to become presi-
dent of the old Victoria Trades
and Labour Council, the B.C.
Federation of Labour and the
Trades and Labour Congress of
Canada.

The May Day opening was
presided over by John Schibli,
president of the Victoria
Labour Council and president
of the Board of Directors of the
Victoria Building Co-operative
Union. A large number of trade
unionists attended the
ceremony, including Tom
Gooderham, Director, Pacific
Region, CLC, George John-

ston, President of the B.C..

Federation of Labour. The B.C.
Department of Labour was
represented by Associate
Deputy Minister of Labour,
Ken Smith.

All present agreed that the
building was appropriately
named, as J. C. Watters did
indeed make an unique con-
tribution to the trade union
movement in Victoria, B.C.
and Canada.

Watters was born in Scot-
land. He worked as a coal
miner for a number of years in
West Virginia before coming to
Vancouver Island in 1893,
where he continued his trade.

Moving to Victoria at the
turn of the century, Watters
headed the Trades and Labour
Council for several years. In
1910, he became president of
the Victoria Labour Temple, a
limited company incorporated
to provide a home for labour in
the city — actually a forerun-
ner of the present Victoria
Building Co-operative. The La-

bour Temple didn’t materialize _

because of adverse economic
conditions that struck shortly
after it was launched.

It was the same year that he

Federation of Labour. This
was the first provincial federa-
tion of labour. Another well-
known labour figure of the day,
R. A. Stoney of New~ West-
minster, was elected vice-
president at the founding con-
vention held in Victoria.

Watters’ chief collaborator
in those early years at the local
level was Christian Sivertz of
the Federated Association of
Letter Carriers, who was
Secretary of
Council for many years and in
1913 assumed the presidency of
the Federation.

In 1911, Watters rose from
provincial to national promi-
nence with his election as
president of the Trades and
Labour Congress of Canada.
This took place at the Calgary
Convention. He remained in
this post for seven years and
was credited by labour his-
torians and others as having
made a considerable mark on

the development of the Con- ©

gress, guiding it through the
difficult years of the First
World War.

Politically, Watters con-
sidered himself a socialist and
as such ably represented
western socialist thought in the
councils of the TLC.

Ironically, it was a split that
developed between eastern and
western delegates at the 1918
Quebec Convention that led to
his defeat as president.

His defeat, among other

things, didn’t help the cause of -

unity. The grave political and
economic problems which had
agitated western trade union-
ists — and which Watters had
been endeavouring to get
action on in Ottawa — went
from bad to worse, finally
reaching a decisive crisis in
the 1919 Winnipeg general
strike. That momentous event,
plus the rise of the OBU, led to
further dissention in the ranks
and Watters suffered the pain-
ful experience of seeing a
portion of his life’s work fall
apart. The Federation he had
done so much to build was dis-
banded in 1920.

Watters died in Victoria in
1947 at the age of 78.

During his active years his

‘union affiliations were with

the:
Miners and Mine Labourers’

the Labour -

Protective Association (an
affiliate of the Western
Federation of Miners); Vic-
toria Labourers’ Protective
Association, and Hod Carriers
and General Labourers’ Union.

Mrs. J. C. Watters, who is 94,
was unable to attend the
opening ceremony. She now
resides in Oregon, having left
Victoria last year.

Family relatives attended
the opening, including a

nephew and niece of Watters. A
niece, Mrs. Jessie Morry, pre-

_sented the Labour Council with

a portrait of her distinguished
uncle, also a sturdy gavel
bearing the inscription “‘Pre-
sented to J. C. Watters, Presi-
dent, Trades and Labour Con-
gress of Canada, Montreal
Convention, 1913.”

The Labour Council is
naturally delighted to be the
recipient of such a valuable
historical item.

Among those who expressed
interest in the honouring of
Watters were labour his- .
torians, one of whom, David
Bercuson of the University of
Calgary and author of ‘Con-
frontation at Winnipeg’ com-
mented;

“J am glad that someone has
finally seen fit to honour
Jimmy Watters who has
become something of a for-
gotten man in the history of
western trade unionism. He
certainly had a colourful
career and was a significant
force in Canadian labour for
some years. Watters, as you
may have guessed never en-
joyed particularly cordial rela-
tions with Sam Gompers or the
AFL. ._He was never fully
trusted because of his socials
leanings. When he was
removed from office at the 1918
TLC Convention, and replaced
by Tom Moore, a Niagara
Falls carpenter and solid
adherent of Gomperism, things
became much more cosy
between the AFL and the TUC.
I don’t know how you view this
— good or bad — but it is some-.
thing to keep in mind.”

Bercuson’s point about
Gomperism in Canada may be
worth thinking about, but at
this time, at any rate, the
purpose is to honour a great
labour leader, gone and almost
forgotten.

ROS” Sy a es See at