Smelter Wars, Podcast Ep. 15
In the early 20th C, the large, exploited workforce of the smelter at Trail was ripe for organizing. Those efforts were contentious and the politics formidable. Company unions versus legitimate unions, communist union leaders versus anti-communist union leaders, International unions versus Canadian organizations. Add in the church and the local newspaper stirring the pot, as well as a key chapter of the life of labour martyr Ginger Goodwin, and you can see that this episode of our On the Line podcast has quite a story to tell.
Publication date: May 9, 2022
Podcast length: 40:35
Hosted by: Rod Mickleburgh
Research and writing by: Patricia Wejr and Rod Mickleburgh
Production by: John Mabbott
With special thanks to: Ron Verzuh
Established in 1896, the smelter at Trail processed rich ore mined in nearby Rossland. Over the years it grew into the largest facility of its type in North America, but in the early days it was marked by severe exploitation of its predominantly immigrant workforce. Workers endured long hours, meager pay, and perilous conditions, with exposure to lead poisoning, and asbestosis, and without basic amenities like washrooms.
This fertile ground for labor organizing led to decades of intense struggle, in which the shape of the labour movement to come was developed fight-by-fight. Blacklisted from the Vancouver Island mines due to his involvement in the great coal strike of 1912-1913, Ginger Goodwin found work at Trail. He led a pivotal strike in 1917 for the eight-hour workday (a right which, despite existing legislation, was often ignored by workers.) When the strike was over, Goodwin was conscripted for WWI despite his medical exemption, which set into motion the events that would end his life.
Arthur “Slim” Evans arrived in Trail in 1938, on a mission to organize mining and smelting workers across British Columbia. Evans, with his formidable background in labor activism, including his involvement in the 1935 On-to-Ottawa trek and the Ludlow massacre, brought a strong, localized communist philosophy to the organizing efforts in Trail. Despite facing legal challenges and intense opposition, his work laid the groundwork for the eventual recognition of Local 480 of the Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union. During WWII, women stepped into industrial roles left vacant by men serving overseas. Hired at the smelter from 1942, these women became members of Local 480 upon its certification.
In this episode, we talk to historian Ron Verzuh, whose book “Smelter Wars: a Rebellious Red Trade Union Fights for its Life in Western Canada” was published in 2022. We also listen to archived interviews with two men who worked in the smelter in the early 1900s and who remember Ginger Goodwin.