Researched and written by Natasha Fairweather Diving in to 100 Years of Garment Work The Jantzen knitting factory with the iconic “diving girl” sign operated at 196 Kingsway from 1927 to 1997. Photo: Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives | NMAH-AC0233-0000004 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 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York was a particularly t ..read more

The first edition of The Labor Statesman hit the streets in Vancouver, B.C. on April 25, 1924.  It would publish continuously for 45 years, ceasing publication in 1969. The Labor Statesman1, owned by the Vancouver, New Westminster and District Trades and Labor Council (VTLC), cost five cents to purchase, or 20-week subscriptions could be had for one dollar. In the first issue April 25, 1924—a hefty 12 pages—the newspaper explained that the executive of the VTLC had been impressed by the “lusty literary infant”, LONGSHOREMEN’S STRIKE BULLETIN, published by the Union just a few months pri ..read more

Researched and written by Donna Sacuta Hospitals run co-operatively “for use rather than profit” The third Miners’ Union Hospital in Sandon, B.C. (1918) is the square building on the hill at top centre. The first hospital burned down in 1900 and the second was abandoned in 1904.  BC Archives photo, D-00151. Miners’ Union Hospitals were a radical response to the critical need for inclusive health care in B.C.’s mining communities more than 100 years ago.  At least six local unions of the Western Federation of Miners established their own hospitals in the Kootenay region before 1900 ..read more

She stood firm and blocked the way by Donna Sacuta A hysterical mob of ex-soldiers stormed Vancouver’s Labour Temple on August 2, 1918 demanding an end to the one-day general strike called to protest the shooting of Ginger Goodwin. Frances Foxcroft stood in their way. Vancouver Public Library | 18264 Frances ‘Frank'1 Foxcroft likely saved the life of Vancouver Trades and Labour Council Secretary Victor Midgely on the afternoon of August 2, 1918. A rampaging mob of angry ex-soldiers descended on the Labour Temple on Dunsmuir Street during the one-day general strike called to protest the shoot ..read more

Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 280 PNE parade float, 1936. Vancouver Archives, Audrey Gordon photo, CVA 376-78. For decades, the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) was kicked off with a massive parade through the streets of Vancouver. School children received free admission tickets to the fair with their final report cards. The annual exhibition was more than rides, food booths and chamois salespeople. The PNE and its parade were working class entertainment that showcased handicrafts, agriculture and home arts from around the province. On August 26, 1936 the Sheet Metal Workers Intern ..read more

“The Most Exciting Thing We Could Have Done” Union flag fashioned from a bedsheet became a symbol of solidarity and determination during the 1983 Tranquille Institution occupation. Union flag flies over Tranquille firehall in 1983. [BCGEU] On July 19, 1983 an inspirational episode in BC labour history began. BCGEU members at the Tranquille Institution in Kamloops learned the Socred government planned to shut it down and fire them all. And there were no plans to care for its 325 residents, who were living with physical and developmental disabilities. The workers responded by taking over the i ..read more

Charles S. Sager called out racism in an open letter to Prince George city council in 1921 “We are forced to bear the full responsibility of our race, forced into the lowest of menial occupations and then despised for doing so.” Researched and written by George Davison The Freeman, [Indianapolis, Indiana]. 26 August 1899, p. 4 Charles Stuart Sager was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1867 and began his career carrying the mail and barbering in Butte, Montana in 1890. He soon was singing, dancing, acting and putting on his own plays (The Sunny South in Slavery, Cake Walk, The Negro, Darkness an ..read more

Operation Solidarity in 1983 was a province-wide movement The Operation Solidarity banner in a 1983 demonstration in Prince George is carried by members of the I.W.A. Marching in front, Jim Mischook of the Retail Clerks Union. Photo courtesy UFCW Local 1518. The weather forecast for Thursday, July 7, 1983 in Prince George, B.C. was for heavy thunderstorms in the evening. No one expected a political tornado would be unleashed earlier that day when the newly re-elected Social Credit (Socred) government introduced its provincial budget in Victoria. The local newspaper predicted the budget would ..read more

More Relief, Less Police! by Donna Sacuta and Dr. George Davison “A parade of protestors on George Street, Prince George, B.C. on International Labour Day, May 1st, 1933.” Fraser Fort George Regional Museum, P985.17.1. Vast waves of unemployed men arrived in British Columbia during the economic depression of the 1930s seeking work in the province’s moderate coastal areas. Jobless people in all regions of B.C. were impacted by the dire circumstances of the era and organized to fight for a better world. The On to Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot in 1935 are known as major events during the peri ..read more

Youth Boycott spreads across Canada Vancouver youth parade in support of the Chocolate Bar Protest, The Pacific Tribune, May 9, 1947. In 1947, youth in Chemainus and Ladysmith, B.C. led the first ever children’s strike. It was a protest against the rising cost of chocolate. The price of a typical bar had ballooned suddenly from five cents to eight cents. The kids had had enough, and demanded a boycott of chocolate bars until the price came down. Picket lines and parades were held by the children protesting. No doubt the communities’ strong connection to the labour movement helped to drive th ..read more