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The Asbestos Strike of 1949, based in and around Asbestos, Quebec, Canada, was a four-month labour dispute by the asbestos miners. It has traditionally been portrayed as a turning point in Quebec history that has been referred to as the "first shot of the Quiet Revolution." 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...
Asbestos Regional County Municipality is located in Central Quebec. ...
Asbestos (Greek ἄσβεστος: a-, not; sbestos, extinguishable) describes any of a group of fibrous metamorphic minerals of the hydrous magnesium silicate variety. ...
Jean Lesage, Daniel Johnson Sr. ...
Events
At midnight on February 14, 1949, miners walked off the job at four asbestos mines in the Eastern Townships, near Asbestos, Quebec and Thetford Mines. These mines were owned by either American or English-Canadian companies, almost all the workers were francophones. The largest company was the American Johns-Manville firm. The union had several demands. These included elimination of asbestos dust inside and outside of the mill; a fifteen cent an hour general wage increase; a five cent an hour increase for night work; a social security fund to be administered by the union; the implementation of the Rand Formula; and "double time" payment for work on Sundays and holidays. These demands were radical in Quebec at the time, and they were rejected by the owners. On February 13, 1949 the workers voted to strike. The workers were represented National Federation of Mining Industry Employees and Canadian and Catholic Federation of Labour. Jean Marchand was the general-secretary of the latter, and is often seen as the de facto leader of the strike. February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...
The El Chino Mine located near Silver City, New Mexico is an open-pit copper mine Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually (but not always) from an ore body, vein, or (coal) seam. ...
Asbestos (Greek ἄσβεστος: a-, not; sbestos, extinguishable) describes any of a group of fibrous metamorphic minerals of the hydrous magnesium silicate variety. ...
The Eastern Townships (les Cantons de lest in French) is a region in south central Quebec, lying between the Saint Lawrence River and the US border. ...
Asbestos Regional County Municipality is located in Central Quebec. ...
Thetford Mines is a town in south-central Quebec, Canada (population approximately 17,000). ...
link titleJohns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B), is a leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-quality building and specialty products. ...
The Rand formula (also referred to as automatic check-off) refers to a workplace situation where payment of labor union dues is mandatory even if the worker is not a member of the union. ...
February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...
The Honourable Senator Jean Marchand, PC (December 20, 1918 - August 28, 1988) was a well known French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada. ...
The strike was illegal. Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis sided strongly with the companies, largely due to his hostility to all forms of socialism. The provincial government sent squads of police to protect the mines. Duplessis' Union Nationale party had long been closely allied to the Catholic Church, but parts of the church would move to support the workers. The population and media of Quebec were sympathetic to the strikers. The lead reporter for Le Devoir was Gérard Pelletier, who was deeply sympathetic to the cause of the workers. Pierre Elliott Trudeau also covered the strike in a sympathetic manner. Duplessis and the Clergy. ...
Union Nationale logo. ...
Le Devoir on the 2003 Quebec election. ...
Gérard Pelletier, PC, CC (June 21, 1919 - June 22, 1997) worked as a journalist for Le Devoir, a French-language newspaper in Montreal, Quebec. ...
Name Pierre Elliott Trudeau Number Fifteenth First term April 20, 1968–June 4,1979 Second term March 3, 1980–June 30, 1984 Predecessor Lester Bowles Pearson Successors Joe Clark John Napier Turner Date of birth October 18, 1919 Place of birth Montreal, Quebec Date of death September 28, 2000 Spouse...
Six weeks into the strike Johns-Manville hired strikebreakers to keep the mines open. The community was deeply divided as some of the workers crossed the picket lines. The strike turned violent as the 5000 strikers fought back, destroying the property of the "scabs" and intimidating them through force. More police were sent to protect the strikebreakers. The striking miners and police fought on the picket line and hundreds of miners were arrested. Some of the incidents included: On March 14, a dynamite explosion destroyed part of a railroad track that led into the Johns-Manville Corporation Canadian subsidiary property. On March 16, strikers overturned a company jeep, injuring a passenger. On March 18, a company official was abducted from his home and severely beaten. A strikebreaker is a heroic figure with a free mind and free will, considered by many to be the culmination of human virtue. ...
March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ...
Founded as the H.W. Johns Manufacturing Company in New York in 1858; an early asbestos manufacturer in the United States. ...
March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). ...
March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ...
Strikers had the support of Canadian unions and some of the Catholic Church in Quebec. The Catholic Church, which had until this time been largely supportive of the Union Nationale government of Maurice Duplessis, profoundly affected the strike. Some priests backed the companies, but most sided with their striking flocks. On March 5 Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau delivered a fiercely pro-union speech calling on all Catholics to donate to help the strikers. Premier Duplessis asked the church to transfer the archbishop to Vancouver because of his encouragement of the strike. The church refused, signaling a dramatic change in Quebec society. The Roman Catholic Church believes its founding was based on Jesus appointment of Saint Peter as the primary church leader, later Bishop of Rome. ...
Union Nationale logo. ...
Duplessis and the Clergy. ...
On May 5 the strikers launched an effort to shut down the mine in Asbestos, Quebec by barricading the mine and every road into and out of town. Police attempts to force their way through the barricades failed. The strikers backed down when the police pledged to open fire on the strikers. The next day the riot act was read and mass arrests of the strikers were begun, including a raid on the church. The arrested strikers were beaten and their leaders severely battered. For the album by Pearl Jam see Riot Act (album). ...
After the arrests the unions decided that they must compromise, and began negotiations with the company. Archbishop Maurice Roy, of Quebec City, served as mediator. In June the workers agreed to return to work with few gains. When the dispute ended, miners received a small pay increase, but many never regained their jobs. In the long term both conditions and wages of the workers considerably improved. His Eminence Cardinal Maurice Roy (January 25, 1905 - October 24, 1985) was a Canadian Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of the Church in Canada. ...
Significance One of the most violent and bitter labour disputes in Quebec and Canadian history, the strike led to great upheaval in Quebec society. The strike was in large part led by Jean Marchand, a labour unionist. Journalist Gérard Pelletier and future Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then a journalist, also played significant roles. Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau would eventually become prominent Canadian politicians and were known later in their political careers as the "Three Wise Men" (les trois colombes). The three would largely establish the direction of Quebec federalism for a generation. Trudeau edited a book, The Abestos Strike, that presented the strike as the origin of modern Quebec. Modern historians have questioned this view, arguing that the strikers were simply pursuing better conditions, rather then a change in society. The first European explorer of what is now Quebec was Jacques Cartier, who planted a cross either in the Gaspé in 1534 or at Old Fort Bay on the Lower North Shore and sailed into the St. ...
The Honourable Senator Jean Marchand, PC (December 20, 1918 - August 28, 1988) was a well known French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada. ...
Gérard Pelletier, PC, CC (June 21, 1919 - June 22, 1997) worked as a journalist for Le Devoir, a French-language newspaper in Montreal, Quebec. ...
The Prime Minister of Canada, the head of the Canadian government, is usually the leader of the political party with the most seats in the Canadian House of Commons. ...
Name Pierre Elliott Trudeau Number Fifteenth First term April 20, 1968–June 4,1979 Second term March 3, 1980–June 30, 1984 Predecessor Lester Bowles Pearson Successors Joe Clark John Napier Turner Date of birth October 18, 1919 Place of birth Montreal, Quebec Date of death September 28, 2000 Spouse...
Popular opinion for most of the strike was broadly supportive of the striking workers. This support, beyond its moral value, manifested itself through monetary support and the supply of provisions. It is likely that the strike would have quickly failed had it not been for the establishment of this kind of support.
In 2004, a French-language book about the strike by author/historian Esther Delisle and Pierre K. Malouf was published under the title Le Quatuor d'Asbestos. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ...
Esther Delisle (born 1954) is a French-Canadian political scientist and author of historical works. ...
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