The Struggle Against Wage Controls: the Saint John Story, 1975-1976 GEORGE VAIR
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The Struggle against Wage Controls: The Saint John Story, 1975-1976 GEORGE VAIR The Struggle against Wage Controls: The Saint John Story, 19754976 The Struggle against Wage Controls: The Saint John Story, 19754976 By George Vair Edited and introduced by David Frank. Foreword by Bob White. Copyright © 2006 Canadian Committee on Labour History All rights reserved Canadian Committee on Labour History Faculty of Arts Publications, FM2005 Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NL A1C 5S7 ISBN 1-894000-07-2 Manuscript was prepared for press by the staff of the Faculty of Arts Publica• tions Cover designed by Helen Houston Cover photo: Graham Cox Printed and bound in Canada Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Vair, George, 1940- The struggle against wage controls: the Saint John story, 1975-76 / by George Vair; edited and introduced by David Frank; foreword by Bob White. ISBN 1-894000-07-2 1. General Strike, Saint John, N.B., 1976. 2. Labor movement- New Brunswick—Saint John—History—20th century. 3. Labor movement -Canada-History-20th century. 4. Strikes and lockouts-New Brunswick- Saint John-History-20th century. 5. Wages-Government policy-Canada- History-20th century. I. Frank, David, 1949- II. Canadian Committee on Labour History III. Title. HD6529.N4V34 2006 331.8'0971532 C2006-904894-0 Contents Foreword by Bob White 9 Introduction by David Frank 13 Chapter 1 Why Us: Trudeau's Controls 21 Chapter 2 Saint John Under the Controls 32 Chapter 3 Getting Organized 42 Chapter 4 Off to Ottawa - and More Trouble in Saint John 53 Chapter 5 Tough Talk at the Canadian Labour Congress 66 Chapter 6 A Long Hot Summer 86 Chapter 7 Planning the Day of Protest 93 Chapter 8 A Visit from Trudeau 101 Chapter 9 October 1976 106 Chapter 10 The Saint John General Strike 113 Index 123 This book is dedicated to all members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Local 1065, whom I had the privilege of representing for nearly 25 years. George Vair Acknowledgements I STARTED THIS PROJECT with the idea of simply leaving a written record for younger trade unionists and future labour historians of a period in labour history I felt was important. I shared the manuscript with two close family friends, Faye Johnson and her partner Tom Begin, who happen to be retired schoolteachers. They went through the entire manuscript correcting spelling, grammar and making helpful suggestions. David Frank, director of the Labour History in New Brunswick project, was instrumental in moving things forward to publica• tion, volunteering to edit the document. His efforts have made the story more concise and interesting. Bob White generously agreed to contribute the foreword. To all of them, I am truly grateful. Much gratitude must also go to my family — especially my loving wife of 43 years, Carol — for putting up with me stuck in a time frame of 30 years ago while I was producing this work. Foreword THIS IS A TIMELY BOOK that tells us how Canadian workers 30 years ago re• sisted a vicious government attack on their living standards. To my knowl• edge very little has been written about this significant event in our Canadian labour history. This book is important because it is written by a worker who was an active organizer of the general strike of 14 October 1976 in Saint John, New Brunswick. I was privileged to have worked with George Vair during that period. He was always a force in being able to organize the de• fence of workers' rights. Thirty years later he is using his dedication to the labour movement to bring us this piece of history. He has been able here to capture the events and the interesting story that emerged out of Saint John. This contribution to our better understanding of labour events should serve as a model for other workers to tell their story using their precious knowledge and memory. We need more accounts like this one that can be presented to workers, the la• bour movement, and to the public in general. The book clearly shows how wage controls were a threat to the free col• lective bargaining process. Because of high inflation workers across the country had negotiated substantial wage increases to try to catch up. In New Brunswick, many workers were also looking at parity with Central Canada and had negotiated adjustments that were threatened by the controls. Pi• erre Elliott Trudeau's program was simply an attack on organized labour and in no way had any effect in controlling the high inflation that was experi• enced by Canadian workers. The book shows us how workers were betrayed when the government interfered with the bargaining process in such an un• precedented way. We are also reminded of the debate that took place within the labour movement in response to the wage controls when they first came into effect. Things are never simple when it comes to defending workers' rights. This is particularly true when you are under attack by the federal government with the support of all provinces and the business community. Without name-calling Brother Vair gives us a good insight into where the leadership of the labour movement stood in relation to this major attack. His recollec- 10 The Struggle against Wage Controls tions of the events around the big demonstration in Ottawa on 22 March and the big public meeting in Saint John on 28 March, revived a lot of good memories for me and show how we are able to inform and mobilize in the la• bour movement. Brother Vair's accounts of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) conven• tion in May 1976 and of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour conven• tion in June are particularly interesting. He brings very good insight into the debate around the issue of how far the labour movement was prepared to go in opposing the controls. His recollection of the debates and of the politics of the time is very thoughtful. His appreciation of Lofty MacMillan's candidacy to become president of the CLC at this convention is honest and straightfor• ward. More importantly, he explains how upon returning from the CLC con• vention he felt it was more important than ever to fight the controls with a general strike. His detailed account of how they mobilized the workers in Saint John is great information for workers reading this book. It shows that the leadership of the labour movement has to work very hard with all possible allies in order to educate the membership to fight unfair measures. For many weeks before 14 October 1976, the coordinating committee of the Saint John District La• bour Council met and worked hard to prepare for this mobilization. Workers were angry about their unfair treatment, but they needed to be organized, and the focus of this action was the general strike. In retrospect, after read• ing these pages I wonder what impact we could have had if every community had organized the way labour leaders did in Saint John. Although the general strike was not as successful in other areas as it was in Saint John, the conclusions drawn in this book are very interesting. Im• portant lessons were learned. Workers across the country saw their respec• tive governments in a very different light after October 1976. Brother Vair is correct in stating that the organizing skills learned during that campaign were very helpful in fighting concessions in the next decade. That struggle helped to make the Canadian labour movement a better and more progres• sive movement. It is a wonderful pleasure to read this kind of history, written by a friend and fellow trade unionist. He tells us his personal experience as a local la• bour activist in Saint John, but he also tells us a story that needs to be known all across the country. He shows us what governments can and will do to keep workers in their place, and he shows us how organized labour can make a difference when we mobilize. For all these reasons I encourage you to read Foreword 11 this book, share it with your friends and bring it to the attention of other workers. Bob White Bob White is a former president of the Canadian Labour Congress and of the Canadian Auto Workers. Introduction IN 1975 GEORGE VAIR was a 35-year-old labour activist in one of Canada's oldest industrial towns. Saint John, New Brunswick is known in Canadian labour history as one of the early birthplaces of trade unionism in the 19th century, and in the 1970s it remained one of those working-class communi• ties where organized labour played a significant part in public life. Vair himself left school in Grade Ten to join the Royal Canadian Navy and served for five years as a signalman. When he returned to work in Saint John, at Canada Wire & Cable, he became involved in the union move• ment. As older labour activists retired from the scene, Vair and others of his generation were being pushed forward into positions of leadership. By 1969 he was president of Local 2094 of the International Brotherhood of Electri• cal Workers and then Local 1905 of the United Auto Workers. Later he be• came Business Agent for Local 1065 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Most importantly, at a critical moment in 1976 he became president of the Saint John District Labour Council.1 The 1970s were not a quiet time for Canadian workers. The imposition of wage controls by the federal government in 1975 raised many of the age-old questions about the place of labour unions and workers' rights in Canadian society.2 The public debate that followed in Saint John and all across the 'Files on the activities of the Saint John District Labour Council in 1974-76 show the council concerned about a wide range of issues, including support for a cardiac alert programme, the public library and ongoing labour disputes in the community.