Blubber

a
Stri

By GRANT MacNEIL yaaa

The Blubber Bay strike 1938- ;
39 was the first and most bitter
strike fought by the newly-formed ‘
IWA. With the possible exception of
the Nanaimo miners’ strike of
1912, it was a fight waged against
the most brutal police and com-
pany tyranny known in British
Columbia. It stirred the whole %
trade union movement into action all
and roused public opinion to the
need for legislative protection of
legitimate trade union activity.

| know. | was there. | stayed at the home of Bob Gardner,
who was beaten by the police within an inch of his life, and later
died — murdered. Bob was Vice-President of the Local, a quiet,
mild-mannered man, who had worked for the company fourteen
years. Bob and his bonny wife had built a charming home, off the
company property, and overlooking a quiet bay on Texada
Island. It is sad to recall that their happy home was wrecked by
order of a rapacious New York company.

| was with the Abercrombie family when they were evicted
from a company house, and attempted to establish themselves
in makeshift quarters at Vananda, some miles distant, in order
to stay on the Island and fight company tyranny. | well
remember Mrs. Abercrombie Sr., who in poor health, never-
theless stood by her men, and tried so bravely to “make do”
with what could be salvaged from the home she had patiently
built around her in Blubber Bay throughout 14 years.

Stan. Abercrombie (Local 1-80) and | have often agreed
that the full story of Blubber Bay should be written and placed
on the IWA records before its survivors pass from the scene. But
mere words are inadequate to pay tribute to the quiet courage
of the men and women who fought that battle, for they displayed
the highest qualities of physical and moral bravery.

| nominate Bob and Mrs. Gardner, Mrs. Abercrombie Sr.,
Joe Eng of the Chinese workers of Blubber Bay, and many
others to the IWA Hall of Fame.

The quarry workers of Blubber Bay had been organized 100
per cent by the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union. Later they
affiliated with the IWA as Local 163.

In July, 1937, the Pacific Lime Co. refused to negotiate with
the employees, who had a long list of oustanding grievances,
many of which concerned the needless and extreme hazards of
the job. One hundred and fifty employees struck in July, 1937,
whereupon the Company attempted to organize a company
union of scabs. The Manager claimed that both the AFL and the
CIO were Communist-led. The fact was that the plant had been
fully organized on an industrial union basis. The Vancouver Sun
described the strike as a fight between the AFL and the CIO.
Shipments from Blubber Bay were boycotted by the Maritime
Federation.

The first strike at Blubber Bay ended when the Company
agreed, under pressure of the boycott, to parley and promised

sad

8/The Western Canadian Lumber Worker — Special Edition

the workers a 3%-cent an hour wage increase. This brought
their pay to 50 cents an hour, with 75 cents an hour for over-
time. Union members were forbidden to affiliate with any
outside union. Like other agreements of that day, its terms were
vague and 80 men remained unemployed. Both white and
Chinese workers stood shoulder to shoulder against all forms of
racial discrimination practised by the Company. Finally com-
pany “stooges” were used to undermine the Local's solidarity.
The company union was defeated and the “‘finks” were ousted.
In February, 1938, the workers requested a Conciliation Board
under the new ICA Act but the Company ignored all the
legalities. It took a five-day strike, March 1938, after the em-
ployees voted for the same, 87-30, to bring the Company to the
bargaining table. Mr. Justice MacIntosh was named Chairman of
an Arbitration Board, Harold Winch, MLA, undertook the
presentation of the Union's case. The award did not approve
collective bargaining, but proposed that company-controlled
committees be set up. A wage rate of 75 cents an hour was
recommended, with time and one half for overtime. The em-
ployees rejected the award, as not offering a genuine union
agreement. In any event, the Company refused to accept the
award, and a strike was called on June 2, 1938.

The situation quickly deteriorated into one of violence.
Terrorist tactics were employed by Company officials, and their
goons, dressed up in Provincial Police uniforms. The Chinese
workers were evicted from the quarters under threat of clubs
and tear gas. All white workers were evicted from company-
owned houses, and in many instances their personal belongings
disappeared.

All the IWA could do was establish a militant picket line on
the Blubber Bay docks, reinforced by IWA members from
Vancouver and the Pulp and Sulphite workers from Powell
River, across the strait. Trade unionists everywhere scoured the
countryside for food to sustain the strikers who were scattered
through small outlying communities.

Blubber Bay was under a police dictatorship. Colin
Cameron, MLA, was held in police custody because he protested
on behalf of the Chinese workers whose plight was pitiful. | was
then a member of the House of Commons, but | was not allowed
to move in the area, to the post office, to the telegraph office or
to the phone without a police escort of two acting as a Gestapo
for one of the “dangerous reds.”

The men on the picket line on the docks contrived some
clever parodies of popular songs with which they taunted the
police stationed in the vicinity. Finally, the police lost patience
and pickets were singled out and arrested. The gaps were
quickly filled by the Union from Vancouver. Singing rude songs
was the worst offence on a well-disciplined picket line, whose
members had to use rowboats from adjacent points on the
island to take their stations.

Bob Gardner was arrested on a flimsy charge at 3 a.m. when
roused from sleep, over the protests of Mrs. Gardner, who ex-
tracted from the police officers the promise that Bob would be
fairly treated. He was taken to the temporary police station and
so cruelly beaten by Constable Williamson that on the following
day he was hospitalized in Powell River. While still weak from
his injuries, he was sentenced to four months in Oakalla. When
he was serving his sentence, the Union discovered that he was
seriously ill, and induced the authorities to place him in the
General Hospital under police custody. Some time later he died
in Nanaimo as a result — the first IWA labour martyr.

The Union brought Williamson to trial, and with ironclad
evidence, saw him sentenced to six months for his brutal assault
on Bob Gardner. Twenty-seven other members of the police and
scabs were brought to trial by the Union, but were acquitted on
questionable evidence. Fifteen strikers were charged with
rioting and unlawful assembly and were given a total of 49
months in Oakalla. It is ironical to recall in 1971 that most of
them served with distinction in the war which broke out soon
after.

The strikers were charged and found guilty in the Van-
couver Assizes. Under the section of the Criminal Code dealing
with unlawful assembly, it was only necessary to prove that
three or more persons had caused fear in the minds of those in
the vicinity. A row of company houses, occupied by scabs anc
their wives, overlooked the docks where the pickets were
stationed. In court, these wives quite readily testified that they
were scared by the singing on the picket line, and on this
evidence men went to jail.

Colin Cameron returned to the Legislature to assail At-
torney-General Gordon Wismer for the illegal brutality of police
tactics. It was my privilege to tell the story in the next session of
the House of Commons, and move an amendment to the
Criminal Code which would prevent the use of the “unlawful
assembly” section of the Criminal Code to break strikes. The
Bill, which won some support from lawyers in the House, was

talked out” by the Hon. Mr. Lapointe, then Minister of Justice,
who promised that its obvious injustice would be corrected. But
the section of the Code still stands.