Dedicated to My Father and My Brothers and Sisters on the INCO Picket Lines
My father, was a hard rock miner, a construction leader at INCO's Frood Stobie mine, who died too early as a result of a medical condition from working underground.
I remember the first INCO strike (and all of those since). I was only eight years old in 1958 but as a miner's son even then I understood that it was about fairness, rights and dignity. Although we did not have much under the tree that year we still had a good family Christmas filled with love.
If there was one thing I learned from my father it was solidarity and to never cross a picket line. Indeed as a student working at INCO to pay for my university education I walked the line with my brothers and sisters. That people are crossing the lines in Sudbury is astounding to me, as is the fact that they are allowed to. Perhaps it is just a different time than when I grew up in Sudbury.
You can read more about the proud history of Sudbury's INCO workers and their unions here: A Short History of Sudbury Labour by Mick Lowe
Support Local 6500 Sudbury
1 comment:
When I was much younger, during the 1981 INCO strike in Thompson, I witnessed first hand the despicable lengths that e'ffn company went to to undermine the legitimate grievances of the union. A young worker at the time, it changed me forever. Never cross a picket-line is a mantra I still live by to this day. Your Dad was right.
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