23935 CEP English Cover

11/26/02

11:56 AM

Page 1

e
h
t
t
s
u
J
!
g
n
i
n
n
i
g
e
b
The Communications,
Energy and
Paperworkers Union
of Canada

23935 CEP English Cover

11/26/02

11:56 AM

Page 2

PRINTED BY CEP MEMBERS ON PAPER MADE BY CEP MEMBERS.

ED-E-1219

e
h
t
t
s
u
J
!
g
n
i
n
n
i
g
e
b
The Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers
Union of Canada

James McCrostie
Edited and designed by
Rosemarie J. Bahr
Published by
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada

Foreword
The Communications,Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada is
a relatively new union with a long history.This booklet,in words and
pictures,traces the story of CEP s founding unions from the 19th century until the 1992 merger when CEP was formed.
United to support,not combined to injure was the motto of
CEP Local 91-O a printing trades local that is the oldest Canadian
union local in continuous existence.It s a good motto for CEP today.
Our members are still united to support in the printing
trades,
and in media unheard of when local 91-O was formed radio,,television and the internet.We are united to support in industries like
pulp and paper,gas production,chemical manufacturing,oil refining,
and communications that have changed significantly since they first
developed in the late 19th century.
Today s CEP members in our traditional jurisdictions and in
the
new economy are following in a fine tradition.We are combined,not
to injure, but to preserve and advance our rights and dignity,,to
build better lives and futures for our families and our communities.
This booklet will show you where we have come from.It has
proved so popular we have had to do a reprint.I am sure you will
enjoy it and hope it will inspire you to make your own contribution to
the story of the labour movement.
In solidarity,

Brian Payne
CEP National President

JUST THE BEGINNING!

The Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers
Union of Canada
Contents
Growth of CEP and parent unions ..............................ii
Just the beginning ..........................................................1
The early struggles ........................................................2
The new industries ........................................................9
Expanding the issues....................................................13
Growing nationalism and militancy ..........................16
Bigger is better ..............................................................24
Union names and abbreviations ................................27
Sources............................................................................28

1996
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada
350 Albert Street, Suite 1900, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 1A4
i

Growth of the CEP

and its parent unions

IBPM
1890s

UNITED GAS
& COKE
ICWU

UPA

OWIU

IBPSPMW
1906
UPP
1957

OCAW
1955

UPIU
1972

CCWU
1976
ECWU
1980

CPU
1974

CEP
1992
1994

1994

SONG

TTU

1994

CWC
1972

NABET

1992
SQIC
1827

CWA
1950

merger
Canadian split

ii

ITU

UTW
1945

1984
IUE
1949

Just the Beginning

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of
Canada is the newest union in Canada. Yet it has a history that
goes back more than 150 years.
The CEP held its founding convention in November, 1992. The
Canadian Paperworkers Union, the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada and the Energy and Chemical Workers
Union joined forces after a year of discussion. The new CEP membership of more than 140,000 made it the eighth largest union in
the Canadian Labour Congress and the fourth largest private sector union in Canada.
For the first time, three strong unions agreed to give up their
independence. Although the workplaces the three unions organized may appear to have little in common, the similarities among
the unions outweighed the differences. The three parent unions
were set up after breaking away from internationals. The unions
had similar democratic structures, with representatives from the
rank and file on the national executive. The constitution of the
new union carries on these democratic structures and guarantees a
balance of power so that no one branch can dominate.
The new CEP offers several advantages. A larger union means
a larger strike fund and more money to research increasingly complex contract issues and to fund educational programmes. A diversified union offers the opportunity to launch industry-wide campaigns. Many collective agreements with different expiration dates
means the union does not have to worry about having most of its
members on strike at one time.
The most important advantage is the strength that comes from
numbers. The CEP gives its members a stronger political voice and
the ability to play a greater role in shaping Canadian society.
1

The Early Struggles

During the early nineteenth century, people in Canada worked
as many as 72 hours a week. Child labour was common. Company
owners were reaping the benefits of Canadas growing industry,
but the workers were not.
It was the labour unions that fought to end this exploitation.
Even though unions became legal in 1872, the cards were still
stacked against workers who wanted to improve conditions. Plant
owners and managers could easily fire union organizers and place
their names on black lists. Employers forced workers to sign yellow dog contracts letters in which workers pledged not to join
any outside labour organizations.
There were no laws to force companies to recognize unions or
to prevent the use of private police and scabs during a strike.
Organizing was tough.
Skilled printers, in both Upper and Lower Canada, were
among the first Canadian workers to organize.
In 1827, printers who had immigrated from France formed the
Socit Typographique du
Qubec. Members inSQIC
cluded both French
1827
and English journeymen printers. The Socits name later changed
to Syndicat Qubcois de
l Industrie et Communications (SQIC). SQIC
would join the Communications and Electrical
Workers of Canada, one of
the CEP parent unions, in
1992.
Printers in the town of
York (Toronto) started a
labour organization in
1832. They were
TTU
being threatened
1832
with layoffs caused
James Kilpatrick, president of CEP local
by technological
91-0 dressed as an 1870s printer for a CEP
change and the hiring of
convention.
apprentices at reduced
2

PHOTO: PHOTO FEATURES LTD

Printers among Canadas first unions

wages. The union would eventually be called the Toronto Typographical Union (TTU). In 1866, the TTU joined forces with the
American-based National Typographical Union, which was renamed the International Typographical Union in 1869.
These Toronto printers were leaders in the fight to reduce
work hours. In March, 1872, the TTU went on strike for a 54-hour
week. Unorganized printers from the country were used as scabs,
forcing nearly half the unions members to find work elsewhere.
Despite the hardships, the printers won their 54-hour week. By the
following year, membership in the union had returned to prestrike levels.
The reduction in the hours of work was an incredible achievement. As late as the 1890s, some American locals in the International Typographical Union were still working 60 hours a week.

Organizing paper mills

In the late 1890s, workers in American paper mills began to organize unions. During this period, the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers (IBPM) represented skilled machine
IBPM
tenders and beater engineers. In 1897, the membership ex1890s
panded to include back-tenders, but tension between the
skilled and unskilled workers remained.
In 1906, the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and
Paper Mill Workers (IBPSPMW) was established to represent all
other workers in the paper mills. The unions organizers thought
the interests of the less skilled mill employees were being igIBPSPMW
nored by the higher paid men who operated the paper ma1906
chines. Plant owners, interested in resisting demands for increased wages and reduced hours, were able to take advantage of the battles between the two unions. In 1910, the two unions
agreed to a truce and settled the jurisdiction for each union. The
unions also agreed they would negotiate jointly with employers.
In this era, workers sometimes entire paper machine crews
would simply move to a new mill if conditions in one area were
unsuitable. This mobility meant that people knew what working
conditions were like in other parts of the continent.
This mobility also helped build a spirit of solidarity. Americans working in Canadian mills brought with them a knowledge
of the benefits of union membership. Several locals were established in Quebec and Ontario during the early 1900s. These first
locals were usually established spontaneously, with little organizational or financial help from the American union headquarters.
In Canadian paper mills, workers laboured 12 to 13 hours a
day, six days a week, with no time off for meals conditions that
3

ED SEYMOUR COLLECTION

Log drivers bringing up the rear on the Miramichi, about 1898.

encouraged the development of unions. In 1914, the IBPM and the

IBPSPMW signed their first written agreements in Canada at a
mill owned by the Ontario Paper Company (now Donohue) in
Thorold, Ontario. The work day was reduced to eight hours. These
collective agreements set the trend for the rest of the paper mills in
the province the 48-hour week soon became the standard in
Ontario mills.

The first attempt to organize Bell operators

Not all the early drives to organize unions were successful.
The bid of telephone operators working for Bell was one of those
blocked.
Bell operators, exclusively women at the turn of the century,
worked in incredibly hectic conditions. Each operator was responsible for 80 to 100 lines and handled 300 calls an hour. To make
matters worse, the long distance lines occasionally gave operators
electric shocks.
In January, 1907, Bell went on an efficiency drive. They hired
scientific management experts who recommended that the work
day of Toronto operators be increased from five to eight hours. A
few years before, Bell had reduced the work day from eight to five
4

hours, also to achieve efficiency.

As well as the increase in hours, the workers faced a 16 to 21
cent-an-hour pay cut, a lot of money when the starting wage was
$18 a month. In response, the women formed the Telephone Operators, Supervisors, and Monitors Association. On January 31, the
company demanded the operators accept the new working conditions or resign.
The next day, 400 operators walked off the job. Bell resisted attempts by the operators to bargain and brought in scab workers.
The operators went back to work on an eight-hour day on February 4, when the federal labour minister appointed a commission
to investigate the dispute. The commission, led by future Prime
Minister W.L. Mackenzie King, was to investigate the reasons for
the strike and the operators work environment. The commission
ended two weeks later when Bell and the operators reached a
compromise. Seven hours of work would be spread over a ninehour day, with wages the same as proposed for the eight-hour day.
The settlement was only a bit better than the companys original offer.
By 1918, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
had organized a union at Bell, but by 1921, the company managed
to replace it with a company union, the Telephone Operators Association.

The first Consumers Gas union

On July 12, 1911, 60 employees of the Consumers Gas Company in Toronto walked out. The strikers were demanding a
wage increase and a reduction in their seven-day work week.
GAS
Their schedule allowed only 24 hours off every two weeks.
WORKERS
The walkout lasted five days and ended before the workers
1911-12
demands were met. However, the strike did help lead to the
formation of the Gas Workers Federal Union No. 1 the next
month.
A year later, the men were again fighting to protect their
rights. In 1912 while a plant was being repaired, the company laid
off 36 workers without any guarantee they would be re-hired. The
165 employees at the plant responded by walking off the job.
Scabs and foremen ran the plant for five days until the strike collapsed. The union was broken.
Workers at Torontos Consumers Gas had to wait until 1946 for
their next union. That year they joined the International Chemical
Workers Union, which they left in 1977 to start an independent
union. In 1982, this union merged with the Energy and Chemical
Workers Union, now part of CEP.
5

Paper industry expands

In 1917, the two paper unions won one of the original union
security clauses in Canada. A collective agreement signed with
Abitibi at their pulp and paper mill in Spanish River, Ontario set
out compulsory union membership, preferential hiring of union
members and a model grievance procedure. The companys recognition of the unions right to exist was highly unusual.
During the 1920s, Canada became the worlds leading producer of newsprint, and the manufacturing of pulp and paper grew
into the nations principal industry. The 6,000 workers in Canadian mills in 1900 grew to 25,000 by 1920. As a result of this growth,
the two international unions recognized the need for organizers
who had a knowledge of Canada and the French language. To
help organize Canadian mills, the two unions supported the establishment of a Canadian office in 1920.

Operators first out in Winnipeg General Strike

One of the earliest examples of CEP political involvement occurred in the events leading up to the Winnipeg General Strike.
From 1916 to 1919 in Canada, the rate of inflation was twice as
high as the rate of wage increases. On May 2, 1918, Winnipeg municipal light and power workers walked out for a wage increase
and recognition of the right of municipal workers to strike. Two
weeks later, the call went out to the citys unions to join a sympathy strike.
Winnipegs telephone operators were the first of 40 unions to
join in this strike.

In 1994, CEP members celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Winnipeg

General Strike.
6

ED SEYMOUR COLLECTION

The light and power workers succeeded after a three-week

walk-out.
A year later, on May 1, 1919, Winnipegs building trade workers walked out to gain better wages and hours. They were joined
by iron workers who were fighting for company recognition of
their union, the Metal Trades Council.
On May 15, with the overwhelming support of its 12,000 members, the Winnipeg Labour Council called a general strike. Thirty
thousand people walked off the job.
Among the first out were the citys telephone workers. Winnipeg had no phone service for a week.
The strike faltered a month later, when its leaders were arrested. It ended with a protest march organized by war veterans on
June 21. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and special constables fired on the crowd, killing two men. An additional 34 people
were wounded and 80 arrested.
Two days later, strikers began to report back to work.
Manitobas telephone operators would join the Communications and Electrial Workers of Canada in the early 1980s.

Lining up for relief during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression and the paper industry

The stock market crash on October 29, 1929 signalled the start
of the Great Depression. This economic crisis reached its Canadian
peak in 1933, when as much as half the countrys industrial labour
force was unemployed.
The Depression devastated labour unions along with the rest
7

PHOTO: STUDIO LAPORTE

of Canadian society. Membership declined and many of the gains

made in previous decades were reversed. Some regions of Canada
saw the return of the 65-hour week.
The paper industry did not escape the economic disaster. Both
unions lost members. The Paper Makers went from over 2,000
members in 32 locals in 1929 to 1,400 members in 26 locals in 1932.
Luckily, newsprint prices began to improve after 1934, and by
1939, the newsprint and fine paper industries had largely recovered. The Paper Makers also grew, to nearly 3,500 members in
1939. By the end of 1940, the Paper Makers had become a truly national union, with locals in every newsprint-producing region in
Canada.
The Pulp and Sulphite Workers set up new locals in Quebec
and British Columbia in 1937. In 1940, the union had 9,000 Canadian members and a decade later was bargaining for more than
25,000 Canadians.

The Atholville Pulpmill shortly after its start up in 1930, New Brunswick.

The New Industries

Unions also began to organize in relatively new industries
during the Depression. The organizing continued during the war
years, and during the prosperous post-war decade, the CEP parent
unions made gains for their members. There were also several
mergers between craft and industrial unions.

The birth of the UE

In 1936, the United Electrical and Radio Workers of
UE
America (UE) was established. The next year the union
1936
changed its name to the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America. That year it established a local in
Brockville, Ontario, becoming an international union. Most of its
members worked in plants manufacturing electrical goods for
companies such as Westinghouse and Proctor-Silex.

PHOTO: CEP LOCAL

975

Organizing the chemical and oil industries

By the 1940s, several unions were competing for Americas oil
and chemical workers. This rivalry spread into Canada.
One of the earliest to sign up Canadians was the
GAS & COKE
United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers. Their first
1943
Canadian local
was set up in
1943 at the Polymer plant
in Sarnia, Ontario. Polymer was a crown corporation set up to produce
synthetic rubber, which
was vital for Canadas war
effort. The Gas and Coke
Workers were soon able to
get into plants in Niagara
Falls and Welland, but the
unions growth would
stagnate in the 1950s.
In 1950, the Oil Workers
International
At the controls of a water gas generator in
Union (OWIU)
OWIU
Toronto in 1948.
formed their first
1950
Canadian local at a Clarkson, Ontario refinery owned by
British American Oil. Soon after, more locals were founded in Ontario and Quebec. These first locals were formed largely by Canadian workers, not by American union officials.
9

The OWIU was immediately successful in bargaining. In 1950,

the union negotiated a contract that made the wage rates at Montreals McColl-Frontenac plant the highest in Quebec.

Organizing telephone workers

In 1945, the plant, traffic, and clerical employees of the
Saskatchewan Government Telephone company formed the first
three locals of the United Telephone Workers of Canada
UTW
(UTW). Two years later, the installers working for Northern
1945
Electric and the employees of Toronto Telephone House
joined them.
By the end of the 1940s, the UTW began looking for a merger
partner so that it could provide better services and strengthen its
bargaining position. In 1950, the UTW joined an international
union, the Communications Workers of America.

The UE - IUE split

The UE continued to grow in Canada after World War II,
reaching its peak in 1947. By this time the Canadian section was
virtually self-sufficient and had nearly 20,000 members.
However, the cold war had disastrous consequences for the
union on both sides of the border. Most of the unions American
and Canadian top leaders were enthusiastic communists. As antired hysteria began to build in America, the UE was expelled by its
umbrella labour group, the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO). The CIO justified the 1949 UE expulsion, stating, The
IUE
UE has been selected by the Communist Party as its Labour
1949
base, from which it can operate to betray the economic, political, and social welfare of the CIO, its affiliates and the general membership.
The CIO replaced the expelled union with the International
Union of Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (IUE). The IUE
eventually pushed out the UE to become the dominant union in
Americas electrical industry.
It was not so easy to expel the UE from the Canadian Congress
of Labour (CCL) because there was no constitutional provision for
such an action. Under pressure from the CIO, the 1950 CCL convention used a technicality to expel the UE and recognize the IUE.
The UEs international office had been withholding dues owed to
the CIO and had neglected to pay the per capita tax owed by the
Canadian locals to the CCL. The CCL could suspend any union
that was three months behind on its payments. The CCL was careful not to remind the UE to pay up until it could be safely kicked
out and the IUE affiliated.
10

The two unions would spend years raiding and fighting each
other until mass layoffs in the early 1970s forced them to cooperate.

The growth of the IUE

The newly formed IUE was one of the unions that expanded
during the 50s. In the fall of 1952, the IUE had 13 locals in Ontario
and five in Quebec. By 1954, the union had 23 locals and nearly
3,000 members. Part of this expansion was at the expense of the
old UE, but the IUE also grew by organizing.
A pioneer in organizing white collar workers, the IUE made
significant efforts to organize office and clerical employees, especially in its Peterborough and Toronto plants. In the 1960s, IUE
was able to establish a broader national base, establishing locals in
Alberta, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.

Canadian television and NABET

This decade also witnessed the birth of television with the first
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation station going on air
in 1952. The CBC television
employees were quickly organized by several unions.
The National Association of
Broadcast Employees and
Technicians (NABET) signed
up the technical employees,
and in 1953, the union
NABET
signed its first agree1952
ment.
NABET also signed up
workers at private stations
in Ontario, Quebec and
Newfoundland. When the
CTV network was founded
CHEX strikers Brian Scott, Bobby
Hutchinson, and Jerry Reid in Peterbor- in 1961, NABET organized
several of its affiliates.
ough, 1956.

Victories and mergers in the paper industry

By 1948, the paper unions finally won the fight for wage parity
between workers in Ontario and Quebec.
In 1951, paper mill employees broke another barrier. Several
Ontario and Manitoba mills won a 40-hour week with 48-hour
pay. Two mills, one in Liverpool, Nova Scotia and the other in Fort
William, Ontario, went a step further a 36-hour week.
11

At this time, the Paper Makers had 6,500 Canadian members

and the Pulp and Sulphite Workers represented 30,000 Canadians.
In 1957, the United Papermakers and Paperworkers (UPP) was
formed by a merger between the International Brotherhood of
Paper Makers, who had 78,000 members, and the United Paper
Workers of America (UPA). The UPA, with 45,000 members,
UPP
had never organized Canadian workers. It represented em1957
ployees of industrial mills as well as the converting branches
of the paper industry.
The formation of the UPP was part of a larger trend of mergers. After the American Federation of Labour (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations joined forces in the 1950s, they
encouraged their members to do the same.

Oil and chemical mergers

ED SEYMOUR COLLECTION

The unions representing oil and chemical workers came to realize there were too many organizations in their industry. As a result, the OWIU and the United Gas, Coke and Chemical
OCAW
Workers Union merged in 1955 to form the Oil, Chemical,
1955
and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW). The
agreement included a large measure of autonomy for the Canadian members.
The new OCAW was able to continue the bargaining success
of its predecessors. In 1957, workers at a fibreglass plant in Sarnia,
Ontario were able to win the highest wage rates in the oil and
chemical industry in Canada.

The Proctor-Silex strike in Picton, Ontario, 1968.

12

Expanding the Issues

The parent unions of the CEP continued to grow during the
relatively prosperous 1960s. They also began to expand their demands beyond calls for increased wages and reduced hours.

Health and safety in the OCAW

In 1960, the tragic deaths of two workers sparked the OCAWs
first strike over health and safety.
At a gas plant owned by Pacific Petroleum in Fort St. John,
B.C., a faulty motor was giving off sparks but company engineers
ignored the workers concerns. A short time later, sparks set off a
kerosene explosion and two men were killed, launching a wildcat
strike. The company flew in union president Neil Reimer to negotiate an end to the walkout. A joint health and safety committee
was set up, and the plant has since won safety awards.
The OCAW became one of the first unions in Canada to address the problem of health and safety in the workplace systematically. The union asked all locals to organize unionmanagement
health and safety committees. If management refused to participate, which by law they could until the 1970s, locals were told to
set up the committee on their own.

Fighting for Medicare

In 1960, Tommy Douglas led the NDP into power in
Saskatchewan on a campaign that promised to set up Medicare.
Saskatchewans doctors and business leaders opposed the plan
and negotiations between doctors and the province soon broke
down. The doctors went on strike in 1962.
The OCAW and its 2,300 members, many of whom worked for
the Saskatchewan Power Corporation, supported the government
in several ways. Reg Basken, former president of the ECWU, elected CEP Executive Vice-President in 1992, says, We were directly
involved in almost every aspect of the campaign.
Union members driving Saskatchewan Power vehicles saved
lives by transporting patients to Winnipeg and Calgary for emergency care. The union also worked with the Saskatchewan Citizens for Medical Care Committee, the Community Health Services
Associations and several other grass roots groups to support
Medicare. The OCAW helped set up community clinics staffed by
British doctors in Regina, Saskatoon and Estevan.
The hard work of the provincial government and the union
would pay off. On July 23, 1962, doctors finally agreed to the gov13

ernments plan. Canadas first government-run Medicare programme became a model for the rest of the country.

Protecting members against technological change

PHOTO: STAN TURNBULL

In 1965, the United Papermakers and Paperworkers won technological change clauses in its collective agreements. At a Bowater
mill in Newfoundland and KVP Company mills, the union established the principle that no employee would be laid off as a result
of automation or technological change. With these clauses, companies finally acknowledged that they had to treat workers as people, not property.
Also in 1965, the OCAW was fighting for some worker control
over technological change. That fall, the union launched a nationwide strike at British American Oil plants because of a lack of
progress in negotiations. The key issue soon emerged: protection
from layoffs caused by automation.
The British Columbia Federation of Labour quickly supported
the OCAW strike and its boycott of B.A. products. The provinces
unions were planning an illegal walkout to force a settlement, but

Toronto printers went on strike in 1964 against the Toronto Star, the
Telegram and the Globe and Mail to fight automation. In 1965, workers
voted to return to work, but the publishers refused. The lock out did not officially end until 1972, after the workers had lost their jobs. Automation, now
called technological change, continues to be a major concern in many industries. The picket signs used in this demonstration at Queens Park could read
the same today.
14

just before the deadline, Premier W.A.C. Bennett intervened and

an agreement was reached for the plants in B.C. The agreement set
the pattern for plants in other parts of the country.
In this early tech-change contract, each plant got a joint unionmanagement committee on automation. Members job security
was protected through the right to transfer to a new plant and retraining. They also got a better severance package.
The OCAW victory was due, in large part, to a strategy of national bargaining. The paper unions had been using this strategy
of negotiating with one company to set a national pattern since
1955. Negotiating with all a companys plants at the same time
prevented the company from playing one region against another.
It also prevented a company from transferring production to another plant during a strike.

A 1970s campaign to save the CBC.

15

Growing Nationalism and Militancy

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Canadian labour movement
was characterized by an increase in demands for more power and
autonomy. All three of the CEPs founding unions broke away
from American-dominated internationals.
The world economy was plagued by high inflation and little
growth. Workers and their unions were becoming more militant to
protect their standard of living.

Building the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada

In 1967, the Communications Workers of America created a
Canadian Communications Workers Council to run the affairs of
the Canadian members. It was entirely self-financed. The Canadians remained members of the CWA to make sure employers could
not push them around and to gradually win over those who did
not want to leave the international.
By 1972, the Canadians decided it was time to leave the CWA.
The 4,000-member Communications Workers of Canada
CWC
(CWC) held its founding convention and elected Fred
1972
Pomeroy president.
Being a Canadian union gave the CWC an advantage in organizing. Telephone workers are very nationalistic, explains Fred
Pomeroy, who became CEP president in 1995. If you were shooting pool it was like spotting you 25 points against IBEW or anybody that was an international union when you asked people to
sign a card.
The split between the CWC and the CWA was largely amicable
because the international union was willing to let the Canadians
leave. Changes in Canadian pension legislation meant that the international was going to have to change the way it funded pensions. The CWA was reluctant to accept these changes, and a split
was an acceptable alternative.

Merging to form the UPIU and splitting to form the CPU

Also in 1972 came the natural, almost inevitable merger of the
two paper unions. The United Papermakers and Paperworkers,
with 10,000 Canadian members, joined the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers, with 40,000
UPP
Canadians, to form the United Paper Workers International
1972
Union (UPIU). This merger was the result of six years of onagain off-again discussions. In fact, the unions had worked
closely together for almost as long as the Pulp and Sulphite Workers existed over 65 years. The new international union had
16

more than 50,000 Canadian members under the directorship of

Henri Lorrain.
Serge Lord, assistant to the CEP president, describes the relationship between the two unions: In Canada we did everything
together. We had joint negotiations, we had joint conferences and
what not. So it was not a very difficult step when the time came to
merge.
The next year, different pattern agreements set the stage for
the split of the American and Canadian sections. The American
sector negotiated a three-year deal with the International Paper
Company that gave a 30 cent raise in the first year, then 6.5 per
cent in each of the following two years. This agreement set the pattern for the rest of the American contracts and was supposed to set
the standard in Canada.
But, workers in B.C. and those employed by Abitibi negotiated
a better, two-year deal that had an 8.5 per cent raise each year. This
contract set the pattern for the rest of the Canadian paper industry.
However, Canadian International Paper, a subsidiary of International Paper, attempted to force a contract based on the U.S. pattern. The international union tried to pressure the Canadians into
accepting the American contract.
The Canadians struck. As a result, the international union
ended up paying for a strike over a Canadian contract that was
better than one they had signed in the U.S. International headquarters in New York was embarrassed.
The international had tried to push the Canadian section
around. Union president Joseph Tonelli told Canadians if they
didnt like it they could leave. He never expected them to do it.
The international executive overwhelmingly voted to allow a
referendum on the Canadian split. The preamble to the resolution
stated: For all practical purposes the Canadian membership in recent years has conducted its own affairs autonomously, with a few
exceptions, as a parallel organization to its U.S. counterpart. ... We
also recognize that the Canadian section of the International
Union is presently strong, unified and capable of operating independently.
In April, 1974, 87 per cent of Canadian members voted
CPU
for breaking away, and the international executive seemed
1974
willing to accept the split. But when the issue came up at the
1976 UPIU convention, some American members were extremely
upset. The decision was made not to divide the assets of the international. As a result, nearly $2 million promised to the CPU was
withheld. Apart from this fight over money, the break-up was amicable.
17

A new militancy developed

An example of new militancy occurred during the 1975 contract talks. The unions members had lost about $1.75 an hour to
inflation since 1973, and they wanted a $2-an-hour raise. The pulp
and paper industry decided to take them on.
In July, 1975, workers went on strike at mills in B.C. and Ontario. The strike spread across the country and lasted up to six and
a half months in some areas. Despite a lack of strike funds and
companies that tried to hide behind the governments Anti-Inflation Board, the CPU won a raise and an indexing formula. More
importantly, the union showed it could stand firm.
Don Holder, former CPU and founding CEP president, stresses the importance of the strike: We got through a long, dragged
out strike and from there on we just kept going forward.

OCAW breaks 40-hour week

In 1973, Gulf Oil workers won a 37.3 hour week by getting an
extra 17 Fridays off a year more proof of the advantages of national bargaining.

NABET goes Canadian

In the early 1970s, the Canadian members of NABET, especially those in Quebec, began to call for increased Canadian autonomy. By 1974, the 4,200 Canadian and 5,900 American members had
formed two parallel organizations with separate executive councils and constitutions.

Days of protest
The most visible example of the increase in union militancy
during the 1970s was the large-scale demonstrations organized by
the Canadian labour movement and grass roots organizations.
The largest protest was over wage controls.
In 1974, Pierre Trudeau was re-elected prime minister on the
promise he would wrestle inflation to the ground without wage
controls. Inflation soon hit 11 per cent and interest rates hit 9.5 per
cent. In October 1975, Trudeaus Liberal government introduced
the Anti-Inflation Board, designed to stop wage increases of more
than 10.2 per cent or $2,400. The board did virtually nothing to
prevent companies from raising their prices.
On the first anniversary of wage controls, 1.2 million Canadians held a National Day of Protest against the government and its
Anti-Inflation Board. The CEPs parent unions fully supported the
protest.
Five years later, on November 21, 1981, Canadian workers
18

demonstrated against high interest rates. Again, the target was

Trudeau and his governments policies. Trudeau, promising to
keep interest rates low and reduce inflation, had been re-elected in
1980. By 1981 interest rates had gone from 14 to 19 per cent and inflation from 9.4 to 12.7 per cent. On this day of protest, 100,000
people demonstrated on Parliament Hill. Those who could not get
to Ottawa held local demonstrations.
The CEP parent unions also took part in rallies against the
1988 CanadaUS free-trade deal, which was negotiated by Brian
Mulroneys Conservative government. Most unions also made
special efforts to educate their members about the deal. The CPU,
for example, devoted a special edition of its journal to exposing its
real effects.
These political protests were important. As Reg Basken explains: They are not a success in the sense that you turn the government around. They are a success because when you deal with
harsh political issues there seems no answer to, your membership
wants to say at least they participated in trying. Its important for
the emotional state of our membership to know that were prepared to go out and say somethings wrong.

Organizing Bell, at last

The relatively new CWC was one of Canadas fastest growing
unions by the end of the 1970s because it was able to organize Bell
Canadas Ontario and Quebec workers. Bell employees had been
represented by the Canadian Telephone Employees Association
(CTEA), a company union.
The Bell workers were starting to view the CTEAs reasonable
and rational no-strike approach as out dated. The company was starting a period of
belt-tightening and a campaign to increase worker productivity. Conditions were
ripe for organizing.
One help to the CWC was
a Canadian Labour Relations
Board decision that forced
Bell to allow union organizers
to canvass on company property during non-working
hours. That was pivotal,
Ren Roy and Marie Pinsonneault
worked full time organizing Bell
says Fred Pomeroy, We
workers in 1975.
would never have been able
19

to organize the Bell workers without that decision.

This precedent-setting judgment has since helped many other
unions organize.
The members of the CWC also helped out by donating $15 to
the organizing drive, an unusual action and also a substantial
amount.
Internal groups, Exodus in Ontario and Bloc Action in Quebec,
arranged resignations from the CTEA and organized union meetings. Both groups chose the CWC because it was Canadian and
had a democratic structure and good track record. Also, they knew
Bell workers would become the majority in the CWC.
By September 1975, a majority of plant workers had signed up.
On April 28, 1976, the CWC won a certification vote and the right
to bargain for Bells plant workers 12,000 maintenance, repair,
installer and line workers.
The second stage of the drive, to sign up the operators and
cafeteria workers, was launched in 1979. The 7,400, mainly female,
operators and cafeteria workers were represented by the Communication Union of Canada (CUC), formerly the Traffic Employees
Association. Repeated attempts to merge with the CUC failed. But,
widespread dissatisfaction with the CUC meant a majority of the
operators was willing to switch to the CWC.
The first organizing drive fell 143 members short. Within 30
days, however, a majority signed up. Later it was discovered that
the CWC had signed up a majority the first time (the labour board
had been working from an expanded list). In July, 1979, the CWC
won the certification vote.
The CWC had 20,000 new members.

A force to be reckoned with Striking Bell

As shocked as Bell was at the success of the CWC, it still took a
series of strikes to win concessions. From August 13 to September
10, 1979, technicians went on strike for parity with western phone
company employees and to reduce overtime. The contract secured
both a wage increase and a reduction in mandatory overtime.
Like the technicians, operators wanted parity with their western counterparts. The operators were asking for a 25 per cent increase, an end to different pay rates in different regions depending on the size of the city the difference was as much as $1,500 a
year better benefits, and an end to job reclassifications that removed jobs from union jurisdiction.
Bells initial contract offer triggered a spontaneous walkout by
more than 1,000 operators in Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City
on December 3, 1979. Another wildcat walkout occurred on
20

PHOTO: FRANK ROONEY, ED SEYMOUR COLLECTION

A mass rally held in downtown Toronto during the Bell operators strike,
1980.

December 21 in Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.

The Bell operators went on a legal 48-hour strike at one minute
after midnight on Christmas Eve, marking the occasion with confetti, noisemakers, and streamers. When they returned to work
after Boxing Day, the operators used delaying tactics . One tactic
had operators speaking only French in Quebec and only English in
Ontario, but this was soon abandoned to avoid upsetting the public. Instead, operators offered super service, giving out the time,
discussing the weather, and generally slowing things down.
On December 30, operators prematurely launched another
legal 48-hour strike. So many are incensed with the companys
offer that they want to show, in a more tangible way, support for
their bargaining committee, CWC president Fred Pomeroy told
the media.
After a series of rotating walkouts, a full strike was launched
on January 21. Directory assistance was non-existent and operator
service was reduced by 40 to 60 per cent.
The strike eventually ended in victory. The contract, signed at
the end of March, increased wages substantially, ended wage zoning, and protected workers from technological change.
The strike also built a new sense of union strength and solidarity. As Bev Bishop, an operator with 14 years experience, told reporters, Backbone. Thats what the strike is giving us. We may
have been a submissive bunch of women in the past, but after this
strike, well be a force to be reckoned with.
21

Better benefits
In 1982, even though Canada was mired in a recession, the
CPU became one of the first Canadian private sector unions to win
a final earnings pension plan. A final earnings formula bases pension benefits on the salary earned by a worker during his or her
last years on the job. This resulted in a dramatic hike in pension
benefits for CPU members.
In the same year, the CWC became the first Canadian private
sector union to get paid maternity leave for employees at Bell
Canada and Northern Telecom.

The Newfoundland Telephone Strike

PHOTO: ST. JOHNS TELEGRAM, ED SEYMOUR COLLECTION

In 1982, 850 employees of Newfoundland Telephone formed

Local 410 of the CWC. In July 1984, they went on strike. The local,
made up of operators and line and clerical workers, was fighting
for wage parity with other Atlantic phone workers and equal
treatment for female workers. The companys special allowance
for employees working in remote Labrador, for example, was
higher for men than for women. Newfoundland Telephone workers received 12 to 22 per cent less than their regional counterparts,
yet management salaries had increased 25 per cent over the previous two years.
In late September, police officers forced strikers aside to let in
scabs. As a result of two picket line confrontations, 57 workers

Newfoundland Telephone workers Marie Elliott, Paula Hansford and Valerie Worthman being served with an injunction in St. Johns during the
1984 strike.
22

were arrested, but the charges were eventually stayed. Even after
these arrests, the provincial labour minister, who was on leave
from a management job at Newfoundland Telephone, did not
comment on the strike.
Inshore fishermen and employees of a local radio station were
also on strike. A group calling itself the Coalition for Equality
brought the striking workers, church groups, teachers, womens
groups, social activists, and the Newfoundland Federation of
Labour together. The coalition held fund-raisers and community
events, and the workers quickly won public support.
The CWC signed a contract on February 1, 1985, ending the
bitter seven-month strike. The four-year, retroactive deal gave operators a 22 per cent raise and ended the discriminatory practices
against women. Outside workers received a 20 per cent raise. The
strike also succeeded in bringing together the operators, craft and
clerical workers. Denise Norman, a national representative with
the CEP, explains that after the strike, They all realized they were
in it together. Before there was no forum to bring them together.

A worker picks logs

with a gaffe in the
groundwood department of Iroquois Falls
in 1994. By this time
in most mills, logs
had been replaced by
chips and recycled
newspapers.
23

Bigger is Better
During the 1980s and 1990s, the newly created Canadian
unions found it necessary to merge with one another to ensure
continued growth and a strong bargaining position.

The birth of the ECWU

The first of these mergers was between the Canadian members
of the OCAW and the Canadian Chemical Workers Union
(CCWU). Both unions were having problems. Throughout the
1970s, the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU) had
been raiding Quebec members. In the rest of Canada, the Steelworkers and the Canadian Oil Workers Union were making inroads into the chemical industry.
The CCWU was formed in 1976 when the Canadian members
of the International Chemical Workers Union broke away.
CCWU In 1979, the Canadian members of the OCAW were able to
1976
split amicably from the international. The new Canadian
union received the money it was owed and for a time the two
unions maintained a common strike fund.
In 1980, after three years of talks, these two energy and chemical unions combined with Quebec textile workers to form the
30,000-member Energy and Chemical
Workers
ECWU Union
(ECWU). This
1980
was the first
union in Canada to
be formed by a
combination splitmerger.
The larger
ECWU was strong
enough to fight off
The committee working on the merger of the OCAW
challenges from
and CCWU to form the ECWU in 1980.
other unions and
work towards unifying Canadian energy and chemical workers in one union.
Today, the CEP still cooperates with its American oil and
chemical union counterparts. Representatives attend each others
conventions and important bargaining meetings.

24

The CWC - IUE Merger

In 1984, two years after splitting from their American counterparts, the 9,600 Canadian members of the IUE merged with the
CWC to form the Communications, Electronic, Electrical, Technical and Salaried Workers of Canada. Later the name changed to
the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada.

CEP first three-way merger

In 1992, the first three-way union merger in Canada took
place. After a year of discussions, the 69,000 members of the
CEP
CPU, the 40,000 members of the CWC and the 35,000 mem1992
bers of the ECWU joined forces to become the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
Don Holder proudly describes the creation of the CEP by saying, The highest peak of my life was not only to be part of the
merger but to be president of the new union.

The merger committee that created the new union.

Early CEP successes

At its merger, CEP became one of the largest private sector
unions in Canada.
The new CEP has continued to take part in Canadas political
life. On May 15, 1993, CEP members once again joined 100,000
other people to protest on Parliament Hill, this time against the
economic policies of Brian Mulroneys government. Don Holder
says the CEPs involvement proved that this union is going to be
a force in Canada.
This large union has attracted other members. The Canadian
members of the International Typographical Union joined in April,
25

CEP members made an impressive show of support at the May, 1993 Day of
Protest on Parliament Hill.

1994. That same year, the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild

(SONG), representing 3,200 members in 21 media outlets, left the
U.S.-based Newspaper Guild after fighting over autonomy and
services. SONG came to CEPs November, 1994 convention with
full delegate status. Also in 1994, delegates for NABETs 8,000
members voted unanimously to join the CEP.
By 1996, the CEP had 150,000 members in all regions of Canada. They work in mines, telephone companies, sawmills, offices,
oil refineries, newspapers, forests, chemical plants, television and
radio stations, hotels, print shops, manufacturing plants. CEP
members make paper, tires, plastic, plywood, loonies, shingles, diapers, nuclear medical equipment, electrical panel boards, T-shirts,
paint, tools, computer boards, tissue paper, fertilizer, boxes, rubber
for chewing gum, flooring, newsprint. A CEP member might be a
reporter, operator, miner, nurse, clerk, technician.
Wherever they live and work, whatever jobs they do, the
members of this new union continue to build on their history of
fighting for a better society for themselves and for their neighbours.

26

Union names and abbreviations

AFL
CCWU
CCL
CLC

American Federation of Labour

Canadian Chemical Workers Union
Canadian Congress of Labour
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Oil Workers Union
CPU
Canadian Paperworkers Union
CTEA
Canadian Telephone Employees Association
CUC
Communication Union of Canada
CWC
Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada
CEP
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of
Canada
CWA
Communications Workers of America
CNTU
Confederation of National Trade Unions
CIO
Congress of Industrial Organizations
ECWU
Energy and Chemical Workers Union
Gas Workers Federal Union No. 1
IBEW
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
IBPM
International Brotherhood of Paper Makers
IBPSPMW International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill
Workers
ICWU
International Chemical Workers Union
ITU
International Typographical Union
IUE
International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers
NABET National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians
National Typographical Union
OCAW
Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union
OWIU
Oil Workers International Union
Socit Typographique du Qubec
SQIC
Syndicat Qubcois de lIndustrie et Communications
TTU
Toronto Typographical Union
Traffic Employees Association
UE
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers
UPP
United Papermakers and Paperworkers
UPIU
United Paperworkers International Union
UPA
United Paperworkers of America
UTW
United Telephone Workers of Canada

27

Sources
Abella, Irving. Nationalism, Communism and Canadian Labour,
1935-56. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973.
Copp, Terry. The IUE in Canada: A History. Elora: Cumnock Press,
1980.
Forsey, Eugene. Trade Unions in Canada, 1812-1902. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.
Greening, W.E. The Paper Makers in Canada: A History of the
Paper Makers Union in Canada. Cornwall: International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, 1952.
Hagglund, George. Organizing in Canada: The Pulp, Sulphite and
Paper Mill Workers, 1930-47. unpublished essay.
History of Our Union: International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite
and Paper Mill Workers. Department of Research and Education, undated pamphlet.
Introducing Your Union: International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers. Department of Research and Education, 1960.
Laxer, Robert. Canadas Unions. Toronto: James Lorimer and Co.,
1976.
Lipton, Charles. The Trade Union Movement of Canada. Montreal:
Canadian Social Publications, 1967.
Morton, Desmond and Terry Copp. Working People. Ottawa: Deneau Publishers, 1980.
Notes on the Historical Background of the Canadian Paperworkers Union. CPU Research Department, Aug. 1983.
Roberts, Wayne. Cracking The Canadian Formula: The Making of
the Energy and Chemical Workers Union. Toronto: Between The
Lines Publishing, 1991.
Sangster, Joan. The 1907 Bell Telephone Strike: Organising
Women Workers. in David Bercuson ed. Canadian Labour History: Selected Readings. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman Ltd., 1987.
Seymour, Edward. An Illustrated History of Canadian Labour,
1800-1974. Canadian Labour Congress, 1976.
Smith, Doug, et al. Lives in the Public Service: A History of the
Manitoba Government Employees Union. Winnipeg: The Manitoba Labour Education Centre, 1993.
Swift, Jamie. An Enduring Flame: The History of the Toronto Gas
Workers. Toronto: Energy and Chemical Workers Union, Local
001, 1991.
Zerker, Sally. The Rise and Fall of the Toronto Typographical
Union, 1832-1972: A Case Study of Foreign Domination. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981.
28