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August 2020 Newsletter

This newsletter is produced monthly by the staff of the BC Labour Heritage Centre on behalf of our board of directors.

The COVID Chronicles:

We are living history!
BC Regional Council of Carpenters members working at a Victoria construction site using respirators during COVID-19. Photo credit: Travis Tambone

BC Workers Find Innovation and Solutions

When labour historians look back at this moment, we want them to have the information they need to tell the world what it was like for BC workers.

 That's why our COVID Chronicles Project is recording first-hand accounts of BC’s working people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our working group of volunteers are collecting survey data, conducting and transcribing interviews and looking to save our stories of triumph and tragedy.

Phil Venoit was President of the BC Building Trades Council when the pandemic began. When we interviewed him for this project, he explained how the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local Union 324 on Vancouver Island found an innovative solution to one of the biggest problems in construction: sanitation.

Phil Venoit describes a worker-created solution to Jobsite sanitation during the COVID19 pandemic's early days.
Display of thanks to BC workers in Gastown during COVID-19 Pandemic. Photo: Joshua Berson

Voices of BC workers
from our online survey

 
"...my job was changed, hours were changed, stress levels through the roof. It has been a difficult time."
 
"My greatest stress was concern for students I couldn’t reach or could reach and knew to be struggling…."
 
"I have accepted after 4 months that this is the world’s new reality. At times I am good but then the awareness pops into my head again."
 
"Since I am retired, what I can talk about is going out in public and observing the protocols used by both the businesses and public."
 
"My focus as of late has been to find new and/or modified ways to engage with and support members…"
 
"... it became apparent that despite the government’s decision to make us essential, we needed to do the right thing and sent the staff home….."
 
Joshua Berson photo

Take our Survey


Union or non-union...working or unemployed...retired or still working?

Tell us your story. This survey will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. Your answers will be archived as part of the BC Labour & COVID-19 History Project.
We are grateful to WorkSafeBC for their financial contribution to the
COVID Chronicles project.
This month in BC Labour History
August 2, 1918 - Canada's first General Strike took place in Vancouver as workers mourned the murder of coal miner Ginger Goodwin in Cumberland. Vancouver Public Library photo.
August 10, 1983 - 40,000 rally at Empire Stadium in Vancouver in the midst of the Operation Solidarity movement, determined to force the repeal of sweeping legislation attacking citizens' rights. Brian Charlton photo.
August 12, 1913 - Vancouver Island coal miners and their families rioted in Ladysmith in response to the use of strikebreakers during their bitter two-year dispute for union recognition. Ladysmith Archives photo.
August 13, 1930 - Blakeburn Mine Explosion kills 45 at Coalmont, BC. One miner was just 19 years old.
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The BC Labour Heritage Centre office is located on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) territories.
Copyright © 2020 BC Labour Heritage Centre, All rights reserved.


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