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"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.

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Bill Routley was born in 1948 in Chatham, Ontario. He was the son of two ministers who raised him in Duncan, on Vancouver Island. The treatment of employees at a shoe repair business in Victoria kindled his interest in workers' rights. After leaving that job, he started working at the B.C. Forest Products Youbou sawmill, where he soon became concerned with safety hazards and the lack of training. Routley was elected chair of his local's (IWA Canada, Local 1-80) safety committee and then as…