Harry Woodside Interview: Miner, electrician, fire dispatcher
Harry Haywood Woodside’s (1890-1973) first work experience was in building the Lake Buntzen diversion tunnel at Coquitlam in 1909. His next job was a miner at Britannia Mine, where he joined the Western Federation of Miners. While at Britannia Mine he was blacklisted by the employer after an unsuccessful strike.
The interview was conducted in the 1960s by the BC Federation of Labour in anticipation of the publication of No Power Greater: A Century of Labour in BC (1967). Interviewers were author Paul Phillips and UBC student Bill Piket. The original tapes were digitized by the BC Labour Heritage Centre in 2024.
Harry Woodside, 1955
Harry Woodside joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 213 in Vancouver, and was president during the union’s response to the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike. The international union pulled Local 213’s charter in retaliation for their support of the Winnipeg strikers. The union took the matter to court where the union was ordered to reinstate the charter.
Woodside discusses the rise of more radical unions like the One Big Union (OBU), but states the Electrical Workers Union was not officially involved in supporting or opposing the OBU.
He retired in 1955 as a alarm operator for the Vancouver Fire Department and a member of IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters) Local 18.