International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter Workers - Hard lessons: the Mine Mill Union in the Canadian labour movement

HARD LESSONS

This publication has been assisted by an Ontario Heritage Book Award
from the Ontario Heritage Foundation, an agency of the
Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation

HARD LESSONS
THE MINE MILL UNION IN THE
CANADIAN LABOUR MOVEMENT

EDITED BY
MERCEDES STEEDMAN,
PETER SUSCHNIGG, AND DIETER K BUSE

Copyright Institute of Northern Ontario Research and Development, 1995

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except brief passages for purposes of review), without the prior permission of Dundurn Press Limited. Permission to photocopy should be requested from the Canadian Reprography Collective.

The editors are grateful to Sudbury Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Local 598/CAW for its generous support in aid of preparing the manuscript for publication.

Copy editor: Robert Clarke

Printer: Best Book Manufacturers

Printed and bound in Canada

The publisher wishes to acknowledge the generous assistance and ongoing support of the Canada Council, the Book Publishing Industry Development Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Publishing Centre of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation, and the Ontario Heritage Foundation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in the text (including the illustrations). The author and publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any reference or credit in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, Publisher

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Main entry under title:

Hard lessons : the Mine Mill union in the Canadian labour movement

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 1-55002-223-7

1. International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers History Congresses. 2. Trade-unions Miners Canada History Congresses. 3. Trade-unions Miners Ontario Sudbury Region History Congresses. 4. Trade-unions Canada History Congresses. I. Steedman, Mercedes, 1943 . II. Suschnigg, Peter Theobald, 1940. III. Buse, D.K., 1941 . IV. Laurentian University of Sudbury. Institute of Northern Ontario Research and Development.

HD6528.M62I55 1995 331.88122330971 C95-931308-7

Contents

John B. Lang

John OGrady

Laurell Ritchie

Jean-Claude Parrot

Bryan Palmer

Donald Dennie

Charlotte Yates

Mary Powell and Jennifer Keck

Eric Tucker

Harry J. Glasbeek

PART FOUR: I REMEMBER MINE MILL

A Panel Reviews the Past and Looks to the Future

Elie Martel

Cathy Walker

Clinton Jencks, Kevin Conley, Elie Martel, and Cathy Walker

Theresa Johnson

Ken Delaney

Mike Groom

Karl Beveridge

Dieter K. Buse

Madeleine Parent

Utah Phillips

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

W hen a few of us began discussions in 1990 about a conference to celebrate the coming centennial of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, we did not anticipate that over two hundred persons would come from across North America to exchange views both on the past and on the problems and challenges facing labour today and especially to acknowledge that the future may be as difficult as the past. As we soon discovered, Mine Mills motto Independence, Education and Organization offers a strong reminder to academics and labour leaders alike about the ultimate purpose of labour movements.

At the May 1993 centennial conference of Mine Mill, co-sponsored by Laurentian Universitys Institute of Northern Research and Development (INORD) and Mine Mill and organized by Sudbury unionists and scholars, the interrelationship of the mottos three parts was again demonstrated, and this book is a reminder of the linkage.

The present book grew out of this conference and the issues raised there. However, the book is not simply a record of the conference. Some presentations were omitted; all of those included here were reworked and revised, some in a completely new format. The conference participants included shop stewards, labour activists, various men and women who took part in the formative struggles of Mine Mill, and academics. Their different life experiences are mirrored in the diversity of their contributions. Much of the information contained in has already been published in a different format in the April 1994 issue of Labour/Le Travail.

The editors are indebted to many institutions and individuals. Foremost is the union whose history created the basis for what was being celebrated: the Canadian Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, especially Local 598 of Sudbury. Its present leaders, notably Rolly Gauthier, and its centennial committee co-operated with us in innumerable ways and supplied generous financial support, including funding for labour participants. Rolly demonstrated his sense of humour in dealing with academics and his aplomb in organizing social events such as the Utah Phillips concert. The union made possible the attendance of old-timers and labour participants, as well as providing support for our oral history projects and the banquets.

The advice and counsel of several senior leaders in the Mine Mill movement helped us shape the issues addressed by the conference. We are especially indebted to Jim Tester, Mike Solski, Ruth Reid, Ray Stevenson, and Mike Farrell. They shared their vast experience as leaders in the labour movement and helped us develop a sensitivity to the past struggles and an awareness of the significance of those struggles for the future of labour. Similarly, John Lang long associated with Mine Mill offered ideas that proved valuable for shaping the conference.

A conference grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council covered the expenses of the academic participants and some administration costs. A grant from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines was used for publicity and initial editing of the manuscript. Both grants were decisive in fostering this collaboration among academics and labour leaders and in making a wider audience aware of labours past and present. The books publication was made possible by a Publication Award from the Ontario Heritage Foundation.

Support by Laurentian University took numerous forms. INORD, under director Anne-Marie Mawhiney, helped prepare grant applications and provided expertise for organizing the conference. Nearly all who filled out the conference evaluation forms heaped praise upon the smooth functioning of the workshops, concerts, and discussion sessions. Susan Bisset, Susan Vanstone, Lana Tremblay, Kelly Wilson, Natalie Grguric, Kevin Groulx, and Rick Stow all helped to make the conference a success. Three individuals deserve special mention: Jane Pitblado for her consistent and thorough editorial help, Mick Lowe for his stylistic suggestions, and Robert Clarke for rigorous copy-editing. Guy Gaudreau and Micheline Tremblay edited . Paul Cappon, vice-president academic, Geoffrey Tesson, dean of social sciences, and the Office of Graduate Studies and Research at Laurentian provided funds and assistance.