[R-G] History of coal mining in Cape Breton

[aaron at istop.com]

Today, many, especially youg people, forget how important unions  are for 
us the workers. As a result, We continue to see quantitative loses of unions 
that has created a qualitative degeneration in living standard of the working 
class.
 I know many out there who are reading this do realize the importance of 
unions,however I believe Cape Breton's working class history is  full of 
comitted comunists working to better the lives of Cape Bretoners and this can 
give inspiration to young people who are trying 
to unionize today. I did not write this,but found it on some site. Hope you 
all enjoy.
     yftr, Aaron Doncaster 


Unions (Provincial Workman's Association) 

     The precursor of the United Mine Workers' Union in Cape Breton was the 
Provincial Workman's Association (P.W.A.), sometimes referred to as the 
Provincial Miner's Association (P.M.A.). With its beginnings in Springhill in 
1879, the union was an association which evolved when the men united in an 
effort to regain an original wage that had been doubly cut. The men walked 
out and refused to go back to work until their wage was restored. Within a 
week it was restored and this successful walkout spurred them on to form this 
association, and so, in 1881, the Provincial Workman's Association was 
incorporated into an act of the Nova Scotia Legislature. 

     In 1881, Robert Drummond toured Cape Breton as an agent of the P.W.A. 
and it was obvious that the miners here were in need of an association 
because wages were low, hours long and company store prices high. In spite of 
a hostile attitude towards unions, the miners were becoming more and more 
enthusiastic and soon four lodges were organized, including Drummond Lodge 
(South Mines), Equity (Caledonia), and Island and Unity Lodges (Bridgeport). 
By December 1881, over 50 percent of the island's mines had joined. Shortly 
after, the number of lodges increased to eight. People were still afraid to 
disobey the Company, and so it was often hard to find meeting places. 

     The P.W.A. was organized under a Grand-Council consisting of delegates 
from the various lodges and met semi-annually. These delegates, responsible 
to the membership, elected the Grand Officers. The Grand Secretary was the 
chief officer and received a salary for his work. This position was held by 
Robert Drummond and John Moffatt for a period of nineteen years and the 
position of Grand Master was held for many years by S.B. MacNeil. 

     There were also three sub-councils: Cape Breton, Pictou and Cumberland. 
The Cape Breton sub-council was the first formed because of the fact that 
Cape Breton was separated from the rest of the association. The lodges would 
collect money from their members which was used to aid other workers who were 
on strike. 

     The essential points of the P.W.A. were unity, equity and progress. It 
wanted to make the mining population a respected segment of the community. 
According to R.A. Drummond the objectives were: 

1)     not to wage a war of Labour against Capital;
2)     to carry on work to mutual advantage of both employee and employer;
3)     not to drive trade by oppressive measures from the locality;
4)     to secure fair remuneration for labour by legitimate means;
5)     to help in the removal of any cause which hinders advancement, 
mentally, socially or morally.


     The P.W.A. used three notable tactics to accomplish its aims: strikes, 
lobbying and politics. Strikes were used as a last resort when all else 
failed. 

     The history of the P.W.A. can be divided into two periods. The first 
period (1879-1898) was largely devoted to a reform of the conditions under 
which the miners lived but strikes were held in disfavour. However, they did 
occur. 

     In 1882, there was a strike at Lingan, one of four sanctioned by the 
P.W.A. occurring in Cape Breton; the remainder were on the mainland. In this 
strike the men lost a great deal but gained union recognition. The P.W.A. was 
officially formed in Cape Breton on July 6, 1882, and the strike was settled 
in 1883. 

     In the 1880s, the P.W.A. considered amalgamation of all lodges; however, 
Cape Breton members refused but agreed to send a representative to the Grand 
Council to keep in touch. 

     The P.W.A. remained fairly active in politics well into the 1890s. In 
1888, Robert Anderson (Grand Secretary) was elected to public office and the 
Arbitration Act was passed which made the P.W.A. stronger and better known to 
the public and various companies. Robert Drummond was elected to the 
Legislative Council in 1891 and, in 1892, was assisted in obtaining an iron 
and copper lease. 

     The second period of the P.W.A. (1898-1917) was devoted to increasing 
the wages of the miners and improving their standard of living. 

     John Moffatt was now Grand Secretary (taking over from Robert Anderson) 
and the organization experienced an increase in membership for several 
reasons:
1)     regained confidence from former members;
2)     increased production of coal;
3)     the union seeking an increase in wages and trade agreements of two- 
and three-year periods;
4)     the extension of the Association into other areas which were not 
necessarily coal mining. 

      In 1904, the weaknesses of the union were brought out when a strike 
occurred at the Sydney steel plant. During the strike, the union did not have 
enough money or membership to handle the situation; the company took in scabs 
to work while the regular members were on strike. By 1907, the P.W.A. was 
once again only a coal miners' union. Moves were now afoot to amalgamate the 
P.W.A. with a new union from across the border, the United Mine Workers of 
America (U.M.W.). A vote to amalgamate was lost in 1907, and another 
favourable vote in 1908 was ruled invalid by the Grand Council. 

     In 1909, a number of P.W.A. lodges dissolved in Cape Breton, and 
District 26 of the U.M.W. was formed. This caused the P.W.A. to take a more 
aggressive stand, and the companies who would not recognize the U.M.W. joined 
in the fight on the side of the P.W.A. 

     In 1909, U.M.W. men from Inverness and Glace Bay went on strike to gain 
union recognition from the Company. The P.W.A. men worked during this time 
and backed the company's decision to call in the militia. The strike was 
settled in 1910. 

     The P.W.A. next joined the Canadian Federation of Labour (1909) to 
strengthen its position against the U.M.W. and the Dominion Coal Company 
under Moffatt. The P.W.A. was accused of being "company men," and the U.M.W. 
passed resolutions opposing negotiations between the two. 

     In 1915, District 26 charter was revoked because of lack of members and, 
in 1916, the United Mine Workers of Nova Scotia began campaigning in P.W.A. 
lodges. In 1917 , the two groups united to form the Amalgamated Mine Workers 
of Nova Scotia (A.M.A.) In 1918, the lodges of the P.W.A. were dissolved and 
assets divided among colliery hospitals. 

     The P.W.A. had made some outstanding contributions to the coal fields of 
Nova Scotia besides being the first union association to form in Cape Breton:
1)     It secured legislation favourable to miners, such as the Arbitration 
Act of 1888 passed by the Liberal Government.
2)     Strikes and lockouts were reduced.
3)     It won safety improvements in the Coal Mines Regulation Act. Between 
1881 and 1909, the basic safety measures under which the collieries of the 
Province operated became mandatory. Government inspectors had the right to 
have miners' committees inspect mines became law in 1881. Also, the miners 
had the right to appoint their own checkweighman, and to be present at a 
coroner's inquest. In addition, schools of technical education were made 
available. Year-by-year amendments to the Mines Regulation Act were prepared 
and, in most cases, were granted. 

United Mine Workers of America 

      As stated previously, District 26 of U.M.W. was formed in Cape Breton 
(1909) when a number of the P.W.A. lodges dissolved. The president of 
District 26 was Dan McDougall; Vice President, J.B. Moss; Secretary 
Treasurer, J.B. McLachlan; and International Board Member, James D. McLennan. 

      The new union had a hard struggle because the P.W.A., the recognized 
union, combined forces with the Dominion Coal Company to resist the new union 
which was agitating for changes. The Dominion Coal Company opposed the U.M.W. 
because it was a foreign union based in the United States and might be 
overprotective of American markets. Secondly, the U.M.W. might demand that 
Nova Scotian miners be paid the same wages as American miners. Lastly, they 
feared that the U.M.W. might call a general strike which would include Nova 
Scotia. 

     One of the main advantages that the U.M.W. had over the P.W.A. for the 
miners was that it had the monetary resources available for a strike fund. 

     On July 6, 1909, when attempts to meet with the operators of the 
Dominion Coal Company proved unsuccessful, a strike resulted. A circular 
distributed in Montréal asked men not to come to Cape Breton to break the 
strike. The Company claimed the circular was written by McDougall and he was 
charged with libel. During this strike, the U.M.W. members were not working, 
but those who still followed the P.W.A. remained working. The striking miners 
received no media support as the struggle progressed, and fences with 
electrified barbed wire were erected around the collieries by the company. 

     Some disturbances were now occurring at the collieries between the 
U.M.W. men and non-strikers. General Manager Duggan appealed to Glace Bay 
Mayor, John C. Douglas for military protection; however, Douglas felt the 
civil authorities were able to cope with the situation. General Manager 
Duggan then went to Judge Finlayson who signed a formal requisition for 
military aid on July 7, 1909. 

     The Deputy Minister of Labour, F.A. Ackland, was sent to Cape Breton to 
report on the strike and commented on the policy of the Dominion Coal Company 
of evicting strikers from the houses owned by the Company as a means of 
inducing men to return to work. On July 8, 1909, approximately 500 men from 
the Royal Artillery and Royal Canadian Regiment arrived in Cape Breton. 

     On July 31, 1909, a protest march of approximately 1,500 miners gathered 
in Glace Bay and set out towards the nearby town of Dominion. As they 
approached the town, a machine gun nest was spotted and the leaders ordered 
the men to return to Glace Bay. 

     As the months passed by, the men and their families found it harder to 
survive on handouts. The U.M.W. relief was distributed once a week, 2 dollars 
for each man, 1 dollar for a wife and 50 cents per child. Also, the Company 
hired strike breakers from Belgium, Montréal, Scotland, Wales, Newfoundland, 
and even some from Cape Breton. These men were housed in specially built 
barracks and constantly feared attack by angry strikers. 

     The strikers were condemned in the press, from the pulpit, and the 
supporters they did have were looked upon as radicals. By November, only 500 
men remained on strike and by April 28, 1910, the strike of eight months had 
ended. 

     Technically, the strike was a failure. The United Mine Workers had 
failed to win recognition, it was monetarily defeated and between 1911-1915 
membership dropped (reportedly only 30 staunch supporters remained), and its 
charter was taken away by the International. 

     The U.M.W. was to rise again when the P.W.A. failed in obtaining fair 
wages for its members. In March 1917, the P.W.A. and the U.M.W. applied for a 
conciliation board because of difficulties in matters of wages, working 
conditions and discrimination. The Commission saw the causes of dispute at 
Glace Bay as being:
1)     rivalry between two unions and
2)     unsatisfactory wages. 

     In 1917, the two unions, on recommendation of the commission, joined and 
formed the Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia (A.M.W.N.S.). The 
President was Silby Barrett (Newfoundland); Vice President, Robert Baxter; 
and Secretary-Treasurer James Bryson McLachlan. 

     In the 1920s, the Dominion Coal Company assets of Whitney were sold and 
a new company, the British Empire Steel Corporation (Besco), began operations 
under the leadership of Montréal entrepreneur, Roy M. Wolvin. By 1921, Wolvin 
announced there would be a 33.3 percent wage reduction effective January 1, 
1922. E.P. Merril (General Manager) wrote to J.B. McLachlan (Secretary-
Treasurer, District 26) concerning the wage cut: "Business conditions compel 
us to very reluctantly ask for a reduction in wages." The U.M.W. quickly 
sought an injunction against the wage cut. This injunction was subsequently 
successfully appealed by Besco. 

     The so-called Gillen Commission was set up in 1922 to resolve the 
problem. It consisted of Mr. V.E. Gillen (Chairman) , Col. W.E. Thompson 
(Besco) and Mayor James Ling of New Waterford (acting as representative of 
the union). The case for the U.M.W. was presented by Robert Baxter and J.B. 
McLachlan. Baxter pointed out that the average production per man in Glace 
Bay was 3 tons, worth approximately 18 dollars, and the men were paid 6 
dollars. 

     When no decision could be made, Col. Thompson (Besco) recommended a 
reduction in wages of 30 percent, one third less than his previous offer. 
Baxter signed, but McLachlan refused vigorously. On March 14, 1922, a pit 
head vote was taken and the agreement was defeated by a seven to one ratio. 
This prompted the executive of the union to hold a slowdown strike. 

     Cape Breton miners were already in very poor financial shape. It was 
estimated (Dominion Bureaus of Statistics) that it cost a miner and his 
family 90 percent of his earnings to pay rent and feed his family and datal 
employees paid more for rent and food than they received in weekly earnings. 
Soon the Company Stores received orders that, until the strike ended, no 
credit was to be given to employees. Bob Baxter, Silby Barrett and W.P. 
Delaney warned against a strike stating that the International would not 
support them. The men paid no attention and reduced production by one third. 
This slowdown tactic has been attributed to James Bryson McLachlan. 

United Mine Workers of America 

     On August 16, 1922, the U.M.W. held an election of officers. Elected 
were: President, "Red" Dan Livingstone; Vice President, A.S. McIntyre; 
Secretary-Treasurer, James Bryson McLachlan; and International Board Member, 
Silby Barrett. 

     Another board was formed consisting of Dr. D'Ary Scott (Chairman); John 
E. Moore (Besco) and I.D. McDougall (Union) This board recommended a 15-cent-
per-day increase. 

     Unlike the strike of 1909, this strike was very peaceful with the miners 
remaining in their homes. Despite this, in an attempt to destroy the unity 
that the miners had achieved, the Company asked that the militia be brought 
in. The press reported that 1,200 of His Majesty's Cavalry had been 
dispatched to Cape Breton and machine gun nests were set up around No. 2 
Colliery. 

     Dan Livingstone and J.B. McLachlan were asked by Premier George Murray 
and Roy Wolvin (Roy the Wolf) to accompany them to Montréal for further 
negotiations. Some headway was made, some of the troops were withdrawn and 
maintenance men were allowed to enter the mines to prevent flooding and two 
mediators were appointed: G.S. Harrington and Dr. Clarence MacKinnon. A new 
agreement came about, the datal men received an increase as previously 
offered but the contract men were brought up to the Glace Bay rates by an 
increase of 52 cents per day. The eight-month strike was over and the men 
returned to work with an 18 percent wage cut from the 1921 rates. When 
commenting on the agreement, President Livingstone stated: 

     The wage schedule was accepted under the muzzles of rifles, machine guns 
and the gleaming bayonets with further threatened invasion of troops and 
warships standing to. The miners, facing hunger, their Dominion and 
Provincial governments lined up with Besco, the men were forced to accept the 
proposals. 

     Besco was to be faced with even more problems, when at the end of June 
1923 the Sydney steel workers went on strike to gain union recognition. 
Premier E.H. Armstrong requested that, once again, the Provincial Police 
force be augmented to deal with the problem of the striking steel workers in 
Sydney. On July 1, 1923, a group of police attacked some people in the 
Whitney Pier area for no apparent reason. The police used their feet, hands, 
iron bars and horses to intimidate the crowd, which consisted mainly of women 
and children. The provincial police were soon joined by federal troops. In 
July 1923, Cape Breton miners went on a political strike, angered by the 
lavish use of armed force in the industrial area.  

     For their part in promoting the sympathetic strike the miners' president 
Dan Livingstone and secretary treasurer J.B. McLachlan were arrested and 
jailed. Shortly afterward, the international union under the leadership of 
John L. Lewis deposed the entire union executive and took away the district's 
autonomy. No strike fund was received from the International, and A.S. 
McIntyre was left in charge. No miners would return to work until Livingstone 
and McLachlan were released and all charges against them dropped. McLachlan 
was later convicted for 'serious libel'; the basic legal decision in 
McLachlan's case was that "although what he had said might be true, his words 
were calculated to stir up unrest and therefore he was guilty as charged." 

     McLachlan and Livingstone were released on bail, but Silby Barrett, more 
conservative than the latter two, was appointed president of District 26 and 
followed orders from Lewis at the international. The men were ordered back to 
work by July 28th. It should be noted that Glace Bay Mayor Dan "Willie" 
Morrison was completely supportive of the strike. 

     With no relief, police patrolling, and McLachlan and Livingstone in jail 
on trumped up charges, the spirit of the miners' was extinguished. Movement 
back to the pits was slow but sure, with staunch supporters remaining out 
longer. By 1924, the autonomy of District 26 was restored, but Barrett had to 
revoke the charters of several lodges for refusing to back his leadership. He 
later quit his office and John L. Lewis appointed an American, William 
Houston, to take Barrett's place. He ran the office until August 24, 1924. 

     In January 1924, the miners' contract expired. The union wanted a new 
contract comparable to 1921 rates, but a notice of a 20 percent reduction in 
wages was posted for all miners, in addition to a large increase in the price 
of house coal. So although no strike was sanctioned by the International, the 
miners walked out. 

     Barrett took over the leadership of the strike, negotiating an agreement 
with the company and issuing relief to miners and families. An agreement was 
reached which raised wages for the men, but the miners' only effective 
weapon, the removal of maintenance men during strikes, was prohibited in the 
new contract. Also, they could no longer support the Labour Herald with union 
funds. This agreement was voted down by the members 5,617 to 3,145. 

     Barrett was asked to resign by the International, which also requested 
repayment of relief benefits which were spent illegally. The strike was later 
settled in April 1924. 

     By 1925, coal markets were growing soft because American coal was 
underselling Cape Breton coal in the Montréal markets. To offset this, Besco 
initiated a 10 percent wage reduction to the miners. Attempts at negotiations 
failed and on March 6, 1925, a strike was called. The Company then refused 
the men any credit in the Company Stores. The struggle was a hard and bitter 
one, and the separation of the two classes was widening. Vice President J.E. 
McLurg (Besco) made the statement: 

     "We hold all the cards ... they (the miners) will have to come to 
us ... "they can't stand the gaff." This became a catch phrase for the miners 
and made the workers even more determined than ever to prove to McLurg and 
others that they could indeed, "stand the gaff." 

     Hard pressed merchants continued to give credit, fishermen contributed 
their catch, the British Canadian Co-operatives donated 500 dollars. In 
Boston expatriate Maritimers formed a Cape Breton Relief Committee. This 
time, sympathy and support seemed to be on the side of the miners and their 
families. The Company and their government friends would soon see the result 
of this support. 

     The town of New Waterford was especially hard hit by the strike. The 
town's water supply and electrical needs all came from New Waterford Lake, a 
few miles from the town and Besco police had control of this location. Besco 
police terrorized the people of New Waterford by charging through the town on 
horseback. On June 11 approximately 3,000 infuriated men and boys gathered at 
New Waterford and made their way towards the power plant. They were met at 
the site by approximately 100 armed police and the so-called Battle of 
Waterford Lake took place. Police were hauled off horseback and beaten, while 
others jumped in New Waterford Lake and swam to the other side. The police 
began to fire their revolvers and three of the miners were shot. Gilbert 
Watson was shot in the stomach, Michael O'Handley was shot and trampled by 
horses and William Davis was fatally wounded in the heart. The miners 
overtook the police and marched them back to town to jail. Later, they were 
hurried to Sydney for safety. The men were driven to this action because 
their supply of water and power to their homes and schools was cut off. Soon 
after, however, the affair was pushed aside and forgotten. 

     A provincial election that year saw the defeat of Armstrong's Liberal 
government. The Conservatives under E.N. Rhodes met with Besco President, Roy 
Wolvin and J.E. McLurg on July 16. The police force was subsequently 
withdrawn, the wage scale was reduced to the 1922 level (a reduction of 
between 6 percent to 8 percent), the Corporation received a rebate of 1/5 of 
the coal royalties paid to the province for a 6 month period. On August 5 the 
miners voted 3,913 to 2,780 to accept the Rhodes Proposal. 

     The strike had lasted for 155 days and J.B. McLachlan rationalized the 
suffering this way:
"Under capitalism the working class has but two courses to follow: crawl - or 
fight."