Prince Rupert Labour movement celebrates 50 years of memories

Saturday night was a night for social gatherings it seems, on one side of town the Chamber of Commerce gathered for their annual fundraising event at the Crest Hotel, while interestingly enough at the same time in the west end of the city, the Prince Rupert Labour Council got together at Fisherman’s Hall to celebrate fifty years of organization on the North coast.

While the Chamber got down to business with many representatives of Prince Rupert’s business sector settled in for auctions and other events, the labour side of the city was tucking into a dinner and dance and most likely more than a few tales of past historic labour oriented events.

The Labour Council had a live band on hand, so there surely must have been a rendition of “Solidarity Forever”, or “Which side are you on”, as they commemorated those fifty years of organization and recounted some of the struggles and success stories of the union movement on the North coast.

A well known union stronghold in British Columbia, Prince Rupert has had a long and storied history involving the union movement, from bargaining successes with major companies to long drawn out and frustrating strikes and closures, it has been the kind of history that many a book has been written about.

The Daily News featured a recap of the night’s event, complete with some of the colour of the many high profile participants in the labour movement on the North coast.

UNIONS MARK 50 YEARS OF UNITY
Labour Council members gather for celebration
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Pages one and two

Saturday night saw Prince Rupert's numerous unions gather for what was a lively celebration of the Labour Council's 50th anniversary, complete with comedy and some trips down memory lane.

There was a mix of locals and out-of-towners gathered at Fisherman's Hall for an evening of dinner and dancing, complete with live music, draws for free merchandise, and some memorable words from several speakers.

"I think sometimes in this part of the world, labour gets taken for granted," said Nathan Cullen, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP.

"I talk to a lot of high schools, colleges and universities, and ask young people who are getting into the workplace what they think about the labour movement, and too often I get a shrug of the shoulders and too much indifference, because they've come to expect the kind of rights and privileges people have had to fight for decade after decade."

North Coast MLA Gary Coons also spoke about his involvement in the labour movement, after Cullen reminded everyone about Coons’ notorious “Martini bar’ antics with Des Nobles, involving a certain B. C. Premier’s visit to Prince Rupert several years ago.

“As most people in this room, and as Nathan indicated, I have similar beliefs and I tried to introduce a few different ways that things should be done,” said Coons. “Looking back at the ‘(Gordon Campbell) Memorial Park’ sign, that was back in the day and I’m not really allowed to do that stuff anymore.”

“But here today we have the 50th anniversary of the Labour Council in Prince Rupert, and that’s quite an achievement,” said Coons.

However, it was UFAWU-CAW representative and past president of the Labour Council, Joy Thorkelson, who gave the most memorable speech of the night, stirring everyone with a detailed account of past labour battles in Prince Rupert.

Before getting into the many battles the Labour Council faced , she reminisced about former UFAWU member and current president of the B. C. Federation of Labour, Jim Sinclair, who could not be in attendance.

“It’s a good thing that we had a print reporting service and not a radio or TV news service, because nobody could understand what Jim said, they could only understand what Jim wrote,” joked Thorkelson. “When Jim ran for the feds, we told him the first thing he had to do was speak slow enough so people could hear that he actually had good ideas.”

Sinclair sent a heartfelt letter that recognized the hardships the people of Prince Rupert had to struggle through, particularly the marches, demonstrations, picket lines and protests that formed a part of his own personal history and that were testament to the caliber of workers, he said.

As someone involved in the labour movement in Prince Rupert since her days of life guarding under CUPE and working in a fish plant, Thorkelson was first inspired by senior women at the plant who got her to sign her first union card.

“I came to Rupert and there was a march down Third Avenue with wage and price controls, I remember that.

It was my first union political protest, on behalf of not just working people but everybody in Canada. I remember the peace movement, the rallies that the labour unions organized. We had Teachers for Peace, and that bird we still have upstairs sat in the library where kids put little things on why they wanted peace. This Labour Council was part of that, and I remember.

Thorkelson went on to remind everyone that since she arrived, the labour Council has been involved in every political action, whether it was fighting Bill 19 and 20 with many in Prince Rupert supporting the teachers, or picketing at the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital.

“I remember the two strikes we had at the post office, and there were only two communities in British Columbia, if not Canada, that didn’t have scabs and we were one of them!” said Thorkelson vehemently. “And Pete Lester who was mayor at the time said, ”We don’t want scabs in Prince Rupert because we don’t want fights on the streets.” We sat there day and night, and we were one of the few post offices that wasn’t scabbed because we fought together.

With such along, battle-laden and successful history, it’s not much of a surprise that Thorkelson and current Labour Council President Dave Smith were proud of reaching the organization’s half-century anniversary.

“I’ve been involved with the Labour Council for 25 years, and I’ve seen a lot of change, up and down, good and bad,” said Smith. “It’s looking interesting, The last six years have devastated this town, with the mill closing and the fall-out from that of families breaking up and losing homes. It’s nice now, but anybody talking about a boom is hopefully wrong. What we need is a nice steady, strong economy which is anchored in something that is sustainable.”

With goodwill and comradeship in the air and bellies full of food, everyone was anxious to see who would win the many door prizes that had been donated. From rain gear, to coffee mugs, to a vehicle first aid kit, there was plenty of prizes to go around, as well as a leather jacket raffled off, courtesy of the United Food and Commercial Workers. However, by 9:30 the crowd was ready for some music, which the band Crazy Tracy (formerly Agent 99) was pleased to offer, but not before cracking a joke of their own.

“Thanks ladies and gentlemen. Sorry for keeping you waiting a few minutes, but you know how these unions are.”