Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada
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Lumber Workers' Industrial Union of Canada | |
| Founded | 1924 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 1935 |
| Location | |
Key people | A. T. Hill, J. Gillhead, Alfred Hautamäki and Kalle Salo. |
| Affiliations | Workers' Party of Canada, Communist Party of Canada |
The Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada was a trade union of lumberjacks in Canada. LWIUC was founded in Sault Ste. Marie 1924 by Finnish communists, who were dissatisfied with the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World and the OBU.[1] The two founding national secretaries of LWIUC were Alfred Hautamäki and Kalle Salo, both Finns.[1] A prominent figure in the founding of LWIUC was A. T. Hill, a former wobblie and the leader of the Finnish section of the Communist Party of Canada. Overall, LWIUC maintained strong links with the Communist Party. Through the halls run by the Finnish Organization of Canada (an organization that was collectively affiliated with the Workers' Party of Canada, the legal front of the Communist Party), LWIUC rapidly gained thousands of members.[2] The headquarters of the LWIUC were initially at Port Arthur.[3]
Organizational strengthening
During the latter part of the 1920s LWIUC managed to establish itself as the dominant lumber workers union in Ontario. LWIUC undertook a militant mobilization campaign in north-eastern Ontario in 1927, an effort that enabled LWIUC to gain a strong presence at the White and Plaunt operations along the CNR line north of Sudbury. It also began to accept agricultural workers into its fold.[4] By 1928, LWIUC had established branches in South Porcupine, Porcupine, Timmins, Connaught and several seasonal logging camps.[3]
Rosvall and Voutilainen
In 1929 LWIUC sent out two organizers, Viljo Rosvall and John Voutilainen to Onion Lake to mobilize union activity amongst workers at the Pigeon Timber Company. The company was managed by the subcontractor Pappi ('Reverend') Leonard Mäki, who opposed union organizing and had a conscious policy of mainly recruiting White Finns. Rosvall and Voutilainen never returned, and in April the following year their bodies were recovered. Official reports stated that the men had died of drowning, but the LWIUC claimed that they had been murdered.[5] Around 4,000 people participated in the funeral of Rosvall and Voutilainen in Port Arthur.[6]
