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CLOSING SYSCO Industrial Decline in Atlantic Canada's Steel City

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CLOSING SYSCO Industrial Decline in Atlantic Canada's Steel City CLOSING SYSCO Industrial Decline in Atlantic Canada’s Steel City Lachlan MacKinnon Closing Sysco presents a history of deindustrialization and working-class resistance in the Cape Breton steel industry between 1945 and 2001. The Sydney Steel Works is at the heart of this story, having existed in tandem with Cape Breton’s larger coal operations since the early twentieth century. The book explores the multifaceted nature of deindustrialization; the internal politics of the steelworkers’ union; the successful efforts to nationalize the mill in 1967; the years in transition under public ownership; and the confrontations over health, safety, and environmental degradation in the 1990s and 2000s. Closing Sysco moves beyond the moment of closure to trace the cultural, historical, and political ramifications of deindustrialization that continue to play out in post-industrial Cape Breton Island. A significant intervention into the international literature on deindustrialization, this study pushes scholarship beyond the bounds of political economy and cultural change to begin tackling issues of bodily health, environment, and historical memory in post-industrial places. The experiences of the men and women who were displaced by the decline and closure of Sydney Steel are central to this book. Featuring interviews with former steelworkers, office employees, managers, politicians, and community activists, these one-on-one conversations reveal both the human cost of industrial closure and the lingering after-effects of deindustrialization. (Studies in Atlantic Canada History) lachlan mackinnon is an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities at Cape Breton University. STUDIES IN ATLANTIC CANADA HISTORY Editors: John G. Reid and Peter L. Twohig This monograph series focuses on the history of Atlantic Canada, inter- preting the scope of this field in a way that is deliberately inclusive and accommodating. As well as studies that deal wholly with any aspect of the history of the Atlantic region (or part thereof), the series extends to neighbouring geographical areas that are considered in conjunction with or in parallel with a portion of Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canada’s oceanic or global relationships are also included, and studies from any thematic or historiographical perspective are welcome. books in the series Meaghan Elizabeth Beaton, The Centennial Cure: Commemoration, Identity, and Cultural Capital in Nova Scotia during Canada’s 1967 Centennial Celebrations Jeffers Lennox, Homelands and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America, 1690–1763 Lachlan MacKinnon, Closing Sysco: Industrial Decline in Atlantic Canada’s Steel City Closing Sysco Industrial Decline in Atlantic Canada’s Steel City LACHLAN MACKINNON UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press 2020 Toronto Buffalo London utorontopress.com Printed in Canada ISBN 978-1-4875-0591-2 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4875-3296-3 (EPUB) ISBN 978-1-4875-2402-9 (paper) ISBN 978-1-4875-3295-6 (PDF) Studies in Atlantic Canada History __________________________________________________________________________ Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: Closing Sysco : industrial decline in Atlantic Canada’s steel city / Lachlan MacKinnon. Names: MacKinnon, Lachlan, 1988– author. Series: Studies in Atlantic Canada history. Description: Series statement: Studies in Atlantic Canada history | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190204044 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190204753 | ISBN 9781487524029 (softcover) | ISBN 9781487505912 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781487532956 (PDF) | ISBN 9781487532963 (EPUB) Subjects: LCSH: Sydney Steel Corporation. | LCSH: Deindustrialization – Nova Scotia – Sydney – History – 20th century. | LCSH: Deindustrialization – Social aspects – Nova Scotia – Sydney. | LCSH: Plant shutdowns – Nova Scotia – Sydney – History – 20th century. | LCSH: Steel industry and trade – Nova Scotia – Sydney – History – 20th century. | LCSH: Steel industry and trade – Nova Scotia – Sydney Employees – Social conditions – 20th century. | LCSH: Sydney (N.S.) – Social conditions – 20th century. Classification: LCC HD3616.C24 S936 2019 | DDC 338.9716/95—dc23 __________________________________________________________________________ This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an Ontario government agency. Funded by the Financé par le Government gouvernement of Canada du Canada For Jim McCarron. Whose life, work, and memory inform these pages and influence those who remain. Jim McCarron. Photograph provided by Tommy McCarron. This page intentionally left blank.
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