Canadian Mineworkers Union
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The Canadian Mineworkers Union
In 1981 the miners in the Cape Breton coalfields held a bitter three month strike for better wages. For the duration of the strike they had to rely on community support for subsistence organized through the militant Miners Wives Association. They received no financial support or strike pay from their union, The United Mineworkers of America.
As a result, the miners organized their own breakaway union with the help and support of the Confederation of Canadian Unions. The CCU had been deemed 'raiders' by the UMWA but in fact were contacted for support by a small group of disaffected miners who had been plotting to break away from the international on their own. After being contacted by Archie Kennedy, one of the organizing miners, the CCU's secretary treasurer, John Lang, dispatched organizers John St. Amand and Sue Vohanka to Cape Breton to help the miners organize their own union. Both organizers spent two years and two campaigns on the island.
The CMU signed over half the workforce for both campaigns as members of the upstart union. During these campaigns, bitter divisions developed between UMW supporters and CMU supporters, often dividing sections of workplaces and even creating divisions within families. The UMW of A had been the miners union since 1919 and the principle of strong union solidarity was a sentiment held deeply by many Cape Breton coal miners even in the face of corruption and poor support during the strike of 1981. This factor, along with the formal alliances the UMWA had with national and provincial federations garnered them support in ther battle with the miners. Still, both contests were very close and the UMW of A managed to hold on to power. They did not emerge unscathed however. The campaigns exposed corruption and large sums of union dues used to maintain a large business union bureaucracy.
The Canadian Mineworkers Union elected Donald MacLellan its National President at its founding convention along with Vice President Dave Odo, General Secretary, Joe MacNeil, and Treasurer, Allan MacDonald.
The Canadian Mineworkers Union was the last fight in the turbulent history of the Cape Breton coal fields. A decade later, the coal mines on Cape Breton Island were closed, marking an end to a way of life that defined generations of Cape Bretoners.
