Union Zindabad! — South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia
Union Zindabad! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia focuses on the history of South Asian1 immigrants as workers, and their relationship to the labour movement in BC.
Union Zindabad! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia focuses on the history of South Asian1 immigrants as workers, and their relationship to the labour movement in BC.
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Courtesy United Steelworkers.
then you get [a] retirement pension.
There are lots of advantages of being
part of a union.” 33
South Asian women donated food
to union picket lines during strikes.
“When it was the shorter strike I
would bring some of my chickens and
contribute like that,” said Kashmir
Kaur Johal. 34
Pritam Kaur Dley came to Canada
in the 1930s and joined her husband
who was working in sawmills in
Vancouver. She said, “there was no
union, so people would get kicked out
if a friend of the employer was hired”.
Her husband lost his job this way
and a friend helped him get a job at
Hillcrest on Vancouver Island.
Dley said, “there were no unions
in the early days. Everyone wanted
a union. The union formed in 1945.”
It made a difference in their lives
because after the union was formed
because “people could not be fired
when they were not at fault”. 35
33 Women’s Labour History Project. “Lake
Cowichan Group.” (Video interview), c.
1985. Sara Diamond fonds. VIVO Media
Arts Centre Archive.
34 Lake Cowichan Group interview.
35 Women’s Labour History Project. “Pritam
Kaur Dley.” (Video interview), c. 1985. Sara
Diamond fonds. VIVO Media Arts Centre
Archive.
68 | UNION ZINDABAD! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia
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