Union Zindabad! — South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia

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Searching For
Working Class Unity
T
here are some recorded examples of
South Asian workers who were willing
to agitate against the unhealthy and unfair
treatment they received in the early years. Earlier,
we recorded the instance in 1906 when quarry
workers at Tod Inlet went on strike to protest
unhealthy working conditions.
On May 11, 1907, The Western Clarion
reported that “Hindu workmen” at a mill in
Kaslo BC successfully struck for more wages.
In February 1909, 100 ‘Hindu’ lumber mill
workers went on strike at Fraser Mills because
their wages had not been paid to them by a
labour contractor. In this incident, the workers
took their case directly to the New Westminster
Police, demanding they be freed from the
contractor who was skimming their pay. 1
In an unusual twist, the labour contractor
in question turned out to be Uday Ram who
became President of the Canada India Supply
Company run by Husain Rahim. 2
Prior to 1912 many unions came and went in
sawmills and logging operations up and down
the west coast but they had little interest in
the poorly paid immigrant workers who toiled
mostly in the sawmills. Most of these unions
were small, unsuccessful and short lived.
The International Union of Timberworkers,
an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor,
was chartered in 1913 and managed to survive
into 1923. In 1917 a small number of South
Asians in BC applied to join.
“A union charter is being secured from
the International Timber Workers, and the
union will be in good shape in short time. It is
1 “Strike Over Agent”, The Daily Columbian, February 23, 1909, 1.3
2 “Document Disappeared”, The Daily Province, March 7, 1912, 40 and “Suit Between Hindus”, September 25, 1912, 20.
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