Date: 2018-11-17
Name(s): Hiebert, Rod, den Hertog, Johanna
Description: Rod Hiebert became President of the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) in 1991. During his time as a union leader he was present for many pivotal issues affecting members, including pension funds, technological change and pay equity. He discusses the union's decision to intervene with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) when BC Telephone Company applied for a rate increase. The TWU employed many creative strategies including the 'un-strike', a 'super…
Date: 2016-04-19
Name(s): Keeton, Dan, Nicol, Janet, Yandle, Sharon
Description: Sharon Yandle was born in 1941 in Vancouver, B.C. Raised in the East Side of Vancouver, Sharon spent the majority of her career as a freelance negotiator for various unions across the province, specializing in arbitration and "duty to accommodate". She also taught labour relations and collective bargaining for a time at the University of Victoria.
Date: 2019-12-10
Name(s): Bauder, Ken, Cornes, Al, Pither, Sheila
Description: Born in 1932 in a small Saskatchewan town, Sheila Pither came to Vancouver with her mother after the death of her father. Sheila's husband was a millwright in Vancouver, and she became active in the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) Ladies' Auxiliary, where she learned about union politics. Sheila returned to school to obtain a teaching degree when her youngest son entered Grade One. She began her teaching career in Vancouver in 1967 at the age of 35. She worked in elementary…
Date: 2023-08-02
Name(s): Mickleburgh, Rod, Shewaga, Stan
Description: Stan Shewaga was born in St. Boniface and grew up in the north end of Winnipeg. After working in Louisiana for a while, he joined the American Army in the fifties, when he was about 17. After he left the army, he hitch hiked throughout Canada and ended up working in logging in B.C., where he learned to be a rigger. He received his journeyman ironworker ticket while working at the pulp mill in Port Alberni. After that, he started working at Harmac, the pulp mill in Nanaimo, B.C., where he got…
Date: 2024-04-09
Name(s): BC Labour Heritage Centre, Novakowski, Ken, Smith, Stephanie
Description: Stephanie Smith was the first elected woman president of the BC General Employees Union (BCGEU) in its over 100-year history, holding the post from from 2014 to 2024.
Born in Canada and educated in New Zealand, Stephanie attended teacher's college at age 16 and subsequently worked in the unionized childcare system . At the time, her union was trying to achieve wage parity with the elementary school teachers, which became her first experience with activism.
When Stephanie returned to…
Date: 2024-01-22
Name(s): Legg, Phil, Pederson, Sy
Description: "Sy Pederson was born into a logging family of fallers in Courtenay and followed the family tradition when he turned 21. Falling was a dangerous job and Sy recognized the hazard posed by the piecework system. He organized fallers in an illegal strike in 1972, despite union opposition, where they stayed home to successfully achieve a day rate system. Active in his union, the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), he became president of his local as well as of the labour council.
Sy…
Date: 2023-10-23
Name(s): Dufresne, Tom, Legg, Phil
Description: Tom Dufresne was born and grew up in Montreal. When he was about 15, he started working in a variety of jobs in Montreal including at lawn chair and ladder factories, delivering pop, and roofing. In 1969, he headed to the West Coast and ended up in Vancouver, where he met his wife. After moving back to Montreal briefly so Tom could finish high school, they returned to Vancouver in 1970. Tom's jobs during that time included sharpening axes, unloading box cars, and making cleaning products. After…
Date: 2025-04-03
Name(s): BC Labour Heritage Centre, Cordoni, Vi, Griffin, Sean
Description: In this interview conducted by Sean Griffin, Vi (Violet) Cordoni describes her history of singing for her community. Vi was born in 1938 in Drumheller, Alberta to Hungarian-Canadian parents. She describes her Hungarian family's experience of immigrating and then having to move several times to allow her father to work, particularly during the difficult Depression years.
As a child, Vi sang Hungarian folk songs and poems with her brother Les at cultural events organized by the Hungarian…
Date: 2021-02-19
Name(s): Mickleburgh, Rod, Williams, Warren
Description: Warren Williams' labour activism came to him through his family, who has a deep connection to Canada's black community. Warren's uncle, Lee Williams, fought for equal employment rights for Canadian sleeping car porters, and the formation of the Order of Black Sleeping Car Porters when blacks were barred from membership in white railway unions. In this interview, Williams describes his family's history and his own work experiences that led him to become the President of CUPE Local 15, one of the…
Date: 2022-07-11
Name(s): Griffin, Sean, Peppard, Wayne
Description: Wayne Peppard grew up in Castlegar, B.C., working for a short time at the Cominco smelter in Trail. His introduction to the labour movement was with the United Association of Journeymen & Apprentices of the Plumbing & PipeFitting Industry of the US & Canada, Local 170 (UA170) first as a shop steward and later as an area rep and union communicator. Later in his career he became Executive Director of the B.C. Building Trades Council. Wayne's roots made his work and personal life…
Date: 2018-09-05
Name(s): Kube, Art, Sinclair, Jim, 1954-, Walker, Darryl
Description: This interview covers the intense period in 1983 when Operation Solidarity and the Solidarity Coalition brought the province to the brink of a general strike. As President of the BC Federation of Labour, Art Kube was central to the formation of Operation Solidarity, its organizational structure, finances and strategies. In the interview, Kube explores the differences between labour and community groups. He offers a unique perspective to the events that took place and some behind-the-scenes…
Date: 2017-09-08
Name(s): Brown, Hans, Johnson, Ron, den Hertog, Johanna
Description: In this second of two interviews, Hans Brown discusses his management of BC NDP (New Democratic Party) election campaigns from 1972 to 1996. The interviewer and Hans share a conversation about political advisors they both met over the years and the modernization tools they brought to election campaigns in BC. He also relates his experience as a Vice Chair at the Labour Relations Board, plus his classification and job evaluation work at the HSA (Health Sciences Association) and the HEU (Hospital…
Date: 2019-09-19
Name(s): Mickleburgh, Rod, Sacuta, Donna, Thorkelson, Joy
Description: In a follow-up interview, Joy Thorkelson, President of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, speaks to Rod Mickelburgh and Donna Sacuta as she continues to recall the issues and actions taken by West Coast unions in the fishing industry. She begins by discussing the many devastating impacts of the Mifflin Plan on the fishing industry and on the unions that had long-dominated the industry, as the numbers of fishers and boats steadily decrease and processing jobs have almost disappeared…
Date: 2016-07-11
Name(s): Bauder, Ken, Garden, Bailey, Haynes, Ray
Description: This is a secondary, follow-up interview with Ray Haynes. Ray provided the BCLHC with a number of materials (photos, newspaper articles, etc.) to digitize and archive, which much of this interview is based upon. In this interview, Ray reflects on his time at the BC Federation of Labour and tells stories about various characters, as well as detailing his activism in retirement.
