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In the late hours of February 10, 1939, a crowd of around 9,000 Vancouverites gathered at the train station on Cordova Street, eagerly anticipating the return of 31 “Mac-Paps” – Canadian volunteers who fought against fascism as part of the...Audio
For over 100 years, the hard-working women in the fruit packing plants became known as the “Apple Box Belles”. While much has been written about Okanagan fruit-growing, the early union history has barely been mentioned.Article
For over 100 years, fruit from the orchards of BC's Okanagan Valley has fed families across Canada and the hard-working women in the fruit packing plants became known as the “Apple Box Belles”. While much has been written about Okanagan...Video
Deborah Bourque’s extensive involvement in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), includes serving as its national president from 2002 to 2008. She describes the challenges CUPW faced in negotiating collective agreements and fighting against government legislation that threatened the...Video
Stephanie Smith was the first elected woman president of the BC General Employees Union (BCGEU) in its over 100-year history, holding the post from from 2014 to 2024. Born in Canada and educated in New Zealand, Stephanie attended teacher’s college...Audio
For most of the 20th century, garment workers (mostly women) sewed, pressed and wove fabric on factory assembly lines throughout the Lower Mainland, before the domestic industry began to decline with globalization. This episode of On the Line features an...Booklet
In 1974, the Association of University & College Employees (AUCE) Local 1 at the University of British Columbia (UBC) made Canadian history by securing fully funded maternity leave in their first collective agreement.Teaching materials
Named after the famous song written by IWW singer and activist, Joe Hill, this film is inspired by his words and IWW organizing efforts amongst railway workers in the interior of BC. What values, if any, do you or our...Teaching materials
‘Dunsmuir’ is an infamous name in British Columbia, particularly related to coal mines on Vancouver Island, this film presents a snapshot of working in Dunsmuir-run coal mines in the 19th century. See the rest of our Working People Lesson Plans...Teaching materials
This film looks at an important figure in BC labour history whose life and death continue to cause debate today. Ginger Goodwin’s early activism started in the coal mines of Vancouver Island and continued with the smelter workers of Trail...Teaching materials
In the 1970s, more women entered into the workforce and sought ways to become organized. One union that formed in British Columbia—the Service, Office, and Retail Workers’ Union of Canada—is the subject of this film. Students gain an appreciation of...Teaching materials
This film examines the working lives of “Canada’s Forgotten Workers,” the farmworkers whose labour fell outside much of the protective labour legislation. Provides an overview of their living and working conditions in the 1970s and invites students to compare with...Video
The learning curve was steep for Gary Johnson. As a young man he learned the ropes for leadership in the trade union movement starting at age 18. Before he was 20 years old he was president of Local 454 of...Video
Roger Stonebanks grew up in a conservative family in England and attended boarding school. He learned the value of organizing when, as a young boy, he organized a boycott to demand better food at school. The boycott failed, but the...Video
Laird Cronk, a former president of the BC Federation of Labour, begins this interview with a memory from his junior high school days when his father, an electrician and business representative for the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) woke...Video
In this interview, Shan O’Hara describes his experiences in the construction industry as a floor layer and union organizer. He discusses his early life, particularly the tragic death of his father in an industrial accident, which shaped Shan’s outlook on...Article
The early 1900s was a time of rapid industrialization in Canada and around the world. Clothing production became mechanized, and garment workers, largely women, often immigrants from Europe, were subjected to inhumane conditions in assembly-line factories. The 1911 fire at...Video
Bill Routley was born in 1948 in Chatham, Ontario. He was the son of two ministers who raised him in Duncan, on Vancouver Island. The treatment of employees at a shoe repair business in Victoria kindled his interest in workers’...Video
Leila Harding was born into a naval officer’s family in Nova Scotia but moved to Victoria as a child. As a young adult, she moved to Vancouver and worked for Fred Deeley Motors, where she had her first involvement with...Video
John Bowman grew up in the north end of Winnipeg and went to the University of Winnipeg studying labour history and journalism. He became active in progressive issues. John edited the student union newspaper while taking a full course load....Audio
Darshan Singh Sangha made a huge contribution to the early organizing efforts of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) and campaigned relentlessly for justice for South Asians in the 1940s. In this episode of our On the Line podcast we...Video
Stan Shewaga was born in St. Boniface and grew up in the north end of Winnipeg. After working in Louisiana for a while, he joined the American Army in the fifties, when he was about 17. After he left the...Video
Randy Pearson was born in northern BC to a working-class family. He worked in the lumber mills around Prince George as a young man, before traveling, marrying and getting a unionized job with pension benefits at a BC Liquor Store....Video
Jim Sinclair was born and raised in Ontario, where his early work experiences brought him into conflict with employers and demonstrated the need to advocate for workers. He moved to Vancouver and worked there for Co-op Radio and the Union...Article
A strike at the Prince George Canadian Tire store by the Retail Clerks’ Union Local 1518 lasted from December 1983 until May 1986 (27 months). The central issue was union recognition. The store opened in 1982, and the union was...Video
Ivan Limpright was born and grew up in the Fraser Valley. After working for his father driving truck and front-end loaders, he graduated from high school and started working at the Overwaitea warehouse in Burnaby. This interview was conducted by...Video
Brian Nasu, born in Tofino, BC and raised in East Vancouver, grew up in a family deeply connected to the fishing industry. As a young person, Brian started working at an IGA grocery store that was in the process of...Video
Harold Steves was born in Vancouver in 1937 and grew up on his family’s farm in Steveston. It was a diverse farming and fishing community of Japanese, Chinese, Ukrainian, and First Nations families. An early memory of Harold’s just before...Video
Marion Pollack and Micki McCune both started working for Canada Post as mail sorters in the 1970s. While both were initially impressed with the union wages they were earning, they soon became union activists, given the working conditions at Canada...Video
Denise Kellahan became active in the Union FASWOC (Food and Service Workers of Canada) while she was working at the White Spot restaurant as a single mother with two small children. She helped shepherd the merger of FASWOC (a primarily...Video
Peter Cameron was chief shop steward at the Phillips Cables plant in Vancouver, the first plant certified with the Canadian Electrical Workers, which merged with CAIMAW (Canadian Association of Industrial Mechanical and Electrical Workers) in 1969. He served on the...Video
Barry O’Neill’s unionism began on Vancouver Island where he worked for several school districts and was rooted in workplace health and safety. He went on to hold elected positions in CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) locally, provincially and nationally....Video
Roger Crowther was brought up in a working-class mining family in Hedley and Hope. His father was active in his union and in the community, which helped to inspire Roger’s activism. In 1972, working at the Bethlehem Copper Mine in...Article
The intense class struggle of the first two decades of the twentieth century in BC included a small but strong group of women. Many showed their mettle during early strikes. An example was the gutsy strike by Vancouver laundry workers...Audio
Working conditions for women in the early 20th century were already grim, but the Spanish Flu epidemic added another frightening layer. Against this backdrop, women laundry workers led a five-month long strike. In this episode of the On the Line...Video
Paul Ramsey was born in the United States in 1944. His father was an engineer and a Democrat, who served as a council member for 16 years in the suburb where Paul grew up. Paul aspired to be an academic...Audio
In the heyday of train travel, Black men were hired to cater to overnight travellers. Turned away by the major unions, they formed the Order of the Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labour union in North America. In this...Audio
During the dirty ‘30s, thousands of single, unemployed men were forced into federally run relief camps: isolated, militarized work sites where they worked under punishing conditions for just 20 cents a day. In this episode of On the Line, we...Audio
In one of the earliest victories of its kind, a newly certified independent union negotiated a contract guaranteeing that new mothers would receive a full wage top-up, as well as job and seniority protection. This episode of our On the...Audio
Miners had long struggled to unionize against coal barons, facing loss after loss. In 1911, the United Mine Workers of America were invited to make a final attempt to challenge the mine owners. What followed was explosive. This episode of...Article
With the end of the Great Depression, labour’s long hostility towards Asian workers slowly began to change. The International Woodworkers of America led the way by hiring three non-Caucasian organizers to break down the barriers of race and unite workers...Article
The Coast Seamen’s Union was established in 1885 in San Francisco; the first Canadian branch was founded in Victoria BC in 1891. The same year, shipowners formed an Employers’ Association and declared open war against the union. Union organizing was...Video
Mae Burrows details her early life and influences, and then her work with the Labour Environmental Alliance Society (LEAS) which brought together trade unionists and environmentalists at a time when logging companies were instigating the “war in the woods.” This...Video
Brian Hamaguchi worked in fish canneries in the lower mainland and was a shop steward and executive member of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU). Previous generations of his family also worked in the fishing industry and were...Video
Henry van der Wiel first came to Prince Rupert in 1963 to work on a fish boat, and relocated permanently in 1966. He eventually bought his own gillnetter. When he became a member of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers...Video
In this 1.5 hr conversation, Rod Mickleburgh and Donna Sacuta interview Joy Thorkelson. Joy is a resident of Prince Rupert and held positions as organizer and president of the UFAWU (United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union). This interview was conducted...Video
Bill Smith was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in Dallas, Texas. He moved to British Columbia in 1970 and subsequently spent more than 40 years working as a commercial fisherman in Prince Rupert and the North Coast. In...Video
Ken MacLean was a member of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 505 located in Prince Rupert for 25 years and never missed a union meeting. He held the position of Secretary Treasurer/Dispatcher for 12 years. This interview was...Video
Bernice Kirk began her union career at the Coquitlam School Board, and became the Secretary-Treasurer and President of CUPE BC, as well as a Vice President of the National CUPE Board. This interview was conducted by Ken Novakowski and Blair...Video
Carolyn Askew was a lawyer and the first Legislative Counsel for the BC Federation of Labour, beginning in 1972. She explains she was one of only a few women law school graduates and women had difficulty getting articles with firms....Video
Hans Brown worked for the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) in BC for 13 years, taking the lead on pay equity and classification between 1974 and 1987. He is best known for his connections to BC’s New Democratic Party (NDP). This...Video
Cathy Walker was born in Vancouver, BC in 1949 and grew up in Burnaby. Her father was a member of the Machinists Union which influenced her perspective while growing up. She attended Simon Fraser University (SFU) during a time of...Video
John Shields was born and raised in New York City by Irish Catholic parents who were both union members. He pursued a life in the Catholic church clergy, but left after disagreement with the direction of the church. He moved...Video
Jef Keighley was born in Vancouver, BC in 1950. He spent time working in Jamaica through the Canadian University Service Overseas. He worked in the automotive and construction industries before becoming involved in the Canadian Association of Industrial, Mechanical and...Video
Sharon Yandle was born in 1941 in Vancouver, BC Raised in the East Side of Vancouver, Sharon spent the majority of her career as a freelance negotiator for various unions across the province, specializing in arbitration and “duty to accommodate”....Video
Art Kube was born in Poland where he attended a socialist kindergarten. He joined the Metalworkers Union in 1949 and became a member of the socialist faction of the Metalworkers Union. This interview was conducted by David Yorke, Ken Novakowski,...Video
This is the first of two interviews with Ray Haynes. Ray Haynes was born in Point Grey, Vancouver, BC in 1928. He was introduced to the labour movement through work at a sawmill; his first experience representing workers was at...
