Along the shore in Saint John: International Longshoremen’s Association local marks 175 years

I was listening to Sunday Magazine on CBC Radio a few weeks ago when I heard a commentator say that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is “probably the oldest union in Canada.”

Not by a long shot. In fact, later that week I was in Saint John to attend the 175th birthday of Local 273, International Longshoremen’s Association. It is the successor to the Laborers’ Benevolent Association, which was founded in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1849.

I do not know if the Supreme Court of Canada was thinking of the Saint John longshoremen when they made their decision in 2007 that collective bargaining is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Their argument was that the rights of labour are “the culmination of an historical movement” that has made them a “fundamental aspect of Canadian society.”

It is hard to think of a better example of that evolution than the story of the longshore workers in Saint John and the union that is now one of the oldest continuously existing labour organizations in the country. From this perspective, the postal workers of today are the latest workers negotiating for a say over their conditions of work and pay.

The story has been told before. In 1849 the longshoremen installed the famous Labourers’ Bell on Market Slip to signal the start and end of the working day. With some 1500 members in the 1860s, wrote  Eugene Forsey in his history of early Canadian unions, the longshore workers “ruled the harbour with what the merchants considered a rod of iron: every vessel had to be loaded and unloaded by union members, and wages compared favourably with those of skilled trades in Toronto.”

The union’s history was also documented in a book by Patti Breen, Along the Shore, published in 1999 to mark the organization’s 150th anniversary. She described not only the early years but also how the union navigated the challenges of the 20th century. Mechanization and restructuring required the union to work hard to maintain standards on the waterfront and protect members against new occupational hazards.

At the anniversary event on November 20th this year, several hundred longshore workers and their families and friends gathered for the celebration at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre. They listened as the ILA 273’s longtime secretary-treasurer and business agent Pat Riley delivered a review of some of the high points in the years since the last celebration in 1999. “On a daily basis, then and now,” he said, “there are fights to be won; there are people to help – both inside and outside our ranks. We must continue to stand strong – in solidarity with all.”

To start with, Riley reported, there were the Woodchip Wars, which began in 2000 and did not end until 2007. At  stake was the union’s right to represent workers operating cranes unloading woodchips for J.D. Irving. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada and confirmed the union’s jurisdiction on the Saint John waterfront.

Then there was a chaotic round of bargaining that lasted three and a half years before the Saint John Port Employers’ Association broke ranks with J.D. Irving to negotiate an acceptable collective bargaining agreement. Another notable struggle included a work-to-rule campaign to stop contracting out by other employers. There was also a need to defend the hiring process and to negotiate conditions for handling self-unloading ships. In one situation the union went directly to cruise ship passengers to explain the local issues in dispute.

One of the most memorable conflicts was the Battle of Long Wharf, in which the union opposed a deal to transfer valuable waterfront property from the Port Authority to Irving Oil Limited for the construction of Irving’s new world headquarters. The union took much abuse for opposing what they saw as a shortsighted backroom deal. But when Irving Oil started construction, installing 300 steel stanchions for the new project, they overplayed their hand. The plans did not yet have approval from Transport Canada and proved to be in contravention of several conditions for the use of the port lands.

With the assistance of Acadie-Bathurst New Democratic Party MP Yvon Godin, the union took their case to the House of Commons in Ottawa. Godin confronted Transport Minister John Baird with an embarrassing question: “Irving has taken over the Long Wharf Terminal and is now building on it without proper authorization. Why is the minister letting Irving Oil break the law?” When Irving Oil finally cancelled their plans in 2010 and chopped down the so-called Forest of Steel on Long Wharf, said Riley, “this was probably the most expensive clearcutting that has ever occurred in the history of the Province of New Brunswick’s largest Company Town.”

Meanwhile, longshore workers were also able to see themselves as global citizens, and ILA 273 was alert to international issues. They were already known for their support for political prisoners in Argentina in 1979 by blocking shipments of heavy water supplies to the military dictatorship in that country, an event marked in 2010 with the award of a medal by the new democratic Argentine government. Solidarities continued as ILA 273 joined the International Dockworkers Council in 2001, as one of the founding union locals. In March 2003, the union declared a “hot cargo edict” on supplies destined for the Iraq War.

And in December 2018 union members refused to cross a picket line set up to protest the export of light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, under Canada’s controversial policy of promoting arms sales abroad. As a result of the protest, shipments were diverted to Baltimore. An attempt to exact $500,000 in damages from the union was challenged by the union’s lawyers and was unanimously dismissed by the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

The union has continued to play a big part in local community causes. For one, the Romero House Soup Kitchen has benefited from union support throughout its history. In another example, a campaign to restore city bus passes for legally blind passengers began in 2014 and went through numerous human rights appeals and legislative initiatives until it was finally successful eight years later. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the union orchestrated a spectacular Solidarity for All event featuring decorated ships and tugs, water cannons, cranes and forklifts, trucks and locomotives joining in a harbourside tribute to the many frontline occupational groups who kept the city running in a difficult time.

Over the course of that late November evening last month, more than a dozen individuals were welcomed as honorary members for their contributions over the past quarter-century. Some were local activists and professionals; others came from afar, including union leaders from Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax as well as Charleston, South Carolina and Mobile, Alabama and more distant ports.

Among them was Jordi Aragundes Miguen, from Barcelona, Spain, one of the leaders of the International Dockworkers Council. He and other representatives of longshore unions had eloquent words of appreciation for the recently retired Pat Riley and the part he has played in promoting solidarity among those who work the world’s ports.

It has been said that those who work along the shores of a port are natural political economists and practical social theorists. They can add up the visible wealth that passes through their gates, and this can give them a common-sense understanding of their power and responsibility. This was already true at the founding of the union in 1849 when they struck their first blow for shorter hours, and it has remained a lasting theme in the history of the union.

Historian David Frank is an honorary member of ILA 273.