Fred Miron

Continued from page twenty-seven were killed and eight men were injured by gun fire during a long and bitter strike against Spruce Falls Power and Paper in Kapuskas- ing.

Fred was a member of the negoti- ating committee of the two LSWU locals, which was seeking a 40 hour week, when those events took place.

“A lot of people thought it was just a bunch of farmers who opened fire on the strikers, who were out to tip over wood piles that were headed to the mill,” he said. “But in reality the scab wood was brought in by a large co-op that had been taken over by a bunch of crooks in Montreal.”

That and other strikes endured by LSWU members were few, but bitter.

“When the LSWU went on strike, it was for survival and the very exis- tence of the union was at stake.”

Local 2698 struck against con- tracting out at Boise Cascade opera- tions in Kenora and Fort Frances, Ontario. The company wanted all of their equipment to be taken over by owner operators who would pay their own capital costs, expenses, fuel and do their own maintenance.

“It was a bitter strike where the company tried to bust the union,” said Brother Miron. “We knew from experience that a 5 day work week would turn into a 7 day work week with long days.”

The members at Fort Frances wildcatted starting in July of 1978 to stop the company from going to owner-operators, three months before their contract expired.

The Ontario Labour Relations Boards ruled against the strike and then a court order ruled that strik- ers had to pay fines of $25 per day for every day on the picket line. The courts then ruled that workers’ bank accounts could be seized.

In October, the Kenora crew went out and a bitter strike followed. Over 200 Ontario Provincial Police were involved in helping scabs go to work. Picket lines incidences saw Brother Miron, Brother Wilf McIn- tyre (who succeed Miron as presi- dent of Local 2693 and is now I.W.A. CANADA’s national fifth vice presi- dent) and others thrown into jail.

The union lost the strike due to the company’s and police’s strike- breaking tactics.

“The strike served its purpose because it stopped other companies from trying the same thing,” said Miron. “They all backed off because we told them at the bargaining table that they would be facing similar strike actions.

“Every one of our members at Boise Cascade knew during the strike that they were taking the brunt for our whole union.”

POLITICAL AWARENESS DEVELOPED

When he started working asa union member Fred wasn’t that politically aware of what went on behind the scenes. Growing up ina household where his father was a logging contractor and a life-long Liberal, he didn’t have a background in trade unionism,

“I remember the first modern- style camp I went to, there was a camp bullcook who spoke to me about the CCF (the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, which was the predecessor of the NDP),” said Fred. “This guy made sense to me so I joined the CCF in 1959.”

During one federal election, vari- ous candidates came to speak to the membership at a camp where Fred started working. Those were the Cold War years and the camp mem- bership was very conservative.

Fred heard a candidate of the Communist Party speak for the workers’ support.

“J didn’t really know much about the party or what it stood for but what he was saying made sense to

° The National Executive Board held a reception for Fred, pictured here with partner Marilyn Miller on his left.

me so I voted for him,” said Fred.

Then all hell broke loose.

“TI remember them saying they'll figure out who the Commie was in this camp. They talked about finger printing the ballots to find out who,” said Fred, who was intimidated at the time.

As time went on he began to meet more leftists within the ranks of the LSWU.

“The union was largely formed by European communists in the 1930’s and 1940’s, so there were a lot of members that were active right up until the 1960’s and later,” he said. “Some camps had over half their membership in the party.”

In fact until the mid-1970’s, mem- bership cards of the United Broth- erhood of Carpenters and Joiners had a declaration on them that the worker had to declare that he/she was not a communist or in agree- ment with the communist philoso- phy.

“T didn’t think that they should ask that question here in Canada and I resented it,” he added. Both Miron and Tulio Mior, who was pres- ident of Local 2693 from 1958-1983, refused to fill in that part of the membership application when they signed up new members.

“I always considered myself as a socialist and had some sympathies for the programs of the (Commu- nist) party — I thought they had some good ideas.”

Fred later became part of an “Action Caucus” at Ontario Federa- tion of Labour Conventions, which included former I.W.A. Region Two president Jean Marie Bedard, and other union members from such organizations as the United Autoworkers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The person who had one of the largest influences on Fred was Tulio Mior, who he succeeded in 1983. He remained friends with Brother Mior until his death in 1991.

“Tulio was a great man and a real role model for me and many, many others,” reflected Fred. “He never forgot where he came from and where his roots were.”

“He always said to keep the mem- bership in the forefront and to have faith in them. I have always remem- bered that.” :

Under Mior’s leadership major gains were made for the member-

ship in the 1960’s and 1970’s in term of wages and benefits.

FOUR TERMS AS I.W.A. NATIONAL V.P.

When former national fourth vice Bill Pointon retired in 1990, Brother Miron ascended in the union to become fifth national vice president. He moved from Thunder Bay to the union’s national office in Weston, Ontario.

At that time, Bob Rae’s New Democrats were newly elected as a majority government in the province.

“We were ecstatic at the time,” said Miron. “I couldn’t believe that we were now the government — a majority one at that. All of us had tears in our eyes to have worked so long to see our party come to power.”

“We knew that the NDP was in for a rough ride, but we didn’t know how rough it would eventually get. The (Canada - U.S.) free trade agree- ment was just put into place and tens of thousands of jobs were being lost as plant after plant relocated to the United States or American multi- nationals would simply shut down their branch plants in Canada.”

The Rae government did a lot of good things for unions, said Miron, including anti-scab laws, automatic certification procedures, first con- tract arbitration and better protec- tions for workers in areas of health and safety.

From 1991-95, before the Conser- vative government of Mike Harris came to power, the I.W.A.organized between 500-700 members per year in the province.

“The anti-union legislation brought in by the Harris govern- ment in 1995 has probably cost our union between 1,500 - 2,000 new members,” estimates Miron. “Since 1995 we have lost vote after vote due to employer interference.”

During the Rae years, Miron

layed a key role in helping formu-

ate a new Ontario Forest Indus- tries Association Forest Practices Code, which was introduced in Feb- ruary of 1993. He sat on an inde- pendent task force appointed the previous year and pushed the I.W.A.’s policy throughout the process.

The code recognized government legislation, forest guidelines and operations manuals.

“I saw to it that there was whis-

tle-blower protection added to the code to protect our members who would could report environmental violations,” he said. “It was a major step forward in the early 1990's.”

In 1998, following the retirement of national officers Fernie Viala and Roger Stanyer, Miron became the union’s national second vice presi- dent.

Miron started a process to get the union more active in the Ontario Federation of Labour. He arranged payment of per capita to the OFL by individual local unions. Together locals began to send up to 15 dele- gates to OFL conventions.

By arranging to have staff mem- bers and local union officers on vari- ous committees the I.W.A’s name has become better known.

In 1995 Brother McIntyre become an executive officer in the OFL, with widespread endorsement from other union affiliates. The union became even more active within the NDP, despite all of the divisions that happened in the labour move- ment during the Rae years.

LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE

Brother Miron said that Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes offer huge potential to the I.W.A. and he is a full supporter of the union’s organizing and growth strategy.

“I think that the I.W.A. has no where to go but forward and up,” he said. “I think that the organizing program we have now will work, and the I.W.A. will become a house- hold word in Ontario and the east.”

“The I.W.A. is a great union that will grow although I see a lot a dark clouds ahead for unions. Unions are going to start eating each other for members.”

‘a He cautioned about growing too ig.

“At one time in the Carpenters we had 900,000 members (it now has about 300,000) and it just became a huge bureaucracy,” he said.

In January, Fred plans to move back to Thunder Bay where his heart lies, so he can enjoy the outdoors once again,

He intends to retire fully, at least for the first year.

“J will always remain a trade unionist and promote our union in whatever capacity I can,” he con- cluded.

SR 28/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1998