The History of Local 1064 - THe United Steel Workers Association
By Frank Smith July 4, 1985

Prominent among these roamers was Hamm’s ram! As to any attempt that might be made to collar him, it would be very much a moot question as to who would be taking the chance. The most profound instinct of the beast was to charge instantly and knock to the ground any member of the human species upon whom he fixed his peculiarly sullen gaze and who was bold or stupid enough to be within range of the coming onset – The Hamm family being to only possible exception.
On this particular occasion, even though the somewhat cramped quarters that he had strayed into afforded less than the usual scope for this talent, the Ram is said to have lived up to his reputation.
When it dawned upon the luckless scab that it was that he was up against, he made a dash for the basement entry which opened out, at ground level, but the Ram was on him before he could make it. Knocked flat, the fellow emerged in the manner to which he had become accustomed, on hi hands and knees but this time dragging a very sore butt after him.

But the strikers, too, had their bad days. One “Loyal Employee” nabbed and restored to the family circle, had a wife considerably more formidable and resourceful than himself. Burning with resentment and the desire for revenge, this lady while compliments were being exchanged below, between scab and strikers, had gathered up the nights receipts from the family’s kidneys and without as much as a warning “ Gad Ha Mercy” flung from an upper window the contents of all pots upon the heads of the hapless strikers milling about below. As I say, I won’t vouch for the accuracy of these stories but these and many more were the stuff of conversation on Henry Street corner for years after the strike was over.
But the strike of 1923 and its aftermath were serious business. It ended in complete defeat of the workers early in August of that year – The men having been on the street just over a month. Some were jailed, many blacklisted and the rest intimidated. Many left Cape Breton never to return.
Though the strike was of brief duration compared with some of those in recent years, it had resulted in terrible privation for the mass of the workers and their families. Unions in those days had nowhere near the resources that they were later to have and the average worker was often hard put to it to provide for his family, even when working.
Understandably, it was long before union organization was to be thought of again, but it’s a long road that has no turning, as they say, and eventually, turn it did but not significantly until the middle thirties when the country was emerging from the blight of the Great Depression.
The Steelworkers, in the meantime, had become heartily sick of the plant council but the militants on it determined to use it as a springboard in the furtherance of their plans for the genuine union so long awaited and so vainly, up to now.
Without doubt, the outstanding factor in the organization of local 1064, was the fact that the day of industrial unionism had dawned and was not to be denied. Workers unity was given a new dimension. But the road forward was a rocky on for not only was there the company to contend with but there was also the matter of savage infighting between left and right as to what policies would be followed. Matters had also to be settled with a faction opposed to international unions.
Just the same through it all, the over-all objective was step by step, becoming a reality. Militants were meeting in the kitchens of their homes, in the woods, making contacts on the job, meeting their brothers in the mines, getting in touch with their fellow workers in the rest of Canada and in the U.S., building up gradually to the point where they were able to “Go public”.
In these new conditions, the first definite move in the direction of an honest and effective trade union for the Sydney Steelworkers came by George MacEachern and Harry Davis. This effort, while accorded fair support, was unable to generate sufficient momentum for further advance.

In the meantime, George was busy discussing things with his fellow workers in the Plant Machine Shop. His boss, the late Jimmie Banks, a great fellow, used to tell me, first glancing circumspectly about, that he was sure that the sop tool room was where local 1064 had its beginnings. As the idea of union strengthened and developed and broadened out from a craft basis to include all steelworkers, a powerful ally, the United Mineworkers of America appeared on the scene and this development was decisive in the Sydney Steelworkers becoming part of the mainstream of the labor movement of the day. Whether anybody liked it or not, and there were tbose who didn’t, John L. Lewis and the Congress of Industrial Organizations were the power behind the great movement of industrial unionism in the latter thirties. It was through this connection that the resources of District 26 of the U.M.W. were placed at the service of the Sydney Steelworkers, though the latter were something less than enchanted at the pace set by Leis’s local lieutenant, Silby Barrett.
Local 1064, came into existence on December 13, 1936 at a meeting held in the old Temperance Hall still standing on Falmouth St.
Carl Neville was chosen as Charter President with the following selected for the remaining offices: C. MacDonald, Vice-President; J.C. Nicholson, Recording Secretary; George MacEachern, Financial Secretary; C. Burke, Treasurer; W. Pike, Guide; E. Gillis Inside Guard, E. MacDonald, Outside Guard.
The union functioned under the aegis of the Steelworkers Organizing Committee (SWOC) until 1942, when it became what it still is – local 1064, United Steelworkers of America.
The union was officially set up, first, in quarters situated above Moraff’s Pool Room on Charlotte St. and was there until moving to the Ashby Hall where the first meeting was held on June 1, 1938.
The most urgent task confronting the new union was securing of the check-off – The haphazard collection of dues on a voluntary basis proving to be just about as impossible as it was impractical.
After a campaign that can only be described as epic in scope and intensity with support from all sides except the local board of trade, legislation providing for the check-off was passed by the MacDonald Government on April 17, 1937.
This legislation known as Bill 92, was recognized as a trailblazer for many other unions trying to become established at the time – Not only in Canada but the U.S. as well. An interesting sidelight of the winning of the Check-off was that it was instrumental in getting the international office through some difficult times during that trying formative period. The cheque coming through from Sydney, for a while, our people were later told, was a considerable factor in the ability of the American Brother to carry on.

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