Rallies and Organizing Around the Province

Rod Mickleburgh (Labour Reporter) [00:00:00] I also covered the big rally in Victoria.

Ken Novakowski [00:00:04] On July 26.

Rod Mickleburgh [00:00:05] Yes. And you know, reasonably early on after, after the legislation came down and it was the biggest demonstration in Victoria, 25000 on the lawns of the legislature. Absolutely huge. It was the first time that the public sector workers booked off work. The liquor stores were closed right up to Nanaimo. I mean it was, it was a big thing and they all came down to the rally. And one reason I mentioned it is because it was a big rally, but second of all it was one of the last stories in the old broadsheet of the Vancouver Province.

Mervyn Van Steinburg (Unemployment Action Centre coordinator) [00:00:42] So when we went into the park, we marched down the main street of Kelowna and we were talking about “We’ll stay on the sidewalk” and all that kind of stuff. Well, once we turned the corner coming out of the parking lot we were in, it was “To hell with that.” And we went right down the main street. This whole group of eight hundred, thousand, twelve hundred people, whatever it was marching, and we went by the Bennett store, because the Bennett family had had a store in there for ever and it was all glass. And you know in this window, I remember seeing all the RCMP lined up in front of this Bennett store. I guess they were afraid we’re gonna break the windows or do some silly thing, I don’t know what it was. But it was pretty exciting. Yeah. There was a lot of support for what was going on for sure.

Art Kube (President, BC Federation of Labour) [00:01:27] The thing that was striking our hand was that it was also in the Social Credit ridings where there was an awful lot of support for us.

Jim Sinclair [00:01:35] Right.

Art Kube [00:01:36] And that, that most likely did more than, than anything else to at least get the government to give it a second thought.

Larry Kuehn (President, BC Teachers’ Federation) [00:01:50] Yes, I did some travelling and speaking at rallies, but particularly during that period, the, after the BCTF executive adopted a proposal to authorize the BCTF taking part in a strike around, you know, with other unions in solidarity. I spent, you know, basically a month travelling around the province speaking to mostly the teacher groups, you know, about what, what it was that was being proposed and why it was important and, and what it was that we that we needed to, to do to try to change the, the, the actions of government to get them to to withdraw the legislation.

Patsy George (fired BC government social worker & staff for Solidarity Coalition) [00:02:40] I’ve told a story about how I was sent to Prince George, and I had never been to Prince George before, and this was… Well, I have been there as a President of the B.C Association of Social Workers, but not to organize that community, and, and, and I had no idea how to go about connecting with some of the private sector unions. And so I was told the thing to do is to go and visit one or two of the bars that are frequently used by members of IWA and various others. And, and here I am, you know, 35 years ago a lot younger, a woman of colour. Walking into this, all by myself, walking into a local bar full of men, all with their beers and I don’t drink beer, and… But I can remember that being quite a nervous sort of situation. But at the same time, I had a job to do and I was convinced that the government was so wrong that I could influence these people to, to, to learn about issues that they may not be aware of. And so I would just go and say, “Well, I’m from Solidarity Coalition, do you know anything about it? Or can I tell you a little bit about it? When is your local meeting? I’d like to come. You know, in fact, the local community is planning a rally on Friday afternoon or Friday evening or Saturday morning. Would you be able to join us?” You know, I mean, I’m surprised that I did all of that. But it must, they must have wondered, who is this woman wandering around the bar? You know, particularly a South Asian woman, because you don’t usually see South Asian women wandering in alone or wandering in the, in the bar situation but you know, that was the job called for it. You have to reach out to people, and wherever they are, that’s where you go. And so I did it.

Art Kube [00:04:49] Some people say “Oh yeah, you know, these things happen overnight.” Well, let me tell you that did these things don’t happen overnight. They happen because you work on them. You have people who are organizing, people who take advantage of certain situations, right. And you know, we had for instance, in British Columbia we had approximately 1000 people who worked for trade unions. You know. Well, let me tell you, they were put at our disposal. Right, right away. You know, there was so, no problem. All the full time staff of trade unions we needed. And then naturally, there were a lot of people who, who were just anxious to get involved and did so. So it… It, it, it was really a, what you might call, a thing which sort of fed itself and, and was able to wipe out any differences.