Building a Union

"All organized labour is back of the Bakers' Union in its desperate fight to obtain justice.  The people recognized that the demands of the Bakers are fair and reasonable, in fact, the claims of the Bakers are so moderate that the people cannot understand the action of the master bakers in refusing to accede to the demands of the men.  The Bakers' Union deserves credit for the way in which they are conducting their fight for better conditions.

No class of workmen in this city have had to endure such deplorable working and wage conditions as the bakers."

It's hard to say what happened to the movement of 1920.  The bakers' movement disappeared, to resurface the fourth major attempt to organize the bakers and confectioners was the Teamsters' Union.  It was active in the Maritimes in the late 1950's and early 1960's.  They organized drivers and salesmen in the food industry.  The leading role of drivers was quite a change from nineteenth century days, when the skilled bakers had not attempted to organize workers outside their craft.  The drivers were now the "spark plug" and tried to spread organization to other workers.

A Charter was finally issued and the union was certified as Local 446 of the Bakery and Confectionery Workers International Union.  An interesting feature of this certification of both Local 446 and Local 927 of the Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America. Such a joint certification of two unions acting co-operatively was a first in Canada.

Bye-Laws of the Journeymen Bakers'

Instituted, January 1, 1868

1.)    That a door-keeper be appointed at each meeting, to allow no persons to enter who are not members, without the permission of the President, nor any member in a state of intoxication; nor allow any member to retire without leave from the Chair.

2.)    Any member speaking shall address the Chair, standing, uncovered, and respectfully, or be fined five cents.  If two members should arise to speak at the same time, the President shall decide who shall proceed, and no member allowed to interrupt another while speaking under a penalty of five cents.

3.)    If any member refuse obedience when called to order by the President, he shall be fined five cents for the first offence, and twelve and a-half cents for the second offence; and, if he continue disorderly he shall be expelled for the remainder of the evening.

4.)    Any member making use of profane or obscene language shall be fined five cents; and members speaking shall confine themselves to the question, and avoid any personalities or ungentlemenly expressions, under a penalty of five cents.  The President to be supported by the meeting in keeping order in all cases.

5.)    That any member entering the Club room in a state of intoxication, and making a disturbance, shall be fined for the first offence twelve and a-half cents, for the second, twenty-five cents and third offence to be expelled from the room, in addition to a fine of twenty-five cents:  or may be expelled from the society altogether, if a majority of the members wish it.

6.)    That should one member strike another in the Club room, he shall be fined one dollar; and should one strike another on any other occasion, or challenge another to a breach of the peace, the Committee shall deal with him as they may think fit.

7.)    That no smoking be allowed during business hours under a penalty of five cents.

8.)    That in order to promote harmony and friendship, no member shall be allowed to boast of his own, or depreciate workmanship of another member in the Club room, under a penalty of twenty-five cents.

9.)    That should any member be proved guilty of felony before a Magistrate, he shall be expelled from the society, and forfeit all benefits therein; but should be regain his character he may be admitted by the consent of two-thirds of the members, but not otherwise.

Working in the 1930's

I was nineteen years old in the early thirties and finding any kind of work was an impossibility with so many other young men also hunting for a job. My pals and I used to spend our evenings hanging around the corner of Joyce and Kingsway. We had no money to spend and would take long walks up Kingsway to Central Park and back. It was while we were on one of our nightly strolls that we met a man and his wife, who we had seen several times before. This night we got into a conversation and learned that he was head baker in McGavin's cake. I had never heard of McGavins before, but from that night it was two become a very important part of my life. Mr. Beresford seemed like a very nice fellow. I was certain he was English.

Later on, I found out where the Beresford, lived, which was close to my home on Joyce Road, and one evening, that early summer, I called at their home and asked him about a job in the Bakery. He was pleasant, but offered little hope. Every week thereafter, I would call around and always got the same answer. The only thing left for me was to take a job on a farm in the Fraser Valley, even though I would only get room and board. Before taking this desperate step, I made one more trip to my friend, the foreman. This time if was different when he said that he could give me a job relieving for the summer holidays and that I was to start the next Monday at 7:00a.m. My wages were to be twelve dollars per week. What a happy day that was for me.

At McGavins, I met George Paul, Ina Mooney and Lars Gulliksen and I soon made friends with them. Mr. Beresford was a very fine baker and a first class foreman. You had better be there on time at 7:00a.m. every morning. At the end of the day shift, Mr. Beresford would change into a clean apron and lead us all off the floor, sharp at quitting time.

It was while he was foreman there that McGavins became a Union Shop and I had my wages increased to $18.00 per week. One Saturday, Mr. Beresford got into an argument with Mr. Campbell, who was plant manager, and that resulted in our foreman quitting. Several cake foreman followed, with the first being good to work for, but eventually, we got one who was impossible. It was while he was there Friday overtime was expected. We would work at least three hours extra every Friday, but no overtime was ever paid. By this time, the depression was really setting in and the company started cutting corners. My three years employment was suddenly terminated at noon one day. I was given no notice and no pay in lieu of notice. That was a bitter pill for me and there was no help from the Union. But I vowed never to forget what happened to me that day.

Something else happened during those first few years at McGavins that changed my thinking. One of my jobs was to dispose of the salesmen's returns. I would take the sacks of returns to the furnace in the basement and burn them. How my family could have used some of those returns. With every shovel, I would think of the many thousands of unemployed hungry people in the city. I could not understand what was happening, burning good food while people were hungry and kids going to school on empty bellies. I began to read about these things and decided the system under which we lived was wrong. I became a socialist and joined the C.C.F. and later the N.D.P. and have been a member all of these years.

The next few years after that lay-off were the worst in my young life. Many other young men eager to work faced the daily humiliation of being forced to accept relief of only $3.15 a week. I paid $1.05 for a room on Pender St., which I shared with a friend. That left the large sum of $2.10 a week for food and other things a young fellow needs, such as bus fare, clothes and entertainment. I had saved a few dollars each week while at McGavins but that soon ran out. My roommate and I sold vegetables from door to door but it took most of the profit buying gas and oil for the old wreck of a car we used. We both found odd jobs but the earnings were pitiful and the hours long. Later things improved for me when I got a part-time job in Woodwards Bakery Department.

Next I worked for four years at Bullin Brothers on West 1st Ave. My luck finally changed when I found a full-time job in David Spencers' Bakery Department in the building which now houses the Sears Tower on Hastings Street. The war had started and suddenly there was work for everyone.

I liked it at Spencers where I met and worked with Herb Palo, Reg McLennen, Jim Fowler, Buster White and his Dad, Reg Clarkson, Fred Mutter, Sam Brown and many others. I had been there for three of four years when Fred Poulson asked me on day what I thought about the idea of forming a union in the bakery. I was all for it and within a day or two we had a group of ten or so who were ready to take the next step. After working all Friday night we all went to the Bakers' Union in Hastings St. and there we met John Humphreys who was the union Agent at the time. We joined and I felt good being a union member once again but at that time we were not able to make any further progress.

One afternoon as we were all gathered waiting for the elevator to take us down to the main floor, Jim Fowler, my foreman noticed the pin I wore on my jacket and asked me what it was. I answered that it was my union pin. When Fowler said: "What Union?", I replied, "The Bakers Union". No one else said anything. A few days later the head foreman, Joe Smith, told me that the Manager, Mr. Lorne wanted to see me in his office. He said nothing about the pin but told me he wanted me to take over the cake mixing job on the night shift by myself. I thought he had been made aware of me being in the union and said I would have to talk it over with my wife. After my shift that day I went to see John Humphreys because I felt certain my days at Spencers were numbered. He offered me a full-time job in Canadian Bakeries cake shop and after working out a week's notice I started the new job.

My days in the new job were happy ones, back in a union shop after all those years, working with such fellows as Bob Carson, Bill McMath, Bob MacLean, Madge Hughs, Grace Lumsden, Jim Sharp, George Stephens, Wilmer Bell, Dave Bell and many others. After being there a month or so the boys detected my interest in the Union and they asked me to become their Shop Steward and I was happy to do so. In those days all Shop Stewards were automatically members of the Executive Board. Shortly thereafter I became a member of the union negotiation committee. Because of the active part I took on that committee I was nominated for President of the Local. That position held little interest for me but rather than decline I nominated Wilmer Bell and he was elected President.

Our Business Manager, John Humphreys, had earlier joined the armed forces and the President at the time, Bert Jackson, took over as Business Agent with Board Member, James McMeekin moving up to be President. McMeekin went to Seattle and Tom Annal was elected President. He resigned and Wilmer Bell was elected President.

Under the leadership of Bert Jackson our union had seemed to lose a lot of its punch, always accommodating the companies. This greatly annoyed me and on a number of occasions I said so. One event comes to mind when Herb Palo and I were both Executive Board Members. The Agent came to one Board meeting and it was quite obvious that he had had a few to many. I challenged him in front of the whole Board and he made no defense. I can recall another General meeting that especially distressed me. There had been a number of complaints from the bread department staff of Canadian Bakeries (Toastmaster) about the excessive overtime every time there was a Public Holiday. We seemed to take a great deal of time talk about this but no action was taken to stop it. Finally after repeated complaints, the union was prepared to take the stand, there would be no overtime worked the week of the next public holiday. The company was advised of our intent but instead of carrying it through the Manager was invited to speak at the next union meeting. After he spoke, the members decided by vote to limit overtime to one hour and the company was also informed.

Management, however, felt they held the trump card and countered by advising the union office that they would no longer deduct union dues and send them into the union office. The union quickly made an about face, no restrictions to overtime. Many of us concluded that our union had lost any influence that it might have had and that something be done with it. But in any event we could look forward to the time when Humphreys would be released from the Armed Forces and would be back in the union office. The discontent, however, boiled over and we talked President James McMeekin into running against Jackson in the 1941 elections. Our efforts came to naught when Jackson beat McMeekin and we were stuck with him for another year.

It was during that year that I became more active in the union. George Stephens, a long time employee in our cake shop, had been away on his annual vacations. On that shift we worked from Monday morning until around 3 p.m. on Saturday with Sundays and all Public Holidays off. Brother Stephens was to return to work on Monday morning but it was a Public Holiday and all the other cake shop employees were off with pay. Stephens was back on Tuesday the same as all the rest of us but when he got his pay for that week he was docked one day. He came to me as his Shop Steward and I immediately took the matter up with Jim Sharpe, our forman, who agreed with me that George should not have been docked. It was agreed that we would call in the Business Agent and he promptly came. We were unable to get him to see it our way in spite of the fact that the whole shop backed me. I told the crew that I would bring this to the floor, at the next meeting and when I did that there was a lot of support for my position. In the end Jackson was instructed to take the matter up with the Company and to get me off work to accompany him. The meeting was a total disaster for me as I got no support whatever from Jackson. When the meeting was about to break up, the Manager, Mr.Bert Colwell chided me by saying that the foreman of the department also disagreed with me. I called Mr. Sharpe at home that evening and when he heard what Colwell had said he asked me to see him just before 6 a.m. he had the Manager with him. Mr. Sharpe backed to the wall, so to speak, the Manager gave in and said the days wages would be paid. When the word spread throughout the plant, several other members who had been docked made a trip to the paymaster and all got a days pay which had likewise been docked from them.

Finally, John Humphreys was released from the Armed Forces and we expected to see his familiar face back in the union office. This was because of the Federal law which provided that released veterans got their old job back upon release. Instead of receiving an automatic reinstatement, he was told that be must make an application and it would considered. This was done by the union office with the support of some of the officials. John Humphreys was a very proud person, as all who knew him will attest, and he refused to do what they wanted. When I learned of this I brought the matter up on the floor of the meeting and was then told that he was going to work for the Compensation Board. Brother Jackson stayed on the rest of his term.

A month or so before nominations were to come up for the 1942 term I was at a General Meeting, sitting behind a group of members from McGavin's cake shop. Les Pettit turned around and asked me if I would consider running for Business Agent. These boys indicated that I would get the support of their department. I discussed this with my friend, Herb Palo, who was working at the General Bakeries at Boundary Road and Kingswas and he too offered me his support. Jack Temple, one of our older members was working at Weston Bakeries off 8th Avenue and Main Street. I always admired him and decided that provided I had his support I would run. He said he would not only support me but that he wanted to nominate me and later month in he did just that.

Herb Palo was a very good artist, besides having a fine singing voice and being quite a good boxer, he made several posters which he posted in the General Bakeries. Jackson and myself were the only nominees. In the elections which followed we received the same number of votes and in the run-off a few days later and with Herb Palo representing me, I won by two votes. It was then in February 1942 that I started my long term of twenty-six years in the union office.