Barnet Lumber Mill Workers Strike, plaque
This bronze plaque is located at Barnet Marine Park, 8181 Barnet Rd, Burnaby, BC. It was developed with the support of the City of Burnaby Community Heritage Commission.
The plaque was cast at Ornamental Bronze, a unionized foundry in Richmond which has operated since 1928. It was unveiled on June 22, 2018.
This is one of many Plaques around the Province, a project of the BC Labour Heritage Centre which aims to recognize events, actions, episodes, movements, or experiences that played a significant role in the history of the labour movement and working people in all regions of British Columbia.
Barnet Lumber Company Mill Workers Strike 1931
The plaque reads: In September 1931, some 360 workers at Barnet Lumber Co., led by the Lumber Workers Industrial Union, went on strike to protest wage reductions. Four cuts in the previous two months, the last being 20 per cent, drove wages as low as 19 cents an hour. The action was sparked by a larger strike at Fraser Mills in Coquitlam, another instance of workers’ resistance to the stark conditions of the depression years. In response to the walkout, the mill’s U.S. owners locked the workers out and shut down operations. Picketing continued for several weeks amidst intervention by Provincial Police and infantry, but Barnet Lumber never re-opened and eventually fell into tax default. Formerly known as the North Pacific Lumber Company, the sawmill was originally one of the largest lumber producers in the British Empire, employing Japanese, Chinese and East Indian labourers. Many of the men affected by the 1931 lockout remained unemployed until World War II. BC Labour Heritage Centre 2017 Union Made City of Burnaby Community Heritage Commission