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Sudbury History

Excerpt: From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury – by Oiva W. Saarinen

To order a copy of “From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City”, please click here: http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/saarinen-meteorite.shtml

Sudbury: A Union Town? (Part 4 of 5)

The Battle for Inco Begins

The District Two Convention held in Sudbury April 24–29, 1961, served as the scene of the first clash in the all-out battle for union supremacy. In contrast to the local’s meetings where it was the old guard leading the confrontation process, the new guard led by Gillis took this opportunity to harangue Chairman Solski and his supporters. Predictably, chaos resulted, and not a single resolution was passed. Since no progress had been achieved, the Gillis executive again did not remit the local’s dues to the National Office.

This move was supported by the majority of the local’s members, as shown by the third election victory of the Gillis slate on June 7, 1961. By this time, the new Local 598 leaders were exploring the option of seceding Local 598 from the National and International Union, and becoming a chartered local of the CLC.

When it became clear that the only way Local 598 could get into the CLC was by joining the Steelworkers, The Sudbury Star joined in the cause by printing a story under the headline, “Has Steel Begun Drive to Supplant Mine Mill?” Given the threat of losing Local 598’s buildings and finances, the National Office succeeded in acquiring a local injunction, allowing William Kennedy, its Secretary-Treasurer, to administer the local on the National’s behalf. On August 26, the Union Hall was taken over by Kennedy.

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Excerpt: From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury – by Oiva W. Saarinen

To order a copy of “From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City”, please click here: http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/saarinen-meteorite.shtml

Sudbury: A Union Town? (Part 3 of 5)

The 1958 Inco Strike

The first action in what was to become the “year of the strike” was taken by Inco, when it announced on March 15, 1958, that due to the economic recession, it was reducing production and laying off 1 000 employees in Sudbury, and 300 in Port Colborne. This was followed on May 23 by a further layoff of 300 men. On June 17, Inco placed all of its remaining hourly rated workers on a 32-hour week. The fact that the latter two layoffs took place during the negotiating process for a new contract added fuel to the fire. By this time it was clear that Inco, with its substantial stockpile of inventory during a period of reduced demand for nickel, was in a stronger bargaining position; as well, the company had no fear of a production shutdown, as this would allow it time to develop new domestic markets for nickel to replace decreasing military demands.

While negotiations were taking place, a number of wildcat provocations occurred at several plants and mines. Since Local 598 had advocated to its members that they should continue working, suspicions were raised that dissidents within the union were deliberately using these tactics to force Mine Mill into a questionable strike. When further meetings with the company proved unsuccessful, conciliation talks were held. The conciliation board favoured the company position and recommended a one-year contract. Not satisfied with this response, the union went on strike on September 24. For the first time since the chimneys in Copper Cliff were built, the smoke plumes were absent. Thus began a series of mining-related events that were to haunt the Sudbury area for the rest of the century.

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Excerpt: From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury – by Oiva W. Saarinen

To order a copy of “From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City”, please click here: http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/saarinen-meteorite.shtml

Sudbury: A Union Town? (Part 2 of 5)

The Heyday of Mine Mill (1944–1958)

In line with the original mandate of the WFM, Local 598 turned its attention to spreading the cause of unionism into the service industries. While this mission was done in part to prevent the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) unions from organizing the service industries in Mine Mill strongholds, the broader desire to raise minimum wages that existed throughout Sudbury at the time was equally important. To face this situation, Local 902 was chartered as a General Workers’ Union in 1949. Existing CCL unions consisting mainly of bartenders quickly signed up. The ambitious campaign by Mine Mill to organize the remaining service workers in the area caused considerable consternation and resentment among Sudbury’s merchant class.

Despite several setbacks, Local 902 was able to boast twenty-four contracts (mainly at hotels) by the end of 1950. Among these contracts was one signed with the Sudbury Brewing and Malting Company. Another union achievement was its organization of grocery chain stories that were making their appearance in Sudbury. In a rapid-fire campaign, all the clerks at Dominion Stores were unionized by 1952. In 1954, Mine Mill became the first bona fide union at Loblaws in Ontario. Organizational drives continued, so that numerous bakeries, dairies, laundries, downtown shops, hardware stores, and a few minor industries were brought into the fold. Certification of the 5- and 10-cent chain stories proved to be more elusive.

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Excerpt: From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury – by Oiva W. Saarinen

To order a copy of “From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City”, please click here: http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/saarinen-meteorite.shtml

Sudbury: A Union Town? (Part 1 of 5)

While Sudbury’s history has been intimately associated with the corporate aspect of resource extraction, this linkage also brought with it another aspect of the mining spectrum—unionism. Indeed, Sudbury has long had the reputation of being a union town. While most Sudburians have traditionally taken pride in this image, for others it has been regarded as a dubious distinction. The latter view, for instance, is explicit in the book For the Years to Come, a history of International Nickel of Canada written by one of the company’s chairmen in 1960, where the existence of Mine Mill did not even warrant mention in the book’s index.

When viewed in the context of Inco’s traditional hegemony in Sudbury and its influence in the corridors of power in Toronto and Ottawa, and the lack of interest shown by other Canadians to Sudbury’s woes related to hazardous working conditions, mining assessments, and environmental issues, it was inevitable that some counterforce to this capitalism would appear.

This resistance came in the form of the only option available to workers: unionism, notably via the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW), known locally as Mine Mill. For three decades, Mine Mill had an honourable tradition of supporting its union members and the wider community through cultural programs and fundraising activities. Its presence was sufficiently strong in the 1950s to encourage the rise of unions in other sectors of the community.

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Excerpt: From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury – by Oiva W. Saarinen

To order a copy of “From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City”, please click here: http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/saarinen-meteorite.shtml

From International Nickel Company to Inco, and Merger with Mond (1902–1928)

Between 1902 and 1928, International Nickel prospered from the pre-war European demands for nickel in armour plate, the military needs of the First World War, increased peacetime uses for nickel in the United States, and the impact of the roaring twenties. By 1903, nickel production from Sudbury exceeded that of its main rival, New Caledonia. This dominance became continuous after 1905. The control of Sudbury’s wealth was paralleled by the dominance of International Nickel within the nickel industry. Through the use of long-term contracts with its consumers, the company was able to thwart competitors from entering the market, especially in the United States.

Its ability to meet the growing global demand for nickel was facilitated by the opening of Creighton mine in 1901 and the growth of this operation by the First World War into the world’s largest operating mine.10 Its output far surpassed that of the company’s other major source, Crean Hill.

Also significant was the opening of a new smelter by the CCC in Copper Cliff in 1904 which heralded the appearance of the first of three great smokestacks which dominated the Sudbury skyline for years to come. These smokestacks served to disperse the sulphur fumes released during the smelting process into the atmosphere.

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Homer Seguin honoured at Day of Mourning ceremonies – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – April 28, 2013)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

The late labour leader was on everyone’s mind at the annual day to honour people who have died from work

Homer Seguin and his legacy fighting for workplace health and safety was top of mind at ceremonies held Sunday to mark the Day of Mourning.

The event is held to honour those who have died while on the job, or from work-related illness. United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard told a crowd gathered at Tom Davies that Seguin was an inspirational man who proved that one person can make significant change.

“That scoundrel Homer planned everything,” Gerard joked. “He even decided to die on the weekend of the Day of Mourning.” But in life, Gerard said, Seguin made a huge difference, helping to educate people, as well as sparking legislative changes that have improved the safety of workers everywhere.

“Every one of us could make that kind of difference,” Gerard said, speaking to a packed council chambers. “The last time I talked to him, he said, ‘Leo, when I beat this, we still have more work to do.’ He was in his hospital bed. He didn’t have long to go, but he was still there, talking about the work he had to do.”

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Sudbury loses labour legend – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 26, 2013)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A man who fought all his life to improve workplaces so employees wouldn’t get cancer and other illnesses from working in them, and who battled to get people compensation if they did get sick at work, died Friday morning.

Homer Seguin, a long-time health and safety activist and occupational disease specialist with United Steelworkers, died at age 79.

Long-time friend Leo Gerard, international president of United Steelworkers, said Seguin’s death was doubly ironic. He died of lung cancer and he died the weekend that his union is commemorating the Workers’ Day of Mourning.

Gerard said his friendship with Seguin spans his entire union career. “Homer’s a pioneer in so many ways,” said Gerard. “There’s just so many stories we could tell.”

From his years of working in Elliot Lake uranium mines, Seguin became such an expert in radiation, USW sent him to France for a global radiation conference where Seguin made a presentation. When he completed it, he received a huge ovation and the master of ceremonies thanked “Dr. Seguin for his terrific presentation.”

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Excerpt from “Haywire My Life in the Mines” – by Doug Hall

This autobiographical book describes the Doug Hall’s family through war and depression, and goes on to relate his experiences underground in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s. It is written from the point of view of the average Joe who went underground when he was eighteen and didn’t know what he was getting into. The author considers himself lucky to have survived those years.

Click here to order an e-book of “Haywire My Life in the Mines”:http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/269905

This autobiographical book describes the Doug Hall’s family through war and depression, and goes on to relate his experiences underground in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s. It is written from the point of view of the average Joe who went underground when he was eighteen and didn’t know what he was getting into. The author considers himself lucky to have survived those years.

Click here to order an e-book of “Haywire My Life in the Mines”: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/269905

One time I worked overtime taking a scooptram underground. Now this was an ST12 scooptram and very much too large to be taken down in one piece; so they took it apart and took it down in three pieces which were the bucket, the front section and the motor section. Now in order to facilitate this they made a rack with wheels on it to go down the shaft and the section of the scooptram that was being transported was slung underneath this rack by what I recollect were two three-eighths inch cables.

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NEWS RELEASE: Mayor Matichuk leads Greater Sudbury in mourning Canadian icon Stompin’ Tom Connors

 

For Immediate Release

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Mayor Marianne Matichuk was saddened to learn of the passing of Canadian music legend Stompin’ Tom Connors on Wednesday.

“Stompin’ Tom endeared himself to Canadians because he devoted himself and his music to life in Canada,” Mayor Matichuk said.

“He wrote and sang about the things Canadians hold dear, such as hockey. He cared most about being a Canadian … and he will never be forgotten for that.”

One of his most famous songs, Sudbury Saturday Night, written and first recorded in Canada’s Centennial year of 1967, remains recognizable to all Canadians. Though Greater Sudbury has evolved considerably from the company town immortalized in that song, Connors captured compellingly the spirit of our community 45 years ago.

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Excerpt from “Haywire My Life in the Mines” – by Doug Hall

This autobiographical book describes the Doug Hall’s family through war and depression, and goes on to relate his experiences underground in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. It is written from the point of view of the average Joe who went underground when he was eighteen and didn’t know what he was getting into. The author considers himself lucky to have survived those years. 

Click here to order an e-book of “Haywire My Life in the Mines”: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/269905

Sudbury 1966

Anyway as I said I was eighteen when the grade thirteen school year was over and so father took me out to the mine the next day. I don’t recall being asked if I wanted to go underground. Father was a miner and I guess like it or not I was going underground as well. I remember I made $2.56 an hour that first summer underground as mine helper.

I still remember going down on the cage the first time. I felt good about it. No fear. I think I sort of felt like I had become a man. One time a few years later I had been away from the mines for a while but I had secured a job underground. In the day or so before I went back underground I was seized by fear. I knew then what I was getting myself into. I managed to steel my nerves and get on with it. After a few days back at it I was okay but I always remember the fear I had that time before I went back under.

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Excerpt from “The History of Mining: The events, technology and people involved in the industry that forged the modern world” – by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of The History of Mining please click here:http://www.harriman-house.com/products/books/23161/business/Michael-Coulson/The-History-of-Mining/

THOMAS FROOD (1837-1916)

Thomas Frood was one of a large number of amateur mineral prospectors who opened up the great Canadian north for mining development. Frood, however, was one of an exclusive group who could claim a major discovery, which in his case was the Sudbury copper and nickel district of central Ontario, the home of Inco and Falconbridge, Canada’s two largest nickel miners.

Frood was born in McNab in Renfrew County, eastern Ontario, in 1837. His parents Thomas and Barbara Frood were immigrants from Scotland and his father farmed in McNab. He was educated, as was the practice then, at home and as a youth also worked on the family farm. He took up teaching himself and for many years taught in a variety of Ontario townships as Canada developed its public school system. He also worked in the army medical corps between 1866 and 1871 during the Fenian raids over the border made by dissident Irishmen resident in the US. Following this, Frood became a chemist and opened his own chemist’s shop in Southampton, a seaside town on Lake Huron. He also married his first wife, Mary, in 1865 and they had two daughters.

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Mining has seen a lot of changes over 30 years – by Jodi Blasutti Miner (Sudbury Star – October 15, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The past 30 years have shown a dramatic increase in technology in mining. Prior to the 1980s, the majority of excavation work was done with hand held equipment using pressurized air and water.

The biggest advances in taking workers away from the face, the singular most hazardous place, was utilizing mechanized equipment and more recently remote mechanized equipment.

When electric hydraulics were introduced everything became bigger, stronger and faster. The consequences of this was more advanced rock mechanics and ground wee support required to safely allow the rapid advance of stopes and headings.

Even with ongoing changes to safety practice and procedures, the modern environment has created life threatening hazards not seeing in historical mining. In this new age of mining, the rapid advancement of equipment and procedures has superseded the advancement of safety.

The current high cost of wages and equipment puts pressure on engineering design to maximize capable tons produced and concurrently maximize profit.

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Historic milestone for [Sudbury] union – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – October 15, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A milestone anniversary in Greater Sudbury’s labour history is being marked today: United Steelworkers Local 6500 turns 50 years old.

It’s also a day of infamy in the history of the Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union to whom the more than 13,000 Inco Limited production and maintenance workers belonged before the “raid” by the United States-based union occurred.

While the Steelworkers were successful in winning the right to represent the Inco workers in a vote in June, 1962 — the result was 7,182 votes to 6,951 in favour of being represented by the Steelworkers, the margin of victory was just 231 and only 15 votes over the required 50% — the ballot box victory was not made official for several months.

That was because Mine Mill protested that 71 of the ballots were not stamped with the official mark of board officials and that the 72-hour no propaganda rule had been deliberately violated by the Steelworkers. On Oct. 15, 1962, the board ruled the Steelworkers should be certified. At the time, Local 6500, as the new bargaining group became known, was the largest union local in Canada.

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ESSAY:Staring down my ghosts in Northern Ontario [Sudbury mining] – by Sandra Chmara (Globe and Mail – October 3, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite

Little is left of the old nickel town of Victoria Mines: a few metres of crushed slag that once formed a road; sunken foundations, bits of wood. Now a ghost town in Ontario’s Sudbury Basin, it is where my family’s Canadian story began, around the turn of the last century.

Since my father’s death, my heart has been balled into a fist. I thought that coming to look at this place might ease the grip. As we exit the car, we spread out and take measure. Granite tumours bulge: unwelcoming, treacherous for my elderly mother and aunt and uncle. My husband and I keep our little boy close.

Occupying this ground demands an almost sepulchral reverence. It is a haunted space, even if its ghosts exist only in my awareness that life once burgeoned here and then was gone.

Scattered in the scrub are morsels of ore and the occasional verdigris shock of copper-cobalt. Evidence of the living – broken jars, a wooden cross, shards of metal – lie hidden within a hissing ocean of weeds and grass.

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Cage Call: Artist explores lost [mining] histories – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – September 22, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

When photographer Louie Palu set out to learn more about mining, his plan was to spend one month at a mine in Kirkland Lake. That was in 1991. Instead, 12 years, two provinces and thousands of photos later, the project came to an end.

“My dad told me about Kirkland Lake,” Palu said, speaking on the phone. “He was working up there. He’s not a miner. He was just working with some mining people.

“I’ve always been interested in these underrepresented histories and stories, especially sociopolitical ones. Suddenly from Kirkland Lake I got to Timmins, then Sudbury, Val d’Or and (Rouyn)-Noranda. There were all these sort of lost histories, these really important lost histories. I just felt like this story needed to be told.”

Since then, he’s been telling the story through two books and his photos, which have been put on display at art galleries and shows all over the world, including Sweden, France and the United States.

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