Adm. Hist/Bio. Sketch: | The Canadian Seaman's Union was established 1936 to improve the archaic conditions and wages for ordinary seamen. Affiliated to the Trade and Labor Congress, this effective, well supported, nationalist, communist led, industrial union contributed handsomely to Canada's WWII effort. It gained concessions, was recognized as collective bargaining agent for ordinary seamen and fought unsuccessfully to retain Canada's merchant fleet, the Western world's fourth largest. Using the red scare and an ill-timed strike in 1949, some shipping companies, including the federal government's, in collusion with the government and Canadian union leaders pressured by US international unionists, imported a known criminal, who violently broke the CSU. (F.J.K. Griezic, The Canadian Encyclopedia). |