A PARTNERSHIP FOR PROGRESS Yearsof U.S./

Part II This article continues the IBEW Journal’s commemoration of the Members Confront Economic Depression and the Tragedies of War 1914 any historians portray the Roaring Twenties as a business WW I begins in Europe, boom time, but by 1928 local unions were sending reports of airplanes first used as war slow work situations to the IBEW’s Journal of Electrical Workers weapons; Great Britain M declares war on Germany; and Operators. So, when the stock market crashed in October 1929, it Canada also enters war, devastated many IBEW members already looking for work. From a high employers use war as oppor- tunity to expand working hours of 121,792 members in 1919, membership plummeted to 60,421 at the to 13 or 14 per day. Reid- end of 1930, dropping 11,000 more in the next three years. By June Murphy faction reunited with 1930 the Journal was filled with letters describing desolate IBEW. Ontario adopts work- men’s compensation law on work situations. For example, Frank J. Selke, press secretary of Local which today’s plans are based. 353, Toronto, bluntly stated, “Work is dead, absolutely the worst we 1916 have had for many years; and it doesn’t look any too promising for the Manitoba is first province to coming [months].” provide income to widows Despite the gloomy economy, the late gages, houses were seized and families and divorced or deserted 1920s was a time of great promise. Science evicted. The Brotherhood, too, went through women with children. hovered on the verge of revolutionary break- some real changes in the early 1930s as mem- throughs. Although not available to the gen- bership dropped to a 20-year low. eral public, television’s possibilities piqued the 1917 curiosities of even the most cynical. Radio; Organized labour protests War Brings Devastation, talking movies; solo, nonstop flights across the beginning of conscription But Also Opportunity Atlantic; and theories of general relativity led in Canada. By the middle of 1940, World War II people to believe science held the answers to embroiled most of the world in its most-bitter almost any problem—and these scientific mar- conflict. The war meant different things to the 1918 vels gave people hope during a seemingly membership. For over 35,000 members it WW I ends Nov. 11; B.C. hopeless time. meant joining the armed forces. For many it Federation of Labour Vice For the millions of men and women with- meant a tremendous jump in factory work, President Albert Goodwin out work, the winter of 1930 was especially building the planes, tanks, trucks, ships and shot to death as a draft harsh. Unemployment, with its accompanying guns of war. For others it meant restrictions by dodger; Canadian government suffering and hunger, was a worldwide phe- dozens of local and national boards and imposes an Order-in-Council nomenon. The American Federation of Labor’s offices, and rationing of basic foods and mate- prohibiting strikes in war Monthly Survey of Business revealed approxi- rials. Nevertheless, it was a time of explosive industries and railways (it’s mately 20 percent of affiliates’ members were industrial growth. rescinded one month later). out of work. Banks foreclosed on farm mort- (Continued on page 12)

10 IBEW JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 1999 Canada IBEW Unionism

centennial of the inclusion of Canadian electrical workers into the IBEW.

LABOUR STRIFE RESULTS IN ACT

he Toronto Printers’ Strike is consid- they came up with a law which jeopardized ered one of the most significant the very structure of organized labour, the events in the history of the Cana- 1800 Combination Act of Great Britain. 1919 T Ontario Department of Labour dian . Leading the group Although succeeding British statutes had Act passes, first minister of of employers was George Brown, publisher revised the act and recognized the legal sta- labour is Walter Rollo; One of The Globe, who inherited his antiunion tus of unions, Canadian law still included its Big Union founded in western original provisions. However, the use of this reactionism from his father. Although he Canada, based on industrial law backfired against the employers. The once suggested labour problems could be rather than craft lines; unionists, released on bail, roused the pub- worked out by “consultation, conference, Winnipeg (Manitoba) General mutual concession and arbitration,” he lic with a call to “repeal…any law that Strike called (Canada’s first) wouldn’t sit down and discuss differences might exist to warrant such an unjustifiable an estimated 30,000 go out. with union representatives. interference with the rights of the people.” Matters came to a head in March 1872, Finally, Sir John A. Macdonald, prime 1921 when the Toronto Typographical Society minister of Canada, saw the situation as his Canadian Brotherhood of demanded the 54-hour week and $10 opportunity to garner the support of the Railway Employees expelled weekly wages with 25-cents-per-hour over- workers. He introduced legislation to from Trades and Labour time pay. The employers refused; the union revise Canadian law to reflect that of Great Congress in dispute over printers walked out. Scab printers were Britain and to legalize trade unions. Pas- industrial dual unionism. promptly hired, while detectives spied upon sage of the Trade Union Act infuriated strikers. employers, who responded by blacklisting 1925 The Toronto Trades Assembly organized known union members and requiring all Labour representatives in a rally on April 15, which attracted a crowd others to sign a “yellow-dog contract,” a Canada’s House of Commons of about 10,000. Marching in the parade to pledge they would not join a union. join forces with Agnes McPhail Queen’s Park, location of the Ontario leg- Despite employer reaction the printers (Canada’s first woman MP) and islative building, were members of various gained the 54-hour week and better wages. other Progressives to form the unions then organized in Toronto: bricklay- Also, the Trade Union Act of 1872 declared “Ginger Group,” a voice for work- ers, iron moulders, bakers, blacksmiths and that unions were not in restraint of trade, ing people, farmers, the handi- coachmakers, among others. No action was implicitly recognizing the right to strike. The capped and underprivileged. taken against the crowd that day; but on outcome awakened unionists to how politi- April 16, 24 trade unionists were arrested cal activism might help them achieve their 1929 and charged with belonging to an illegal goals and inspired individual unions to con- U.S. stock market crashes, combination. solidate their efforts by trying to form a fed- plunges Canada and U.S. into 1 The employers scoured legal annals until eration of unions. the Great Depression. (Continued on next page)

IBEW JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 1999 11 A PARTNERSHIP FOR PROGRESS Years

(Continued from page 10) practical experience, so they turned out Canada declared war in September 1939, “youngsters with [only] a smattering of and Canadian electrical workers were among knowledge in the various [trades].” 1931 the first to experience the demands of Trade unions, the only bastion of skill left Three miners killed during wartime production efforts. Canada’s ship- in industrial society at that time, rose to the Bienfait (Saskatchewan) coal building industry, which had languished challenge. Unions, according to Ingles, miners’ strike. Statute of West- since the end of World War I, revived almost “scurried around and looked up their old minster passed, a British law overnight. The new aircraft manufacturing members,” who had been dumped on indus- granting former colonies (includ- industry expanded with the war. try’s scrap heap. Only with organized ing Canada) full legal freedom Production, however, was hampered by labour’s participation was Canada able to unless they wish to remain structural economic deficiencies. Shipbuild- meet its wartime production demands, and under British law. ing, aircraft manufacturing and other to build training schools, military camps and defense-related industries required skilled all types of factories in record time. 1933 mechanics. But Canada’s skilled work force During the war women’s labour-force Founding convention of the had been decimated by the inexorable participation increased by unprecedented Cooperative Commonwealth march of automation and specialization in numbers. As more and more men were Federation (Canada) held with factories and years of economic stagnation. shipped overseas, women took their places farm and labour representatives; “Men with the proper degree of skill were in the factories. And the IBEW, like many about 30% of Canada’s labour disappearing,” said First District Vice Presi- other North American unions, was far force unemployed. dent Ernest Ingles, and “no new blood was stronger at the end of the war years than it being infused into industry.” Technical had been at the beginning. From Pearl Har- 1935 schools employed instructors who had no bor to VJ Day, the IBEW membership almost “On to Ottawa Trek,” conducted by about 4,000 relief-camp workers Women demanding work and 50-cents- on the line. an-hour wages, results in rioting, During the leaders jailed. war women entered the work force 1937 in great Strikes increase in the late 1930s numbers. in Canada, following a marked in strike activity earlier in the Depression.

1939 Local 1472, St. John, Canada enters WWII; Trades and New Brunswick, Canada, telephone Labour Congress of Canada operators working a expels CIO unions. switchboard for the New Brunswick Telephone Company.

12 IBEW JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 1999 doubled (from 198,591 to 361,921); Local 213, and, according to International Presi- Vancouver, British dent Ed J. Brown, IBEW members Columbia, “performed 95 percent of all the electri- members cal work used and installed in the pros- get ready ecution of the war effort.” to march. Organizing campaigns continued to go well immediately following the war. But antiunion attacks, quietly begun during the war, strengthened as the IBEW met at its 22nd International Con- vention in San Francisco in 1946—its first Convention in five years. Unity Equals Strength Technology and the Uniting the Labour Movement in Canada IBEW March On nity of purpose among differing ties, then invited potential affiliates to a The pace of technological change labour organizations isn’t usually conference. The first Canadian national propelling Canada and the United States uppermost in the minds of the labour organization was created at this since the 1920s showed no signs of abat- U rank-and-file members. Their priorities conference: the Canadian Labour Union. ing in the 1940s. FM radio expanded the lie with the bread-and-butter issues— A constitution was adopted; and the sound quality and range of program pos- wages and working conditions. How- union representatives declared one of sibilities on the airwaves. Talked about ever, under certain circumstances it their intentions to be: “[agitating] such for years, televisions moved into work- becomes obvious the only way to questions as may be for the benefit of ing people’s homes after the war. The achieve some goals is through united the working classes… to obtain the International Business Machine Com- effort. So, unions in Canada—as did their enactment of such measures by the pany in New York was building room- U.S. counterparts—attempted to combine dominion and local legislatures as will sized “calculators,” capable of storing their individual organizations into local be beneficial to us, and the repeal of all and reading large quantities of data. The councils and, ultimately, a national oppressive laws which now exist.” The possibility of using atomic energy to pro- group to address the concerns of the new group expanded organizing, duce electricity was being worked out, working class. assisted unions involved in strikes or and jet engines were poised to revolu- The Toronto Coopers’ Union seized lockouts, and increased political action. tionize air travel. Even sending men to the initiative in 1871 by calling a meeting The CLU vigorously opposed the use of the moon seemed within reach. of representatives of the city’s unions. convict labour and employment of chil- President Daniel Tracy spoke in a Although no authoritative action was dren under 10. positive tone to the 23rd International taken, the delegates encouraged their By the second convention of the CLU, Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, unions to establish a central organization. unemployment had decreased member- in 1948. The union was strong and get- Union representatives later set up the ship. This trend continued; and the orga- ting stronger, with membership up more Toronto Trades Assembly and drafted its nization’s meeting in 1877 marked its than 80,000 since the war. The majority constitution. This group quickly asserted demise. Although it didn’t survive long, of delegates were satisfied with the itself in the community through speeches “it defined the aims of labour in language course of the Brotherhood. on behalf of working people, oversight [which] still requires but little modifica- Many of the delegates at Atlantic City of working conditions and occasional tion;… its position was consistently had just returned from war-time tours of mediation of employee/employer dis- sound from a trade-union standpoint,” duty. But new clouds of conflict swirled putes. An important item on the assem- said R.H. Coats, Canadian historian and on the horizon. Within two years, many bly’s agenda was the need for favourable early editor of The Labour Gazette. IBEW members were back in the mili- legislation; such as extending the fran- The Toronto Trades and Labour tary. By the summer of 1950, U.S. and chise, secret-ballot elections and a fair Council resumed efforts to establish a Canadian troops, in support of the Mechanics’ Lien Act to safeguard trades- lasting organization and issued a con- United Nations, went to the aid of the people who were owed wages. South Korean government after an attack vention call for the Christmas holiday Ottawa, St. Catharines and Hamilton by communist North Korean forces. period in 1883. Delegates discussed formed their trades councils around North America was at war again. 1 many of the resolutions addressed by 1873. Unions soon realized how benefi- previous conventions: extension of the Watch for the next part of our Canadian cial an umbrella national trade-union franchise, pauper and assisted passage IBEW and Canadian labour history in organization could be. The Toronto and the November issue of the IBEW Journal. Ottawa groups discussed the possibili- (Continued on page 29)

IBEW JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 1999 13 IBEWCURRENTS continued from page 6

Cooperating for Kids Ye a r s The AFL-CIO and Service Trades Department presented its 1999 Labor- Management Award to American Electric Power’s Conesville, Ohio, Power Plant, in recognition Unity Equals Strength of its labor-management partnership with IBEW Local 1466, (Continued from page 13) Columbus, for a school outreach program. The award was given from Europe, factory and sanitary in May at the annual Union Industries Show held in Atlantic legislation, and employer liability City, New Jersey. when employees are injured by unprotected machinery. They The AEP and Local 1466 team collabo- outdated ones; conducted student field agreed that working people rated on a program to help Conesville trips; and tutored students at AEP’s electri- needed to have representatives Elementary School enhance its science cal, chemical and computer labs. from their ranks in the legislature. and technology curriculum. The power The Local 1466/AEP effort has Further progress toward a plant team helped the school obtain resulted in a new, dynamic science cur- national organization was achieved $130,000 in federal, state and local grants riculum for the school’s 460 students, in 1886 when more than 100 dele- to develop a state-of-the art Science whose science proficiency test scores gates attended a meeting to create Exploration Center and Mobile Computer have since improved, and the project a new central body called the Lab; assisted with the design of the cen- will be featured as a model program on Canadian Trades and Labour Con- ter; purchased new textbooks to replace Ohio’s School to Work website. 1 gress. This organization focused on legislative action, deeming organizing a subordinate priority. Its “Platform of Principles” con- tained 15 goals reflecting the tem- per of the times as seen through the eyes of the working class: free education; the eight-hour day; a locally based, living minimum wage; public ownership of utility- type franchises (railways, water- works, lighting, etc.); abolition of the appointed Senate; tax reform; use of the union label; no child labour under age 14; compulsory arbitration of disputes; and more. The name of the CTLC changed several times, eventually becoming the Trades and Labour International Secretary-Treasurer Edwin D. Hill (right) and Fourth District International Congress of Canada. In 1956 the Representative Nicholas Greco (second from right) congratulate the Local 1466/ American Electric Power labor-management team on winning the AFL-CIO Union Label TLCC merged with the Canadian and Service Trades Department’s 1999 Labor-Management Award. Pictured from left Congress of Labour to form the are: AEP Executive Vice President Bill Lhota; AEP Control Technician Dave Shepler; Canadian Labour Congress. 1 Local 1466 Business Manager Richard Taylor; and AEP Conesville Plant Manager Dan Lambert.

IBEW JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 1999 29