What was it like when women started working at Alcan?

Interview with Gilles Fréchette, a retired Alcan employee. 

Text on screen: What was it like when women started working at Alcan?

Close-up of Mr. Gilles Fréchette. Text on screen: Gilles Fréchette, retired Alcan employee.

Gilles Fréchette: Alcan was among the first, in the region that is, to accept girls into factories as workers; not as specialized workers, but—how could I say that—as regular workers. Because, for sure, we had lots of girls working at Alcan. We had engineers, female engineers who were great at their jobs. There were some girls that weren’t so good, but we also had some guys that…weren’t too good either. 

An image appears on the screen while Mr. Frechette continues speaking. The image shows the aluminum smelter complex at the beginning of the 20^th century. A railway separates the river from the brick buildings. 

Back to Mr. Fréchette’s close-up. 

And you know, there were a lot of things that made some guys wonder if they could work as a team with the girl… with a girl…well, with the girl… with a girl.

Three black-and-white images follow one after another. They show workers working near aluminum pots. The workers are wearing safety glasses and gloves.

Back to Mr. Fréchette’s close-up. 

It was a tough environment at the start. The first two who came in the factory… I tip my hat to them because I’m sure it wasn’t easy for them. Because some people saw their place being taken away from them or they saw their son’s place being taken away. That’s because working at Alcan ran in the family. Your dad worked there, you worked there, and your son worked there. That’s just how it was. But if she comes in, then my son might not.

Images follow one another. The first image shows a dignitary shaking hands with a worker in the 1950s. The second image shows three workers wearing helmets and safety glasses. The third image shows a worker handling a pole with molten aluminum at the end of it. 

Back to Mr. Fréchette’s close-up. 

It was a competition, but after that, well, it’s like I said, there was the question of the showers, there was the question of the bathrooms, and all that.

The language was also quite different. The guys had to understand that there were certain jokes that you couldn’t make anymore. The things that were said there, especially when we went to the break room, to dinner or to the dining room, and there were conversations, especially at night, that were a bit different.

Images follow one another. The first image shows a worker driving a forklift in a warehouse filled with aluminum. The following image shows another worker driving a stick into molten aluminum.

Back to Mr. Fréchette’s close-up. 

And when the girls arrived—because the girls were on the shifts too, they were not only on the shifts during the day, they were on the shifts too—there were things that changed. Some people didn’t like it any more than that, but that’s the way it was.

The only thing that happened was that some of the guys told the girls specifically, “We are ready to show you everything, but if I get dirty up to here, then you’ll have to get dirty up to there, too. If you’re okay with that, then you won’t have any problems. We’ll show you how to do everything properly.” About a year ago, I went back to the Plant 1 mill—because I had to see someone—and I ran into one of the first girls who started working at Alcan. And what she said to me was “I’m proud that you showed me how to do it properly.”

Images follow one another. The first image shows a street in Shawinigan. The aluminum smelter’s smokestacks fill the sky in the background. The second image shows a sign in front of the aluminum smelter on which is written –  (Alcan – Shawinigan Plant). 

Back to Mr. Fréchette’s close-up. 

But I said to her, “I’m even prouder because you did what you were asked to do so that you were able to do your job.”

You definitely needed a personality like hers to get through that. I don’t know; I don’t know her family history. Was she raised with boys? I know that I have a wife who was raised with seven boys, let me tell you— and she’s the oldest— and let me tell you, she’s something! A guy isn’t afraid of that (laughs). And she uses the same language as them—she gets straight to the point (laughs).