288:
employees were affected, mostly clerks. The CPR refused to negotiate and announced that all the strikers had been fired for leaving work without notice. The UBRE called out CPR freight handlers at the
Vancouver docks. Other groups walked out in sympathy or refused to handle CPR freight, including longshoremen, CPR ship crews, telegraph messengers and teamsters. The UBRE called out its members in Nelson and Revelstoke. On 9 March 1903 forty five CPR employees went on strike in Calgary, asking for recognition of the UBRE. The strike spread to Winnipeg. In the end about 1,000 western CPR employees were on strike. Efforts by the Vancouver Board of Trade to end the strike were rejected by CPR. On 11 March 1903 the Western Federation of Miners went on strike at the Dunsmuir coal mines on
339:
before the strike began, and to stop legal proceedings against the strikers. The CPR would not guarantee re-employment, and would not recognize the UBRE. In a confidential note the CPR said it would fire any UBRE members, but did not in fact take this step. On 27 June 1903 a majority of strikers agreed to accept the CPR terms and the UBRE declared the strike ended. 600 members of several different unions had walked out in support of the UBRE freight handlers and clerks, in
British Columbia's "first great sympathy strike". The sympathy strike had cost 38,075 striker days. Another outcome of the strike was the formation of the Employer's Association of Vancouver, founded in May 1903 with the purpose of presenting a united front by employers against future industrial action.
174:, erupted. The Santa Fe, lines of which closely paralleled the Southern Pacific in California, was abandoned by other railway craft brotherhoods in its effort to win redress; this disaffection, combined with the ongoing organizing efforts of the employees of the Southern Pacific, inspired the formation of a new railway union encompassing members from all railway job classifications. The organization was launched at a January 1901 meeting of eight railway workers representing the various crafts. A provisional constitution and bylaws were prepared for the new union, to be called the United Brotherhood of Railway Employees (UBRE), and George Estes was elected as the union's first president.
141:(CPR) workers without a union, including yardmen, bridgemen and some classes of track repairer. It was not recognized by the CPR and had no contract with the railway. The UBRE was low profile in its early years, but in 1901 they started to organize the low-paid CPR freight handlers and clerks in Winnipeg. The new activism may have been the result of the appointment of William Gault as the new Master of the union. The UBRE affiliated with the Winnipeg Trades Council at the end of 1901. The goal was to organize all railway employees into one union, regardless of their skill, so that as William Gault said they would be "not brothers in name only, but brothers indeed."
271:(TLC) the UBRE delegates from Manitoba bitterly denounced the leaders of the brotherhoods, but did not gain support from the TLC. The effect of the strike and the TLC response was to increase dissatisfaction with the TLC and craft unions and assist expansion of the UBRE and ALU in western Canada. On 1 August 1902 the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council voted 35 to 5 to place the CNR on its "unfair" list. The strike was not formally ended until a settlement was reached on 24 January 1903, but the CNR refused to recognize the UBRE.
264:
through the movement for higher wages which was recently begun by the machinists of the road." The UBRE went on strike against the CNR on 30 June 1902, with about 220 employees including wipers, switchmen, trackmen, freight handlers, clerks and cleaning staff – almost all the employees other than the conductors, engineers, firemen and brakemen who operated the trains. The CNR brought in strikebreakers, but now had to deal with the brotherhoods, who had held back from supporting the UBRE but were now threatening to strike.
284:(WFM), both ALU affiliates, was another issue for the CPR, since industrial action by the WFM was preventing the CPR from realizing the full value of its investment in branch lines serving the mines. The CPR managed to subvert Harold V. Poore, the main organizer of the UBRE, with a combination of bribery and blackmail. From January to April 1903, when he died of scarlet fever, Poore gave the CPR copies of all the UBRE's confidential correspondence.
183:
251:, a labor newspaper in Winnipeg, optimistically said that the new union would "foster education and dispel ignorance, raise wages and lower expenses, shorten hours and lengthen life, increase independence and decrease dependence." The UBRE gradually established new locals in Canada during 1902. They were founded in turn in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Revelstoke and Nelson.
125:(CPR) was determined to break the UBRE and provoked a major strike in Vancouver in 1903. The CPR used strikebreakers, spies and secret police to break the strike. The crafts brotherhoods of engineers, conductors, firemen and brakemen would not support the UBRE. The strike failed, and the UBRE disintegrated over the next year.
295:
The craft brotherhoods refused to support the UBRE, forced members who had struck in sympathy to return to work, and instructed their other members to remain one the job. Joseph Watson, head of the
Vancouver boilermakers local, ordered his members not to join sympathy strikes and agitated against the
158:
had established a company relief department which had taken automatic deductions from the wages of the
Southern Pacific's employees, causing great discontent. Representatives of the various job categories on the Southern Pacific held a series of meetings which had chosen delegates to attend a general
338:
By late May the UBRE leadership had accepted they could not win the strike. A confidential agreement was reached on 12 June 1903. The CPR refused to allow its clerks to be unionized on the grounds that they had access to confidential information. The CPR agreed to pay wages they had owed to strikers
190:
Estes' UBRE was founded to create a union that would "bring all classes of actual railway employees in closer contact with each other, for their mutual benefit and improvement." It proposed to take a moderate approach to dealing with employers, and to avoid any political affiliation. A similar union
263:
went on strike in
Winnipeg for higher wages and union recognition. They failed to get support from the other railway crafts unions. Estes arrived in Winnipeg on 9 June 1902, and at a public meeting two days later announced that the UBRE was going to launch a drive to organize on the CNR, and "carry
246:
The
Canadian and American unions combined, and on 25 April 1902 the Winnipeg-based UBRE became Division #70 of the American UBRE. In late April 1902 two UBRE members had been dismissed by the CPR, allegedly for union activity, and William Gault was also threatened with dismissal unless he cut his
194:
The UBRE tried to meet a need for representation for the less skilled railway workers. The running trades – engineers, brakemen, firemen, and conductors – were represented by crafts brotherhoods. They were well paid, and the railways gave them good treatment because of the responsibility of their
334:
on 8 May 1903. Pettipiece wrote of the CPR's use of spies and secret police that, "nowhere else in the
British Empire would such a condition be possible, and it has seldom been equalled anywhere in the long and painful history of the tragedy of labor." George Estes was arrested in Victoria on a
279:
By the start of 1903 the UBRE had not managed to achieve its goal of representing all crafts, and was limited to trades such as clerks, freight handlers, laborers and store workers who were not covered by any of the craft unions. The CPR vowed to "spend a million dollars to kill the UBRE". The
354:
The commission detected a conspiracy against the B.C. economy directed by foreign agitators. The commission's report said that the UBRE, ALU and
Western Federation of Miners were foreign, socialist organizations out to destroy the legitimate and responsible craft unions and damage the western
307:
In mid-April Frank Rogers, a well-known labor leader, was shot during an argument between strikers and CPR agents, and later died. The brotherhoods did not send representatives to his funeral procession. After Rogers' death two men were arrested. One was tried, and he was acquitted. Pro-labor
287:
The CPR provoked a UBRE strike on 27 February 1903 by the unfair dismissal of a clerk. Even before the strike started, the CPR had imported strike breakers from central Canada, and later brought in strike breakers from the United States without any objection by the immigration officials. 154
369:
The office of
Canadian vice-president was dropped in May 1904 at the UBRE biennial convention in San Francisco. The organization also decided at that time to relocate its headquarters from San Francisco to Chicago, a more central location, and George Estes was re-elected President of the
304:" on the striking Freight Handlers and Office Employees. The CPR continued to run trains during the strike, distributed a pamphlet that called the UBRE a "dishonest and traitorous organization", and called its leaders "a set of revolutionists."
230:
Estes told an audience in
Winnipeg that the UBRE "has been designed to meet the needs of the hour; ... it meets concentration and consolidation of the part of capital, with the same policy for labor and nothing short of this will protect you."
296:
UBRE, ALU and socialists in the press and in public meetings. The president of the Boilermakers' Union in the US said any members who went on strike in sympathy with the UBRE would be thrown out of the union. The socialist journalist
120:
in 1898, and a separate union established in Oregon in 1901. The two combined in 1902. The union signed up lesser-skilled railway clerks and laborers, but had the ambition of representing all railway workers regardless of trade. The
358:
The commission recommended that unions be incorporated and held liable for damages. Anyone other than a British subject who incited or led a strike could be jailed. Boycotts, "unfair" lists and "scab" lists should be outlawed.
366:, a socialist newspaper, said in a 1903 year-end review that most strikers had been blacklisted. It said "the brotherhood is completely destroyed in Canada with the exception of the division in Winnipeg.
267:
The outcome was an agreement on 15 July 1902 in which the brotherhoods gained recognition from the CNR, while the UBRE strikers were left without jobs. At the September 1902 annual convention of the
1142:
137:(ARU) in Winnipeg dissolved in 1897. The UBRE was formed in Winnipeg in September 1898, presumably to fill the gap. At first, membership was limited to a small number of fairly skilled
292:. The UBRE claimed the strike was in solidarity. The real motive of the coal strike was to gain recognition of the WFM and to stop dismissals of miners for belonging to a union.
1122:
191:
had been formed in San Francisco, the Railway Employees Amalgamated Association. The two unions combined with headquarters in San Francisco, using the UBRE name.
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The ALU and the UBRE were threatening to businesses because workers were organized by industry rather than skill. One union could close down a company.
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203:
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The UBRE had lost most its US members by the end of 1904. At the start of 1905 the only remaining UBRE local in Canada was that in Winnipeg. The
347:
In April 1903 a royal commission was set up to investigate the crisis, composed of B.C. Chief Justice Gordon Hunter, the Reverend E.S. Rowe and
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flimsy charge of inciting the crew of a steamship to disrupt mail service, and was held for three weeks before the charges were dropped.
268:
1085:
Estes, George. "Extracts from the Address of President Geo. Estes to the Convention of the United Brotherhood of Railway Employees,"
374:
247:
ties with the union. Instead he resigned from the CPR and accepted the position of UBRE vice-president for Canada. In May 1902
28:
199:
167:
163:, was chosen as the chairman of this railway general grievance committee, which served as the direct forerunner of the UBRE.
213:(AF of L) for a charter, but was refused on the grounds that the UBRE would compete with the existing railway brotherhoods.
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jobs. The less skilled laborers, track maintenance crews and freight handlers had worse conditions and no representation.
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84:
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377:(IWW) held its founding convention in June 1905, at which it reported that the UBRE had just 2,087 members.
134:
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217:
100:
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942:
Rebel Life (2nd ed.): The Life and Times of Robert Gosden, Revolutionary, Mystic, Labour Spy
289:
160:
380:
George Estes did not attend the IWW convention, and seems to have left the labor movement.
330:
238:(TLC) he viewed the UBRE as "inimical to the interests of the working people everywhere.
969:
Reformers, Rebels, and Revolutionaries: The Western Canadian Radical Movement 1899-1919
216:
After the AF of L rebuttal, the UBRE moved to the left and start to negotiate with the
1096:
1021:
301:
182:
1041:"The United Brotherhood of Railway Employees in western Canada, 1898-1905"
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meeting at San Francisco early in April of that year. George Estes, of
224:. The UBRE did not formally become an ALU affiliate until April 1903.
1056:
117:
198:
The UBRE tried unsuccessfully to take over the organization of the
181:
996:
Making Vancouver: Class, Status, and Social Boundaries, 1863-1913
220:(ALU), a recently founded rival to the AFL associated with the
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C.M. Hurlbut, "The United Brotherhood of Railway Employees,"
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308:observers said the trial was a farce. The UBRE's
1143:Transportation trade unions in the United States
300:claimed that some of the crafts union members "
206:. Estes was expelled from the ORT as a result.
116:) was an industrial labor union established in
8:
19:
1022:"History of the Socialist Party of Canada"
18:
1123:Defunct trade unions in the United States
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468:vol. 1, no. 48 (Sept. 3, 1903), pg. 13.
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209:Early in 1902, the UBRE applied to the
110:United Brotherhood of Railway Employees
20:United Brotherhood of Railway Employees
16:Former trade union of the United States
874:vol. 2, no. 34 (May 26, 1904), pg. 1.
786:
750:
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7:
993:McDonald, Robert A.J. (2011-11-01).
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280:connection between the UBRE and the
1148:Trade unions disestablished in 1905
269:Dominion Trades and Labour Congress
1089:vol. 2, no. 37 (Aug. 1904), pg. 3.
259:In May 1902 the machinists of the
166:In December 1900, a strike of the
14:
915:Alberta Labour: A Heritage Untold
170:, involving 800 employees of the
1138:Transport trade unions in Canada
1108:Trade unions established in 1901
1103:Trade unions established in 1898
972:. University of Toronto Press.
918:. James Lorimer & Company.
912:Caragata, Warren (1979-01-01).
375:Industrial Workers of the World
29:Industrial Workers of the World
1118:Defunct trade unions in Canada
200:Order of Railroad Telegraphers
168:Order of Railroad Telegraphers
1:
1133:1901 establishments in Oregon
1128:1898 establishments in Canada
1087:American Labor Union Journal,
872:American Labor Union Journal,
466:American Labor Union Journal,
282:Western Federation of Miners
211:American Federation of Labor
966:McCormack, A. Ross (1991).
349:William Lyon Mackenzie King
326:Richard Parmater Pettipiece
1164:
1027:. World Socialist Movement
939:Leier, Mark (2013-09-05).
870:"UB of RE Go to Chicago,"
236:Trades and Labour Congress
222:Socialist Party of America
261:Canadian National Railway
156:Southern Pacific Railroad
139:Canadian Pacific Railway
123:Canadian Pacific Railway
1039:Tuck, J. Hugh (1983).
328:, and appeared as the
187:
135:American Railway Union
133:The last local of the
1020:Milne, J. M. (1973).
298:George Weston Wrigley
186:George Estes in 1903.
185:
1113:Railway labor unions
218:American Labor Union
101:American Labor Union
1045:Labour / Le Travail
364:Bond of Brotherhood
154:Early in 1900, the
21:
945:. New Star Books.
188:
1006:978-0-7748-4227-3
979:978-0-8020-7682-3
952:978-1-55420-058-0
925:978-0-88862-264-8
650:, pp. 78–79.
551:, pp. 75–76.
398:, pp. 63–64.
322:Western Socialist
312:merged with the
234:Gompers told the
172:Santa Fe Railroad
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161:Roseburg, Oregon
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847:McCormack 1991
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680:McCormack 1991
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370:organization.
351:as secretary.
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835:McDonald 2011
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725:
724:Caragata 1979
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708:
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697:, p. 13.
696:
695:Caragata 1979
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525:McDonald 2011
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38:1898 (Canada)
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1086:
1068:. Retrieved
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1029:. Retrieved
1010:. Retrieved
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929:. Retrieved
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113:
109:
107:
97:Affiliations
90:George Estes
275:1903 strike
255:1902 strike
178:Development
1097:Categories
1070:2014-10-19
1031:2014-08-30
1012:2014-10-19
985:2014-10-19
958:2014-10-19
931:2014-10-19
787:Milne 1973
751:Leier 2013
493:Leier 2013
384:References
80:Key people
896:Tuck 1983
884:Tuck 1983
811:Tuck 1983
799:Tuck 1983
775:Tuck 1983
763:Tuck 1983
736:Tuck 1983
707:Tuck 1983
665:Tuck 1983
648:Tuck 1983
636:Tuck 1983
624:Tuck 1983
612:Tuck 1983
600:Tuck 1983
585:Tuck 1983
573:Tuck 1983
561:Tuck 1983
549:Tuck 1983
537:Tuck 1983
508:Tuck 1983
481:Tuck 1983
423:Tuck 1983
408:Tuck 1983
396:Tuck 1983
355:economy.
249:The Voice
70:Members
45:Dissolved
1065:25140201
320:and the
87:(Canada)
53:Location
905:Sources
318:Nanaimo
314:Clarion
302:scabbed
35:Founded
1063:
1003:
976:
949:
922:
242:Merger
118:Canada
60:Canada
1061:JSTOR
1025:(PDF)
1001:ISBN
974:ISBN
947:ISBN
920:ISBN
114:UBRE
108:The
92:(US)
48:1905
1053:doi
316:of
1099::
1059:.
1051:.
1049:11
1047:.
1043:.
743:^
714:^
687:^
672:^
655:^
592:^
515:^
500:^
473:^
447:^
430:^
415:^
1073:.
1055::
1034:.
1015:.
988:.
961:.
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112:(
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