On this day in labor history, the year was 1935.
That was the day more than a thousand locked out dockworkers battled police forces in Vancouver, British Columbia in the ‘Battle of Ballantyne Pier.’
The dispute began weeks earlier when the Shipping Federation locked out dockworkers at Powell River, using scabs to load and unload cargo.
Shipping magnates feared Communist leadership had taken over the company unions they established in the 20s.
Workers at other ports in British Columbia now refused to handle Powell River cargo and were locked out.
Hot cargoing was the main issue.
But dockers also demanded higher wages, union recognition and fair dispatching.
The previous year’s West Coast Waterfront strike had put dockworkers everywhere in a fighting mood.
In Vancouver, dockers ousted management lackeys from their union and voted in a radical leadership during a recent election.
Shipping bosses, local politicians and businessmen all cried ‘Bolshevik Menace.’
They formed a Citizens League and prepared for battle.
On this day, striking dockers marched to Ballantyne Pier, where they had been denied the right to picket.
They were determined to stop the scabbing and intended to confront scabs directly.
Led by World War I veteran, Mickey O’Rourke, dockers were abruptly stopped at the pier entrance by Vancouver Police.
Immediately, they were beaten and tear gassed by club-wielding police and despised specials.
Soon British Columbia Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police emerged to join in on the assault.
The fighting continued for three hours.
Police horses trampled many as they tried to escape.
Scores were hospitalized and arrested.
The strike dragged on for months and ended in defeat.
But dockers would win the war through ten years of hard, dedicated organizing that culminated with an ILWU charter in 1945.
December 2 - 21st Century Corporate Greed
December 1 - Standing Up for Themselves and Their Patients
November 30 - Angel of the Stockyards is Born
November 29 - The Fight for $15 & A Union
November 28 - Disaster in the Mines
November 27 - Death Trap in Newark
November 26 - The Birth of William Sylvis
November 25 - Chicago Printers Walk Off the Job
November 24 - The Hollywood Ten
November 23 - The Thibodaux Massacre
November 22 - Uprising of the 20,000
November 21 - Autoworkers Join the Postwar Strike Wave
November 20 - Birth of the Time Clock
November 19 - Joe Hill’s Final Words
November 18 - Accident or Murder?
November 17 - Resisting Impressment
November 16 - NFL Players End Strike
November 15 - The IWW is Raided
November 14 - The Origins of CWA
November 13 - The Holland Tunnel Opens
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